What about tea at Fortnum & Mason?

just a couple of quick comments . . .

I notice you don't have any theatre listed. You will be in London long enought to go to 3 or 4 (or 10 :) ) shows.

And then there is the Jack the Ripper Walk - ugh :( There is <u>nothing</u> left of the Ripper sites. Nothing at all. Over and over, you will here things like &quot;over there - that car park was the site of such and such&quot;, and &quot;the block of flats stands on the site of . . . . . &quot;

I would go to afternoon tea at Fortnum &amp; Mason, or in the restaurant at the top of the Great Court in the British Museum, or the Portrait Restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery, or in a nice place in Bath.

Well, even if you split the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, I'd combine one of them with St. Martin in the Fields - it is directly across the street from the two museums. You've been so careful to group your sites, that this just jumps out to me.

I agree with Janisj about seeing at least one show - any show really for the experience of the London Theatre

street clothes OK

This was many years ago, but on my last visit to England we had tea at both Fortnum &amp; Mason (twice) and the Pump Room in Bath. Both were very good, although I would give Fortnum &amp; Mason a slight edge on food quality. The Pump Room (I'm assuming they still have tea there) was SO COOL for any fan of the Regency period, and I think it was a little cheaper.

Was in the Bath Pump Room in Feb

yes still tea and also you can buy a glass of Bath Spa water (free i think if you buy something else - if not they charge and you need not sit down, etc.)

I think your new itinerary looks great. I don't think splitting Natl Gallery and Portrait Gallery is a bad thing. The National Gallery deserves a great deal of time. We were exhausted afterwards and yet we still drug ourselves to the Portrait Gallery and really probably didn't enjoy it nearly as much as we should have.

I'm not sure if you're planning to do the walks/tours with London walks, but I'd like to recommend The Along the Thames pub walk. It is really a lot of fun!

Splitting up the National and the National Protrait would be OK -- but Splitting up the Nat'l, the Nat'l Protrait and St Martin's-in-the-Field into 3 different days just doesn't make much sense.

They are literally 2 minute's walk from each other -and that is only because you'd have to wait for the crosswalk signal to/from the church. You would be going back to the exact same intersection 3 different times and just creating a lot of un-needed extra travel. So at least combine 2 of the 3 on one day.

The reason why I put St. Martin on a different day is because the lunchtime concerts are only on certain days of the week so it didn't work if I put it with the Nat'l Gallery or the Nat'l PG.

For the theater, I plan on going for sure but I'll just wait to get there and get tickets from there.

Are you really not visiting the Tower of London?

Hum, yes. Aside from the Crown Jewels, I can't figure out what's so fun and interesting about that place.

&quot;<i>Hum, yes. Aside from the Crown Jewels, I can't figure out what's so fun and interesting about that place. </i>&quot;

You are kidding - right??

No.

I guess I'm really more of an art museum kind of person. Not an history buff for sure. I get the whole history there is behind it, but still. That really doesn't convince me to go. I'd rather spend more time at the Nat'l Gallery instead. Maybe I'm missing a big thing. But maybe I'm not. Different people like different things.

What about:

Day 7 -
Take the Westminster Walk in the morning
Lunch in the Covent Garden area
Visit the Courtauld Gallery
Visit the Florence Nightingale Museum

Day 9 -
Visit the National Gallery
See lunchtime concert at St. Martin in the Fields
Shop on Oxford St. and around

Of course, if it were I, this is what I'd do:

Day 7 -
Take the Westminster Walk in the morning
Lunch in the Covent Garden area (lots to choose from)
Visit the Courtauld Gallery
Visit the Florence Nightingale Museum

Day 8 -
Visit Greenwich and Maritime Museum
Come back to Central London for afternoon tea
Shop Oxford Street, etc.

Day 9 -
Visit the National Gallery
See lunchtime concert at St. Martin in the Fields
Lunch at St. Martin or restaurant nearby
Visit National Portrait Gallery (the concert and lunch would give me enough time to recharge my &quot;art viewing&quot; capacity.

Anyway, my real question is:
Now that you've planned in so much detail, what are you going to do until January!

noe-
I'm starting an internship at the hospital (soooo excited about it!) in mid-June and I'll still be working part-time so my free time for the summer and fall will be pretty much nonexistent. That's why I wanted to start planning ahead.

Now for the Nat'l Gallery and Portrait Gallery, I still have no clue what to do. I keep thinking about that day in NYC a few months ago when I did the National History Museum and the MoMA in the same day. It's not even 2 art museums and I had my museum dose for the day.

nessa - If you really like art museums, then I'd suggest you split them up into 2 days. National Gallery is truly HUGE and so many gems in it. noe847, to be honest, there's no way I could only spend 1/2 a day at national Gallery if it were my first time visiting!

I don't know if there's a particular period of paintings that you like, say Italian Renaissance. If that's the only thing you're interested in, then you can &quot;do&quot; NG in 1/2 day. But with its huge collection of Flemish Primitives, Dutch Golden age, Impressionist etc, I'd say enjoy it to the max!

I personally wasn't that interested in the Portrait Gallery (what's so interesting about looking at dead people's faces?) so I barely spent any time there.

But like you said, different strokes for different folks. Enjoy!

nessa, it does sound like you will be busy! It's great that you're doing your homework; every bit of your preparation will pay off.

I can see your point about the art museums. I am very interested in art, so maybe my tolerance of museums is greater than most.

The Portrait Gallery is small, and what we did was pick the exhibits/areas that interested us the most. We saw the Tudor portraits, the modern portraits, some photographic exhibit, and a special exhibit of fashion photography (separate admission, for a rather hefty fee). We hit up the shop and that was that.

At any rate, I'd at least consider swapping the National Gallery to Day 9 and the Covent Garden/Courtauld to Day 7.

And I couldn't imagine going to London for that many days and not seeing the Tower, but if you don't care for history, I guess it makes sense. Castles, churches, and art are my favorite things to see.

Any suggestions for the theater? I can't say I'm the biggest theater fan but I definitely want to experience a play in London. Should I reserve in advance? And what should I expect to pay for a ticket?

since you don't have a specific &quot;must&quot; show - definitely just go to TKTS in Leicester Sq (TKTS is about a 2 minute walk from the National Portrait Gallery) the day(s) you want to a play/musical.

They sell the best seats in the house for 1/2 price and there are many shows to choose from - both matinees and evening performances. No need to go right at opening time -- so the days you go to the Nat'l Portrait, or National or St Martin's-in-the-field would be good since you will be in the immediate neighborhood.

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