London on a sunny day
 

I'm not sure I'm going to get one, but I thought I'd get some suggestions. Family of 4 (DD14, DS11).

We are headed to London on Saturday for the day. We will be taking in a matinee and will have 10 - 2pm for other sites. We've spent 11 days over two previous trips and have therefore visited most of our "top tier" sites. Plan A is to visit the Museum of London.

The weather forecast looks a little unsettled at the moment, but I thought I'd look into sunny day activities. By sunny day, I really mean not raining hard. Any suggestions?

Looking for things in the more or less "free" category given the other expenses for the day. Hyde Park? (We've done the zoo and the Eye as well, speaking of not free activities).

I've not looked into this previously because we've always been on the go. Thanks.

Borough Market, a walk through the quiet streets of The City

If you're going To the Museum of London, why not drop in at Postman's Park for a few minutes? It's the churchyard of St Botolph's (on the street down towards St Paul's, on the right-hand side beside the church). There's a (covered) display of Victorian memorials tiles to various heroic deeds.

Carry on walking down past St Paul's over the Millennium Bridge. Entrance to Tate Modern is free, if the weather's bad, and/or enjoy any of the free entertainment outside, then carry on walking along the river towards Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market (or the other way towards the Festival Hall and the skateboarders while they're still there).

How about The Foundling Museum?

40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ

Free to under 16s

I'd go for walking the City. I'd also invest a few quid in one (or more) of the London Walks books. Andrew Duncan's or the Time Out two both give you for about the price of a one day travelcard a couple of years' worth of answers to this question.

The thing about the City, more than almost anywhere on earth, is it's stuffed with things that are interesting when pointed out, are pointed out in great detail in backbreaking tomes like the London Encyclopedia you can't possibly carry with you, but aren't significant enough to make it into any ordinary guidebook. The walkbooks typically do a lot of this for you

On a Sunday, the City's great because it's empty - but a lot of the pubs close too. Rather more stay open on Sats. My sense is that, with more shops open in the City on Sats than when I lived near, there are more eateries open these days.

One altogether different alternative, possibly for future use, is the Future World themepark that's been created by Docklands developments. The combination of the DLR, the cable car across the Thames at the O2, the interplay between concrete monoliths at Canary Wharf and its omnipresent water, Westfield Stratford and the QE Park being spun out of the Olympics complex make for an extraordinarily unLondon set of panoramas and vistas.

You might, if you're here for long, hint about how nice an Xmas present the London Encyclopedia might make for future planning

I, like PatrickLondon, was going to suggest Postman's Park.

The Museum of London is really good, and we were there on a day we were really flagging and a good portion of it was still being renovated, yet I still thought it good. I think it is supposed to be especially young-folk friendly, so good choice.

If you haven't explored Hyde Park much, that's certainly a place to go for a sunny day (spilling over into Kensington Gardens--seen Peter Pan statue yet?)

Looks like other good ideas above.

By sunny day, I really mean not raining hard.>>

oh dear, it hasn't taken you long to get to grips with our climate, has it?

all of the above are great ideas and it won't surprise you that i haven't done any of them.

If you have time, hop on the Thames Clipper boat from London eye and take a trip to Greenwich to the Maritime Muuseum and the Park.

http://www.thamesclippers.com/

indydad, I always love reading what you do... what a great life experience your kids must be having!

I don't have any brilliant ideas - but just wanted to say thanks for all your reports and updates. A few non-traditional things we recently did in London which were really fun. Won't work with your schedule now, but maybe for future visits?

- Fat Tire Bike Tours http://fattirebiketours.com/london
- Climbing O2 http://www.theo2.co.uk/upattheo2
- Muggle Walking Tours (Harry Potter fans especially) http://www.muggletours.co.uk/

We liked the Huntzz scavenger hunts - inexpensive - could you do the one in Trafalgar Square or the NPG ?

>>How about The Foundling Museum?<<

A bit sad for the youngsters, maybe (unless you want to show them how lucky they are!), but it is next to Coram's Fields (if they're not too big for that by now):
http://www.coramsfields.org/
http://www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/

I find the Museum of London Docklands more interesting than the Museum of London itself. You could combine that with a trip on the Emirates cable and/or an afternoon in Greenwich.

Trafalgar Square! its great for roaming.

<<The weather forecast looks a little unsettled at the moment>>

Thinking this statement could apply when you're in London and just look up at the sky.

Take a walk with London Walks. Walks.com. eg I see from their new leaflet they have a new walk "Brunel walks on Water" starts 10.45 at Embankment tube.

-Trafalgar Square
-walk across Millennium bridge
- visit the Monument and scale the stairs for a great view of the City
-enjoy the sunny embankment near HMS Belfast & city hall. Best view of the Tower Bridge
-Windsor castle

Thanks, all. I really appreciate all the suggestions. I'll give them a further look and line up some options.

The Postman's Park sounds good -- I actually wasn't familiar with that. flanner's suggestion of a city walks book is a good one two.

Though I enjoy the London Walks, not sure I fell comfortable trying to squeeze one in before a matinee show.

We enjoyed our day in Greenwich. The Docklands idea is a good one for another day.

annhig said:
<i>By sunny day, I really mean not raining hard.>>

oh dear, it hasn't taken you long to get to grips with our climate, has it?

all of the above are great ideas and it won't surprise you that i haven't done any of them.</i>

Actually, I was trying to imply that we aren't weather wimps in that it doesn't have to be bright blue skies before we wander outside.

. . . which is a good thing since we'd like to get out more than that. ;)

"I'd also invest a few quid in one (or more) of the London Walks books. "

I meant to type "... in one (or more) of the London walks books. "

Nothing to do with the company of that name, but simple books charting (and describing) walks all over London. Terrific to have in the car for when you're doing something on a Sat in, say, Gospel Oak, and want to use a spare couple of hours profitably.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

We decided to stick to the plan and see the London Museum though we did stop at the lovely Postman's Park afterwards. No time for a walk in the City this time but we did make it to Soho Square and Covent Garden.

Blog entry for those interested:

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05...iserables.html

flanneruk -- I didn't find an appropriate London walks book at WH Smith in St Pancras. I'll have to get one online for next time.

Indy_dad,

Great trip report once again. We also enjoyed the Museum of London but missed Postman's Park. Maybe we can do that on our return visit.

DS saw the movie Les Miz but he didn't see it played in the theater. We saw Les Miz twice on Broadway and it is one of my favorite plays.