My favourite places in London
Nov 5th, 2013, 03:16 PM
#42
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As your DD has discovered, going in person to the box office on the day can yield great results. Most visitors don't have the time or energy to do that though so the TKTs booth provides a good central service. Their tickets are half price - generally of the top price tickets which is still pretty pricey (maybe not by Broadway standards). The £65 seat your daughter bought at the box office for £26 would have been £33 at TKTS. So if one has the flexibility and can get to the theatre, day tickets are the way to go. Even the sold-out-forever Book of Mormon keeps 21 front row tickets back for sale on the day for £20 (by lottery). And, a reminder that London has a really vibrant theatre scene beyond the West End so anyone interested in fringe/experimental/immersive/site specific performances will be in heaven...
Nov 5th, 2013, 07:10 PM
#43
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Really enjoying your report - especially your observations and delightful descriptions of things. You have a very engaging writing style.
After more than a dozen visits since childhood over the past 35 years, I love London even more, and the Borough Market and the South Bank area is a favourite.
As has been suggested, do try to get to the Shoreditch/Spitalfields/Brick Lane areas; they're very interesting and great to roam about and observe for a couple of hours.
I loved War Horse and would be interested to hear what your daughter thinks of it. The unbelievably realistic life size horse puppets were made and originated by the Handspring Puppet Company in Cape Town, but you probably already knew that.
After more than a dozen visits since childhood over the past 35 years, I love London even more, and the Borough Market and the South Bank area is a favourite.
As has been suggested, do try to get to the Shoreditch/Spitalfields/Brick Lane areas; they're very interesting and great to roam about and observe for a couple of hours.
I loved War Horse and would be interested to hear what your daughter thinks of it. The unbelievably realistic life size horse puppets were made and originated by the Handspring Puppet Company in Cape Town, but you probably already knew that.
Nov 5th, 2013, 09:04 PM
#44
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A question for those who know London well: where does an 'average' person with an average budget shop? Regent Str and surrounding areas are pretty - but certainly expensive. I am not much into shopping, but would still like to look for a warm jacket, maybe a nice scarf, and also the elusive wineglass. Somewhere I can go after work this afternoon?
Nov 5th, 2013, 09:55 PM
#45
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Hi Kovsie, the high street stores that you find on Oxford Street are good.
Topshop is more for teenagers, but I have found good winter coats there, and it's not expensive. Go to the one on Oxford Circus.
I also like Ted Baker.
Uniqlo is good for basics, and down jackets. If you're cold in London;their thermal underwear is great - but you will probably have Uniqlo at home.
For scarves maybe try Jack Wills - it's not inexpensive (39,50 for a scarve), but quite British, and they do some nice accessories.
In Selfridges; the ground floor has a good selection of high street brands - and is open late.
Topshop is more for teenagers, but I have found good winter coats there, and it's not expensive. Go to the one on Oxford Circus.
I also like Ted Baker.
Uniqlo is good for basics, and down jackets. If you're cold in London;their thermal underwear is great - but you will probably have Uniqlo at home.
For scarves maybe try Jack Wills - it's not inexpensive (39,50 for a scarve), but quite British, and they do some nice accessories.
In Selfridges; the ground floor has a good selection of high street brands - and is open late.
Nov 6th, 2013, 08:00 AM
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Busy day - work and then wandering around in the rain in Oxford Street in the late afternoon. White Christmas lights and grey sky and the freshness of leaving the overheated buildings.
Tonight we have tickets for Lion King (£99 for 2 people at box office). They say the tickets are sold out up to 18 months in advance.
DD LOVED War Horse. This morning at 5.30 she was literally hopping on her bed, trying to tell me about it. She wants to see it again, she wants me to see it ...
And Mathieu - we did not know that the horses came from Cape Town!
Tonight we have tickets for Lion King (£99 for 2 people at box office). They say the tickets are sold out up to 18 months in advance.
DD LOVED War Horse. This morning at 5.30 she was literally hopping on her bed, trying to tell me about it. She wants to see it again, she wants me to see it ...
And Mathieu - we did not know that the horses came from Cape Town!
Nov 6th, 2013, 11:15 PM
#51
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Funny that when your days are filled to the brim, it feels as if every day is both very short and really long. Time goes by too quickly, but when I look back at all the things I have experienced in London, it feels as if I have been here a long time.
Tonight we go to the theatre to see Lion King. This is DD's choice, and something she had been wishing for (as she says) for the last 10 years - which is half her life. The show is spectacular, loud, Disney in Africa, with New Age-y ideas added for extra spice; it is still an entertaining evening. The costumes and decor are (of course) amazing, the well-known story rather flimsy. For me the voices of the people from Africa are the true highlight of the show ... those strong clear voices that no white person can ever imitate. I allow myself to be unashemedly nostalgic for a while.
Before the show we have dinner at a place called Bills right next to the theatre. We both order pork ribs, just because we cannot do this in Dubai (£14 pp). It is nice - not great but nice. Sweet potato used for fries, to DD's disgust!
Returning with the tube at 11 at night - and the trains still packed. I have read somewhere that a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars, but where the rich use public transport. How very convenient transport in London is.
The walk back from the station to the hotel in the fresh cold night. Streets milling with people, a woman with one blanket in a doorway.
I buy a bottle of wine along the way, and the handsome young guy asks for my ID. I wonder why? Just to check if I am not too young, he explains. What a charmer!
And so endeth Day 7.
Tonight we go to the theatre to see Lion King. This is DD's choice, and something she had been wishing for (as she says) for the last 10 years - which is half her life. The show is spectacular, loud, Disney in Africa, with New Age-y ideas added for extra spice; it is still an entertaining evening. The costumes and decor are (of course) amazing, the well-known story rather flimsy. For me the voices of the people from Africa are the true highlight of the show ... those strong clear voices that no white person can ever imitate. I allow myself to be unashemedly nostalgic for a while.
Before the show we have dinner at a place called Bills right next to the theatre. We both order pork ribs, just because we cannot do this in Dubai (£14 pp). It is nice - not great but nice. Sweet potato used for fries, to DD's disgust!
Returning with the tube at 11 at night - and the trains still packed. I have read somewhere that a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars, but where the rich use public transport. How very convenient transport in London is.
The walk back from the station to the hotel in the fresh cold night. Streets milling with people, a woman with one blanket in a doorway.
I buy a bottle of wine along the way, and the handsome young guy asks for my ID. I wonder why? Just to check if I am not too young, he explains. What a charmer!
And so endeth Day 7.
Nov 7th, 2013, 10:05 AM
#52
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DAY 8
I play hookey, and return to the National Gallery. Sit for a long time at the cartoon that Leonardo da V drew, I really like the way he portrayed the children (Jesus and his cousin John). Today I stay mostly with Constable and Turner, hunt for the Modanna on the Rocks, look again for Rembrandt - in other words having an excellent time! For lunch I have soup at the National Cafe in the Gallery - £1 more expensive than next-door St Martins but better value, better service, better soup.
Note about the National Gallery: On weekday mornings the place is full of school groups. According to one lady who works there, this happens every day during term. The kids are well behaved, but there is a certain measure of noise and shushing going on. I watch a group of adolescent boys sitting with deliberately expressionless faces in front of a very naked Venus, listening to a talk about the use of colour and so on ...
DD is hooked on theatre. This is her first experience of world-class theatre - where we lived in South Africa we did not have the chance to see this. She is now on her way to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She had done the walk from London Bridge to St Paul's today (I had talked about it so much!). Her commentary of Borough Market: "It is a place where Hobbits could shop."
Late this afternoon I have walked down Baker Street, past the Underground Station, and one block later came to Regent's Park. Weeping willows and white swans and autumn leaves in the water. Also a gaggle of pro-active geese that are obviously used to being fed by humans, and who tend to follow you around resentfully if you do not deliver. A restful walk, but by 5pm it is getting dark and I have to turn back. Above the dark trees a sliver of a moon.
At 221bBaker Street is the museum of Sherlock Holmes, charging £8 admittance to remember somebody who never was! I do not enter the museum, but enjoy the gift shop next door. I buy a pencil sharpener in the form of a red post box (£3). A few doors down the street is a shop dedicated to the Beatles, crowded by people who are surely too young to remember the Fab Four at first hand. Would you like socks with yellow submarines, a tie with John Lennon's face, a vinyl record with the famous photo on the zebra lines ... its all there.
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and the day I have to deliver my paper - tonight I stay in to go through my notes.
I play hookey, and return to the National Gallery. Sit for a long time at the cartoon that Leonardo da V drew, I really like the way he portrayed the children (Jesus and his cousin John). Today I stay mostly with Constable and Turner, hunt for the Modanna on the Rocks, look again for Rembrandt - in other words having an excellent time! For lunch I have soup at the National Cafe in the Gallery - £1 more expensive than next-door St Martins but better value, better service, better soup.
Note about the National Gallery: On weekday mornings the place is full of school groups. According to one lady who works there, this happens every day during term. The kids are well behaved, but there is a certain measure of noise and shushing going on. I watch a group of adolescent boys sitting with deliberately expressionless faces in front of a very naked Venus, listening to a talk about the use of colour and so on ...
DD is hooked on theatre. This is her first experience of world-class theatre - where we lived in South Africa we did not have the chance to see this. She is now on her way to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She had done the walk from London Bridge to St Paul's today (I had talked about it so much!). Her commentary of Borough Market: "It is a place where Hobbits could shop."
Late this afternoon I have walked down Baker Street, past the Underground Station, and one block later came to Regent's Park. Weeping willows and white swans and autumn leaves in the water. Also a gaggle of pro-active geese that are obviously used to being fed by humans, and who tend to follow you around resentfully if you do not deliver. A restful walk, but by 5pm it is getting dark and I have to turn back. Above the dark trees a sliver of a moon.
At 221bBaker Street is the museum of Sherlock Holmes, charging £8 admittance to remember somebody who never was! I do not enter the museum, but enjoy the gift shop next door. I buy a pencil sharpener in the form of a red post box (£3). A few doors down the street is a shop dedicated to the Beatles, crowded by people who are surely too young to remember the Fab Four at first hand. Would you like socks with yellow submarines, a tie with John Lennon's face, a vinyl record with the famous photo on the zebra lines ... its all there.
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and the day I have to deliver my paper - tonight I stay in to go through my notes.
Nov 7th, 2013, 06:52 PM
#54
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Very nice! I've enjoyed your writing and trip report. I'm trying to organize an itinerary to get the most out of a four day trip hopefully this next year. You make it sound so much easier than a rigid point-to-point itinerary. I like your wandering itinerary. Do you have a good sense of direction? You don't seem to get lost or go in the wrong direction.
Nov 7th, 2013, 07:56 PM
#55
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O pdx, I just dont write about my getting lost and my sore feet! No, I do not have a particularly good sense of direction, and all of my life I have struggled to make sense of a map. The nice thing about London is that (almost) everybody speaks English. I have learned from my daughter to ask directions often, from the people in unifrom on tube stations, from passers-by, from everybody who comes near me. It gives me a chance to listen to the delightful accents, it helps to point me in the right direction, and if I am lucky I am called 'luv'.
Nov 8th, 2013, 09:47 AM
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And so the last evening in London has come. After a full conference, and many new experiences, I feel both tired and stimulated. It had been a wonderful trip, with all your support greatly appreciated. I have fallen in love with this huge, grey, wet city, and hope I can soon return. It had definitely become a 'favourite place'! If any of you - who are planning your own adventures - have specific questions about our time here, I would be more than willing to reply.
THANK YOU ALL
THANK YOU ALL
Nov 8th, 2013, 01:47 PM
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Hi Kovsie,
What a wonderful report! I am sure that you were a smash hit at your conference also. Really enjoyed following your adventures in London. Isn’t the National Gallery great? Free, so we can wander in and out at will to check out another part of the collection as time and inclination dictate.
Got a kick out of your purchases at the Sherlock Holmes gift shop. I visited the Museum there three years ago – believe that it has since been jazzed up. You really didn’t miss much. But having read so many of Doyle’s stories with my Grade 7 students over the years, I just had to drop by and also stroll down Baker Street. Love Regent’s Park nearby too.
Glad that your daughter enjoyed herself so much on her solo expeditions. Again, thanks for sharing your adventures in London…
PS You would enjoy the old TV series of Sherlock Holmes adventures starring Jeremy Brett. Loved the interior of 221a as depicted in that production.
What a wonderful report! I am sure that you were a smash hit at your conference also. Really enjoyed following your adventures in London. Isn’t the National Gallery great? Free, so we can wander in and out at will to check out another part of the collection as time and inclination dictate.
Got a kick out of your purchases at the Sherlock Holmes gift shop. I visited the Museum there three years ago – believe that it has since been jazzed up. You really didn’t miss much. But having read so many of Doyle’s stories with my Grade 7 students over the years, I just had to drop by and also stroll down Baker Street. Love Regent’s Park nearby too.
Glad that your daughter enjoyed herself so much on her solo expeditions. Again, thanks for sharing your adventures in London…
PS You would enjoy the old TV series of Sherlock Holmes adventures starring Jeremy Brett. Loved the interior of 221a as depicted in that production.
