Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - No Grits-But there was Krispie Kreme And the 10 things I learned about London

No Grits-But there was Krispie Kreme!
And the 10 things I learned about London
1. You don’t need to go to Alaska for wildlife.
After settling into the fantastic Renaissance Chancery Court in Holborn (99bps a night!!) we had done the full two hour loop on the Big Bus. Our last stop was Aldwych so we walked up Chancery Lane towards our hotel on High Holborn. It was a quiet Sunday evening and since Holborn is a business district, Chancery Lane was deserted. When we looked down a side lane, we saw a gorgeous, very healthy fox running across the road! I imagine he gets a pretty good diet from the fat pigeons in the nearby park and other city animal dwellers. A couple of days later we came across a group of birders (gotta love those British birders!) with scopes aimed at one of the tall buildings overlooking the Thames. A peregrine falcon was perching on a ledge. It’s rare to see those here even in the “wilds” of Virginia.

2. You can wear anything you want in London.
Don’t worry about it. It is more important to be comfortable. Forget the warnings about white trainers (tennis shoes). They were everywhere and everyone was wearing jeans. A lot of the kids were wearing Converse types and there were some “fashionable” Pumas etc but I also saw many traditional sneaks. I had brought a couple of tiered skirts, navy twills, dressy pants, and a jean jacket and was fine. For shoes, I packed a very comfortable pair of embellished flat sandals, ballet flats and threw in my tie less Sketchers at the last minute. On our two rainy days I wore the Sketchers and did not feel at all out of place. The only time I felt inappropriate was when I wore my navy Burberry trench coat. LOL. Even at dinner time it seemed a “bit much.” I have to mention that the British men know how to dress. They pair beautiful colored ties with bright shirts and lovely pinstripe suits. Purples, pinks, stripes with stripes, etc. The British working women could take a lesson from them. If I saw one more capped-sleeve white blouse with a black skirt I was going to scream.

3. Traveling with teens to London can be fun.
Sure we got some “attitude” some times and there were a few meals where we separated so one could get Pizza Hut and McDonalds while the rest ate more exotic fare but overall it was a fantastic experience with them. We probably wouldn’t have gone to the war rooms or Imperial War museum if we had gone without the WWII nut son or stood on the concrete at the Globe for two hours to watch Comedy of Errors with the Shakespeare fan daughter. And forget the London Eye without kids. I have to say that I enjoyed every one of those activities and am really glad they got us to go. Do get your Globe tickets early and try to get a voucher for the Eye from your concierge.

4. The London Tube system is one of the wonders of the world.
We bought 7 day Oyster cards at the tube station and it was the best purchase of the trip. We were on tubes at least 3 times a day. It really freed us up to go anywhere at anytime. We would start together on one line and then split up to go in different directions on different lines. We traveled out to Earl’s Court to see the Body Exhibit and to Waterloo to board the train for Windsor. We never waited more than 5 min. for a train. Since we had seen a lot of the city during our Big Bus tour it didn’t bother us to be below ground so much. It was great to see two suburb-raised kids become seasoned public transport travelers. I was dyin’ to turn to the people next to me and in true Southern fashion ask “Where are y’all from?” but there wasn’t much conversation on the tube and my kids would have died from embarrassment. Don’t get into the queues at Waterloo. Use the info desks for questions and the ticket machines to get your tickets.

5. It is very important to go to the more “spiritual” places at quiet times.
Following the always fantastic advice from fellow Fodorites, we headed over to the Tower first thing one morning. We didn’t get there until 9:30 but it was still relatively quiet and there weren’t any queues. I had already purchased our tickets at the tube stop but could have bought them at the Tower without much of a wait at that time. The courtyard was so peaceful and the very worthwhile warders’ tour was not a massive throng of people. When we left after noon, the crowds were horrible. We were also smart to go to St Paul’s early in the morning. There were very few people and even fewer that made the climb to the top. St. Paul’s is gorgeous and worth seeing. I look at the dinky Wren building at William & Mary now and think it must have been Christopher Wren’s student project before he became good enough to design fantastic buildings such as St. Paul’s. Westminster Abbey was lovely during the last hour and half of the day. The cloisters and garden were very quiet until we became a little uneasy when we heard 3 helicopters hovering overhead. Remember, this is one week after the “liquid bomb” arrests so I’m trying to stay calm and not go into “American Mom” panic mode. We later found out it was TV copters following the suspects as they were moved from court to jail.

6. You can’t avoid lines all the time so enjoy the fantastic people watching.
If you are in London when Buckingham Palace is open, you go and you know you will stand in line. We bought tickets from our concierge so we only had to stand in queues for an hour rather than two hours. We could have pre-bought tickets for the London Eye but didn’t and almost didn’t go because of the queue. I’m glad we did because it really is fantastic and the line moved quickly. London tourists are a wonderfully diverse lot. From the group of African-American LA women and the large traditional Jewish family at Buckingham to the gorgeous Muslim woman with the jet-beaded long, black dress and veil at the London Eye and the many, many Italian tourists (was anyone left in Italy this summer?) it was a great mix of people.

7. You can’t do everything.
Yes, we went to Madame Tussaud’s but did not step foot into the British Museum or Library. Oh, the shame! We did, however, go to Sir John Soane’s Museum (great!) and the Theatre Museum where we watched a cute little boy become transformed into a “Cat’s” character in the Stage Makeup Demo. DD and I also ran into the Victoria & Albert Museum just to see the clothing exhibit (fun Mary Quant pieces) and Morris exhibit (closed!) I would have loved to go to the theatre every night but could only manage one night at Les Mis for which we were able to get great tickets at TKTS. Of course, the great drama of the week was the Pakistan vs. the cricket referee scandal.

8. There is more to London than Krispy Kreme – like mushy peas!
We never had a bad meal in London nor did we have a fantastic meal but this was a family trip not a foodie trip. Most of our meals were eaten in our hotel neighborhood. After a first morning terribly overpriced buffet breakfast at the hotel we bought our breakfasts at the many take-outs in the neighborhood. Paul and the aforementioned Krispy Kreme. Marquess of Anglesey, Tuttons Brasserie, The Ship Tavern, The Shakespeare, and The Crypt at St. Martins all offered good lunches. We had great Indian at Hasan Raja, good Thai at Pu Brasserie, very nice Italian at Café Pasta and a great steak dinner at Gaucho Grill. Bank Aldwych was a fun dinner place with decent food. DD did fall in love with the mushy peas often served with her fish and chips.

9. The Brits perception of America can be as laughable as ours of Britain.
I’m going a little off-track here but I have to tell you about an article that appeared in the British magazine Time Out while we were in London. The writer, Maggie Davis was describing her trip to Virginia and North Carolina. “…a land of unpredictable weather conditions…freak floods and treacherous terrains” “a 4x4 is advisable” Dang! I feel like a tough mountain woman able to survive that day in and day out. She drove up the Eastern shore where there are “beavers (I believe they were groundhogs) and rabbits running along the side of the road” to Chincoteague with its “strange but pleasant parochial people.” North Carolinians were “less wealthy, less conservative” than Virginians and unlike the Virginians didn’t give “phony flashes of very white teeth” GRRRR. Do you see my teeth now Miss Maggie??

10. London is a gorgeous, tourist-friendly, wonderfully historic city.
The British have a right to be proud. As I was floating above the city on the London Eye I couldn’t help but remember my surprise that our French foreign exchange student wasn’t more impressed with Washington DC. I thought it was just typical French ennui. Now I am beginning to understand. Yes, I know I’m gushing and sound naïve and yes, I know London didn’t even make Travel & Leisure’s top 10 cities in the world but I did love it. Even DD, who hates NY, fell in love with London. When we celebrate Jamestown’s 400th next year I will remember all the gorgeous 14th, 15th , and 16th century buildings and the piece of the Roman wall we saw. I can’t wait to go back.