We will be in London for only 1 week in February and would like some recommendations for "things we should see" from a Londoners point of view, rather than a tour book - and good local/ethnic restaurants (we live in New York City so we don't want fancy "continental" type food - something more like a trattoria in Italy would suit us). It's not about the money - we would like to try restaurants where Londoners go with friends to enjoy the meal.<BR>All help will be greatly appreciated.<BR>

Things to see - where to start! I would definately include the London Eye as something to see - the view alone is spectacular. You could spend a day doing the traditional tourist things - Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square are all close enough to each other to walk. You could also visit some of the parks, if you like that sort of thing - Richmond Park is particularly nice, I'm told. If you can, take in a show.<BR><BR>As for eating, if you like ethnic food then there's plenty of that around. Brick Lane in the east end is the centre for Indian restaurants, and Chinese restaurants are clustered in Soho.<BR><BR>If you can, try and get the Evening Standard on a Thursday to get the "Hot Tickets" magazine, or look at their website www.thisislondon.co.uk

Tooting is also superb for Indian food.<BR><BR>Northern Line, maybe 20 minutes from Charing Cross. Tooting Bec or Tooting Broadway. really really good Indian food - and lots of choices.<BR><BR>Beth

I second Keith's suggestion of looking up the London Evening Standard website www.thisislondon.co.uk - full of great info on restaurants and things to do. For restaurants try taking a look at Hardens guide www.hardens.com for excellent (and objective) advice on London's restaurants - it allows you to do searches on the particular ethnic cuisine you want e.g Thai, Italian etc<BR><BR>Over things to do in London Keith's mentioned a lot of good stuff already - I would also mention The British Museum, Cabinet War Rooms, Victoria and Albert Museum, Harrods, a day trip out to Hampton Court Palace or Windsor, Covent Garden and a walk along the Queens Walk (the south side of the Thames) from Tower Bridge to the London Eye. Plus if you're really brave how about seeing a football (soccer)match?<BR><BR>Whatever you choose I hope you enjoy your stay here - good news is that the weather is getting sunnier (albeit colder) over the next few days<BR><BR><BR>

Hi<BR>Other excellent resources for London restaurants are the Zagat guide, timeout.com and www.squaremeal.co.uk<BR>

Yeah - forgot about Tooting (silly really - I live near there!) It's mainly South Indian / Sri Lankan restaurants, but there are loads of them.