original london walks
 

Going to london in May. I've been on a couple of the original london walks and really enjoyed them. (thames pub walk and greenwich boat ride/walk) Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on their other walks. there are so many that sound interesting it is hard to choose!

Legal London was quite good. The buildings are interesting and the guide tells you a lot of information. THere is a whole thread on this subject from a couple of months ago.

Hi Jean: I went on the "Little Venice" walk and it was great. It starts at the Warwick Ave. tube stop and goes around an area of London that has a wonderful list of residents past and present. The canal area is very pretty, complete with Canada geese. Would certainly recommend it, as a peaceful place off the beaten track. The only others I have taken are the two that you mentioned. Have fun!<BR>Dale

Went on the Chelsea Pub Crawl and it was great! The guide was very interesting, pubs were terrific and, of course, the sites splendid. <BR><BR>I've also been on the Bloomsbury tour, which, V. Woolf and Maynard Keynes being personal, heroes of mine, was pitch perfect.<BR><BR>I have visted Greenwich with my family but would have enjoyed a guided tour as I am sure I missed some points of interest (don't miss Chcichester's Gypsy Moth II when you are there!).<BR><BR>Dave<BR><BR>

Hi Jean:<BR>We have taken a few and with our children (at the time teens) we enjoyed and were thrilled with the Ghost Walk which began at St Pauls. Our guide was excellent and well able to impart a sense of the ghostliness of some parts of the city. He took us past burial places of plague victims, by apparent ghost sightings in churches (St Barnabas), and other ghostly spots. We were definitely "spooked" but thrillingly so. <BR>My husband and some buddies did the Jack the Ripper walk one night and ended up in some very seedy pubs. So this one is definitely adults only.<BR>Enjoy!<BR>Lynn<BR>

Loved the Jack the Ripper tour, I'd recommend it to anyone. Maybe not kids under 12, though.

I've been on the Unknown East End tour, with the famous "Ripper" guide Donald Rumbelow, no crowds at all.It was very enjoyable.

You really must go to Whitehall and check in with the Ministry of Silly Walks and apply for your walking permit.

Do you think the Jack the Ripper walk is too grusome for two 15 year olds, one a boy an one a girl? Would the ghost walk be better? Also, which is better Big Bus or Original London for the hop on hop off tours?

I took my then-12 year old last year on Donald Rumbelow's Jack the Ripper walk and he enjoyed it immensely and has brought up different aspects of it repeatedly, so it made a good impression. However be forewarned that Mr R uses some explicit anatomical terms and candidly discusses prostitution, so if that would embarrass your 15 year olds, perhaps do another walk?

I took Mr. Rumbelow' Jack the Ripper walking tour and the descriptions did get gruesome, but then again, it is the Jack the Ripper story.... Within the framework of storytelling and walking about the sites where the victims were found, he presents a lot of history of London, which I don't think I would had heard about if it wasn't because of this specific tour.

A couple on my Ripper walk had also taken one in the afternoon--Dickens?--they thought it was just as great as the Ripper walk.