huskermamo

Will come to London mid July for just five days. We have our dream itinerary in mind, but wonder about traveling between the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel and sights. Do you have advice for someone with arthritic knees? Walking is fine but long stairways are a problem. Aren't there a lot of steps to the Tube? Alternate suggested means of transportation from hotel to Westminster Abbey, for example? And being enamored with anything royal, where do you suggest that we find silly, little souvenirs that have a royal flavor? Thanks in advance for your experience and willingness to help me and my daughter have a wonderful trip.

jamikins

Most tube stations involve quite a few (to A LOT) of stairs, especially if you have to change lines. I would highly recommend the excellent bus system! You can see the bus maps at www.tfl.gov.uk and your hotel should be able to help you out as well.

Its very easy to use and goes pretty much everywher you will want to go.

Enjoy!

cmcfong

I just returned from a London visit and found many of the escalators in the tube stations to be not working (quite the challenge with luggage). They are very steep and busy. You may want to consider using the buses more than the tube. I found taxis to be prohibitively expensive. Even very short trips were 15-20 pounds.

I would suggest you stop in at the shop at the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, they had quite an array of silly little souvenirs with a royal flavor.

Enjoy yourself. It is a wonderful city!

PatrickLondon

Most staircases in the tube will be no more than a dozen or so steps in any one flight, but, yes, there are quite a lot. Tower Hill station (your nearest) has two or three flights of stairs between the platforms and the surface.

However, you have the alternative of local bus services, which will get you to a fair number of places, albeit a bit slower:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...ondon-2261.pdf

For Westminster Abbey, if you really can't face the stairs at Tower Hill, take the 15 bus from outside the Tower and change at St Pauls to the 11:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...ouse-12501.pdf

Be careful crossing the roads in that area, by the way. Your hotel on Prescot Street is in the middle of a one-way system, and drivers round there can get pretty impatient. Be aware, too, that it's on the edge of the City, essentially the business district, and rather quiet in terms of restaurants at the weekend. You won't starve, but you may need to walk as afar as the other side of the Tower, past the Merchant Navy Memorial garden, or in the opposite direction to Leman St, which has a number of pubs and Indian restaurants.

As for Jubilee souvenirs, keep your eyes peeled in the department stores and the cheapo stalls along Oxford Street - but pretty well anywhere there will be all sorts of things, tasteful and tat.

huskermamo

Bless you for the suggestion, jamikins. I see that the trip reporter mentioned getting on a bus but it was going the wrong way. We will have to mind the signs carefully to avoid that. The website you recommend is amazingly helpful! Thanks again.

PatrickLondon

TfL do a step-free guide to the tube:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...-guide-map.pdf

You'll also need the bus map in this:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/15101.aspx

huskermamo

PatrickLondon, I will print your response to carry with us as we navigate our hotel's neighborhood. I can't thank you enough.

jamikins

My pleasure! You can always ask the bus driver if you are going the right way!

Have a lovely trip!

BigRuss

Because you'll be at the Tower, you'll be closest to the "cut-and-cover" lines - the District and Circle lines. Those two are NOT deep beneath the ground and are not "tube" lines. So that will drastically cut your steps and you can take them to Westminster or various other areas (e.g., Kings Cross for the British Library). But Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and the West End are served only by deep tube lines.

The #15 bus runs near the Tower past St Paul's to Trafalgar Sq and through the West End to Oxford Circus. The classic Routemaster buses also run on this route from the Tower to Trafalgar Sq.

laurie_ann

And if you want to plan a specific trip whether by bus or tube you can use the journey planner part of the website.

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/use..._TRIP_REQUEST2

On page you get if you select "more options" you can

-check or un-check the diffent modes of transportation so you can plan a route just by bus and

-select various other limitations you might have like this:

"My mobility requirements

I cannot use stairs
I cannot use escalators
I cannot use lifts
I use wheelchair accessible vehicles"

(For those who don't speak British English a "lift" is what we in Chicago call an elevator.)

huskermamo

How very thoughtful and helpful you all are. Thank you SO much.

janisj

You'll do best using the Circle/District lines and buses. But Tower Hill station can be difficult. The #15 bus route is very useful to get to several major sites.

I'm going to be a bit provocative here - MUST you stay at that hotel? Is it a pre-paid booking w/o a cancellation option?

It is very nice property, But I'm not sure I'd stay there if I had limited mobility. It is a looooong way from most sites except for the Tower and St Katharine's Marina.

huskermamo

Yeah, it's a pre-paid booking. What are ya gonna do? But we can make the best of it and we won't be there much, preferring to travel here and there. And with the kind advice from our fodor friends, we can figure out how to travel well too!
Thanks for your help.

carolyn

The Tower of London has a nice gift shop if you are going to be there. My nieces bought flat velvet Christmas ornaments of royal stuff for all the family, and they are quite attractive as well as packable.

Ackislander

The buses are far more interesting than the Tube anyway. You get to see far more, and it is fun to link up various routes to see as much of London as you can. We walk until we are tired, then hop a bus going in our direction.

I would strongly recommend that you buy a map book called a London A-Z (pronounced "A to Zed"). It has detailed maps of London in a convenient format, it is available everywhere, and all our English friends use them routinely, so you won't stand out as a tourist.

PatrickLondon

I wouldn't worry too much about the mobility issue with that hotel. It's within 5 - 10 minutes' walk of the westbound bus stops outside the Tower (depending on waiting for the traffic lights, to get across the road), and about the same to get up to Aldgate East (come to think of it, that might be easier to get to):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...east-15651.pdf

PatrickLondon

And while I think of it, if you're here on a Sunday, walking little beyond Aldgate East will bring you to the Sunday markets at Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields, which may well have some interesting souvenirs for you.

huskermamo

Patrick London, I wondered about that Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields (the name alone makes me giggle). What do we expect to find at these markets? That's a great idea. And upon further thought, I'm glad our hotel isn't in the middle of the famous sites because one of the things I most adore about traveling is seeing how people there live. I see that there are several schools by our hotel so there must be folks leading their daily lives around us. Great! And if you suggest that we go to Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields, we'll do it! Thanks

janisj

"<i>I'm glad our hotel isn't in the middle of the famous sites because one of the things I most adore about traveling is seeing how people there live. I see that there are several schools by our hotel so there must be folks leading their daily lives around us. </i>"

I do hope you aren't picturing a leafy (or non-leafy) residential area. This is a VERY business oriented neighborhood.

Checkout the London Walks 'Old Jewish Quarter' walk it leaves from Tower Hill station and tours your general area ending at Spittalfields. http://www.walks.com/

huskermamo

janisj, I just visited your walks.com site and the Old Jewish Quarter. How FASCINATING! After visiting Westminster, how neat to see something so different as the synagogue there! And the charming front doors shown on the youtube video. I am so grateful for your suggestion! I just wish that I could help you all out! Anybody want to know anything about LIncoln, Nebraska?!? heh heh