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quirky and/or off the beaten path london?
I'm going to London next weekend to visit a friend who is working over there on a business trip--I arrive from Ireland on Thursday night, and have all of Friday to myself to explore while she's at the office! I've been to London once before (for a week, three years ago), and hit all the major sites and museums--Tate Modern, St. Paul's, Westminster/Parliament, Nat'l Gallery, Tower of London, British Museum, Buckingham Palace...this time I'm looking for some quirkier, off the beaten path type things to do on my own--I love architecture, art, food, and shopping, if that helps--any suggestions??
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Well, I've been to London over a dozen times, and only the last trip I decided to visit some of the "less popular" sights.
Anyway, places I went last time included: Queen's Gallery Apsley House British Library Kenwood House (in Hampstead) John Soane's Museum Courtauld Gallery Churchill Museum/Cabinet War Rooms Imperial War Museum Royal Academy of Arts Wallace Collection Here's my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35064483 You can also visit the Tate Museum - lots of Turner. |
check out Camden Lock Market (Camden town tube stop) it has hours worth of quirky vendors and great food to explore. I think there is a website if you google it.
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I used to live in London circa 1986 and in Surrey for many years so when I get there next week there are a few quirky and off the beaten path activities on my to do list.
Check this out for architecture... www.mandir.org |
Here's a previous thread of recommendations for returning visitors to London. Included is a priceless response from Ben Haines "Second and Third Visits."
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take some of the walking tours. you dont need to prebook--just show up which is a real help if the weather doesnt cooperate(wow, in London??). also, the Museum of Design which is almost under the tower bridge on the opposite side of the thames from the Tower. We saw a great special event on Porshe once when we were there.
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I'll add Highgate to the list. On a trip to London at the beginning of March we also tried to go to some less well-trod places. We managed to do:
Borough Market Southwark Cathedral Highgate Village and East and West Cemetery – and walking down to catch the bus I saw a Banksy (thanks for that last post Apres!) Isle of Dogs Wallace Collection And we tred some of our usual haunts – all in all a great weekend |
The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons (34-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields) in London is excellent (and quirky/off-the-beaten-path).
It's also completely free and across the street from a very nice park (grab a sandwich and have lunch outdoors if it's nice). |
Check Time Out after you are in London. There will be listings of festivals, lectures, quirky museums, walks etc. Go to some fringe theatre - also listed in Time Out or at londontheatre.co.uk
But w/ just a week last time, you still have a lot of "on the beaten path" places left - a week can only barely scratch the surface. |
No need to buy Time Out - see this site:
http://www.timeout.com/london/ After visiting Borough Market, you might like to get on the DLR at Bank tube station, and go through Docklands and Canary Wharf to Greenwich (get off at Cutty Sark station). You need a zone 1&2 travelcard or equivalent on your Oystercard. Greenwich has lots of pubs and restaurants (eg the Yatch or the Cutty Sark pubs along the river) a market, the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, Greenwich Park, and the fabulous architecture of the old Royal Naval College. On your return trip you could walk under the river (through the old foot tunnel) to see the view from Island Gardens, then get on the DLR at Island Gardens. If you get off at West India Quay DLR, you can visit the Museum in Docklands (£5). |
some things we've done in London that are not on your list (not sure if they qualify as "quirky" but all are interesting)
Inns of Court and the Old Bailey Hampstead village and Heath including Kenwood House (a magnificant house with a great art collection) Hampton Court |
This is all super helpful--exactly the type of stuff I was looking for! I will have to research all these fun sounding places and figure out what I want to do...
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Wow, PatrickLondon's link to a map is a great one; this looks like a great source for major and off the beaten path sights! We're trying to do both on our 2-week trip in July, and this will be a great checklist for me (I think all our ideas for stops, sights, and walks are on here except for Little Venice canal trip)
wanderluster--Someone made a suggestion about traveling to Greenwich which we plan to try: Travel on DLR TO Greenwich--getting off and walking under Thames if we want--and then catch one of the boat tours AWAY from Greenwich.--The reasoning was the incredible photo ops--Getting off DLR on other side of Thames afforded shots of Greenwich and it seemed this person thought boat tour shots going back toward the Tower and Westminster were better coming from Greenwich. If you're not "into" photos (how could you not be in London, though!), then it won't matter which way you travel. The market there is supposed to be a good one on Saturday. |
Sure, there is no need to buy a Time Out - but I buy one for every week I'm in London. Internet access is not always where you want when you want, and even when I take my own laptop - I don't usually have a printer. So having a real magazine you can dog ear, or tear out pages is a big help.
And printing out the entries at home from last week's TO won't help much w/ this week's entries. TO doesn't cost much . . . . . |
Brompton Cemetery for something weird - some famous films have used the tipping old stones and huge graveyard as a set
in Hammersmith |
Cemetery i think is in Fulham not Hammersmith proper - anyway right behind the Chelsea Football Club modern stadium
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PQ: Brompton Cemetery is practically across the street from Earls' Court Exhibition centre. Right at the West Brompton tube station but also a very short walk from Earl's Court tube. Not what I'd call Fulham - though it isn't far from Fulham Broadway tube stn.
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If you like architecture, you will be interested in Sir John Soane's museum; he was a famous architect, and the museum's his house. And have you been to the Tate Britain? Lots of lovely Turners.
Another treasure is the British Library's Treasure Gallery. Original manuscripts of works by Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Jane Austen, Mozart, Wordsworth, and many more plus the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible. Really a wondrous place. |
Ditto above posters' suggestions for Southwark Cathedral and Hampstead Heath (esp. Parliament Hill--take the Belize Park tube stop, and head towards the East Heath). Last time I was in London, I tubed out to Richmond, and oh, I wish I'd done that before! What a lovely town! It was so nice to wander along the river there. Oh, and last time I was in London, I also visited Holland Park, which is another area of London not seen by many visitors. Quiet and peaceful.
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This is so fabulous—the Design Museum, the Camden Lock Market, Southwark Cathedral, Brompton Cemetery, the Hunterian Museum, and the British Library's Treasure Gallery all sound like things I’ll want to do…now to narrow it down for a weekend!
Here’s another question since you all know so much about London! When I was last there, I had brunch in this really cool neighborhood—it had an up and coming feel with tons of loft/warehouse type spaces, and not too many stores or apartments…I have no idea where in London it was, but it felt like Tribeca in NYC or DUMBO in Brooklyn. I can’t seem to match this to any descriptions in guidebooks and would love to find this neighborhood again—any help here? Thanks in advance! PS That slow travel map is AMAZING!! |
Rotherhithe, along the Thames - redeveloped old warehouses now upscale flats, etc.?
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You'll have to give us a <i>bit</i> more info/description. There are lots of London neighborhoods that are "up and coming with tons of loft/warehouse type spaces, and not too many stores or apartments"
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PalenQ—I found a slideshow of Rotherhithe on bbc.co.uk, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like the place I have in mind…it wasn’t on the water in my memory…
Sorry janisj, the last time I was in London was three years ago and what I described is about all I can recall...that and loads of drunk Scottish boys who had clearly been out all night, trying to chat up my friend and me while we waited for our table :) |
Aah - Now we know WHY you want to find this place again :D
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Brompton Cemetary is indeed a victorian wonder. It's also a gay cruising ground.
There are other similar cemetaries around london Highgate and Kensall Green are the best - and they don't have the "other activities". Kensall Green also has catacombs which are very spooky in a gothic way. The Leighton house in Kensington is a hidden gem: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/LHLeightonHou...ur/default.asp |
Well, if you go to the Leighton House, not too far away is the Linley Sambourne House, a fully preserved Victorian house that belonged to a Punch cartoonist: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/linleysambour...al/default.asp. You may have to book ahead.
Also another thought. I had been to London several times before I discovered the Regent's Canal on a walking tour. Here's a sample picture: http://tinyurl.com/5lzpah. On a nice day a boat trip on the canal past Regent's Park would be a great break from the city. And nobody has mentioned London Walks: www.walks.com. Lots of quirky things there as well as guided trips to Greenwich and via Richmond to Hampton Court Palace. Looks like we could run on forever about London's many sights. |
save for later
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You could also visit the largest Hindu temple outside of India--definitely off the usual tourist path. And reachable by Tube.
http://www.mandir.org/ |
wanderluster - what you're thinking of could be in a number of places, possibly around Shad Thames (near the Design Museum, not as far east as Rotherhithe), or maybe Shoreditch/Old St/Hoxton (that might be more likely for people who'd been out all night). Maybe even a bit of Clerkenwell.
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bookmarking
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My husband and I visited London last year with a wallet full of British notes which we obtained from our bank in Canada just before we left. Our first attempt to use them, at Harrod's of all places, proved unsuccessful. It turned out that they were about 25 years out of date!! Well, that was the bad news. The good news was that we could exchange them for current notes if we went to the Bank of England.
What seemed like a real bother, turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon. Not only is the bank itself beautiful (notwithstanding the airport style x-ray security at the entrance!), but an employee told us about the Bank of England museum next door. We spent a fascinating couple of hours in there looking at the displays which trace banking right back to its very beginnings. I know it sounds boring, but it really wasn't!! And it was free! I would place a visit to this museum in the "quirky" category -- and while you are in the financial district, make sure you have a look at the "Gherkin" (my favorite landmark in London) and the Lloyds Building (my pick as the UGLIEST building in the world - looks like a fusion of Canadian grain elevators and oil refineries). Now they are definitely "quirky"! |
Last Jan i had some five pound notes from a year ago and was refused them as well and had to go to a bank to get new ones
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I love that story about the Bank of England (although you should seriously thinking about changing banks in Canada!) ... Another London neighborhood that's quirky and good for walking and shopping is Spitalfields market and the surrounding area, which is just behind Liverpool Street train station. (Do check the market's opening hours before you go, though, because they are open rather limited hours on some days.) Not far from Spitalfields on Kingsland Road is the Geffrye, one of the city's nicer small museums, with rooms decorated in period furnishings.
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How about the Old Operating Theater museum? In Southwark IIRC.
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We were just in London over the Easter week (VERY cold!!). Our favorite day was walking thru Marylebone High Street. Great shops, nice shopkeepers. We loved DAUNT, the bookstore there. The folks there were great and the selection was wonderful. The store has very quaint architecture too.
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Temple Church
Museum of Garden History Museum of London Florence Nightingale Museum Queen's Gallery Dulwich Picture Gallery - 10 minutes by train from London Victoria - Check the website |
I love the John Soane museum. If you're into quirkiness, art and architecture, I think you'd be pleased with it, too.
Otherwise, you might visit the Portobello Road market in Notting Hill for some offbeat shopping. Enjoy! |
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