Tell me what you love about London.
Oct 19th, 2015, 06:07 PM
#21
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Latedaytraveler....and Carolyn....wow what great info!
I do know what you mean about the difference between Paris and London. I remember thinking London was very urban, energetic, edgy and had this great fusion of modern and classic/traditional all side by side. Paris is quite different, and yes more beautiful but (to me) but I never meant for it to take so long to go back to London.
Jelopez33... Have always wanted to go back to Herrod's. That was the first massive good hall I had ever seen. I could see myself finding an excuse for a glass of Champage there.
All wonderful info....thanks for contributing.
I do know what you mean about the difference between Paris and London. I remember thinking London was very urban, energetic, edgy and had this great fusion of modern and classic/traditional all side by side. Paris is quite different, and yes more beautiful but (to me) but I never meant for it to take so long to go back to London.
Jelopez33... Have always wanted to go back to Herrod's. That was the first massive good hall I had ever seen. I could see myself finding an excuse for a glass of Champage there.
All wonderful info....thanks for contributing.
Oct 19th, 2015, 09:03 PM
#22
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denisea,
I'm presuming you've already seen this thread, which is our TR from three months in London.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
I agree London is not as attractive a city as Paris but it is wonderfully interesting and there's something for all interests. I've written a lot about many of the smaller museums on my blog, there's lots on there
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/search/label/London
For me London offers THEATRE, HISTORY and MUSEUMS.
1) For theatre I'd look at the National
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...re-london.html
2) For history I'd consider a walk, there are lots of recommendations her or buy walking guidebook. There are so many interesting walks in London, Jewish walks, London Walks, street art walks Charles Booth Poverty map walks, Suffragette walks etc. You can find maritime history in Greenwich, Royal history at Hampton Court, military history at IWM. Literary history in Bloomsbury. legal History at the Inns of Court. Architectural history at the Soane Museum. Pick the history you're interested in and find it!
3) Museums - You've already got lots of great recommendations and the museums are incredible. Depending on how much time you have i'd consider adding some smaller places like Leighton House or 18 Stafford Terrace.
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...sambourne.html
Get out of the West End, try heading east, Brick Lane, Colombia Rd Flower Market or Broadway market. I have lots of recommendations on the blog for restaurant and or places to visit from Shoreditch via Spitalfields to Bethnal Green.
PS I agree the NPG, the V&A, the Wallace and the Courtauld are lovely. We enjoyed the SkyGarden but you could also do breakfast at the Duck and Waffle - if you book in advance
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...with-view.html
I'm presuming you've already seen this thread, which is our TR from three months in London.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
I agree London is not as attractive a city as Paris but it is wonderfully interesting and there's something for all interests. I've written a lot about many of the smaller museums on my blog, there's lots on there
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/search/label/London
For me London offers THEATRE, HISTORY and MUSEUMS.
1) For theatre I'd look at the National
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...re-london.html
2) For history I'd consider a walk, there are lots of recommendations her or buy walking guidebook. There are so many interesting walks in London, Jewish walks, London Walks, street art walks Charles Booth Poverty map walks, Suffragette walks etc. You can find maritime history in Greenwich, Royal history at Hampton Court, military history at IWM. Literary history in Bloomsbury. legal History at the Inns of Court. Architectural history at the Soane Museum. Pick the history you're interested in and find it!
3) Museums - You've already got lots of great recommendations and the museums are incredible. Depending on how much time you have i'd consider adding some smaller places like Leighton House or 18 Stafford Terrace.
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...sambourne.html
Get out of the West End, try heading east, Brick Lane, Colombia Rd Flower Market or Broadway market. I have lots of recommendations on the blog for restaurant and or places to visit from Shoreditch via Spitalfields to Bethnal Green.
PS I agree the NPG, the V&A, the Wallace and the Courtauld are lovely. We enjoyed the SkyGarden but you could also do breakfast at the Duck and Waffle - if you book in advance
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...with-view.html
Oct 20th, 2015, 12:46 AM
#23
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I have been to London in all seasons and over 36 years . I love the variety - always find a play or an exhibition that I want to see , revisit places like the V&A , find new ones courtesy of Fodorites , do more London walks, visit friends who take me to places like Brighton, Sissinghurst , St Albans. I have been to weddings , visited my daughter whilst she worked there, taken my son and DIL to London - they lived up in Yorkshire . I enjoy the markets eg Borough , Berwick Street.
Have done pub crawls - not recently !!
Discovered 20 Fenchruch Street walker talkie last visit and took Londoners there. Went to the Chelsea Garden show earlier this year .
Found churches and other venues that my family had lived in or worshipped in . Love the history from Roman to the present .
London has it all for me .
Have done pub crawls - not recently !!
Discovered 20 Fenchruch Street walker talkie last visit and took Londoners there. Went to the Chelsea Garden show earlier this year .
Found churches and other venues that my family had lived in or worshipped in . Love the history from Roman to the present .
London has it all for me .
Oct 20th, 2015, 10:59 AM
#25
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It's not about what I love about London: I'm English, so I don't do "loving" inanimate objects.
But London's a very different city from 15 years ago. Its centre's far more affluent and more spruced up, at least for the next 2 years fuller of construction (mostly subterranean, but it plays havoc with the traffic), more crowded and more multilingual (we weren't just the only English speakers at a V&A exhibition on Sunday: we were the only English-speaking Europeans in a nearby Chinese. Once upon a time only English or Cantonese speakers ate Chinese: now in South Ken Cantonese is the local cuisine the French colonists take their weekending relatives to sample).
Its transport system has gone from being an embarrassment in Europe to demonstrating how properly-managed capitalism makes public-sector infrastructure work. Getting on a bus in Rome or Paris feels like going back a millennium.
And then there's the food. And the newly opened-up vistas and display spaces.
Post a separate question about what's changed.
But London's a very different city from 15 years ago. Its centre's far more affluent and more spruced up, at least for the next 2 years fuller of construction (mostly subterranean, but it plays havoc with the traffic), more crowded and more multilingual (we weren't just the only English speakers at a V&A exhibition on Sunday: we were the only English-speaking Europeans in a nearby Chinese. Once upon a time only English or Cantonese speakers ate Chinese: now in South Ken Cantonese is the local cuisine the French colonists take their weekending relatives to sample).
Its transport system has gone from being an embarrassment in Europe to demonstrating how properly-managed capitalism makes public-sector infrastructure work. Getting on a bus in Rome or Paris feels like going back a millennium.
And then there's the food. And the newly opened-up vistas and display spaces.
Post a separate question about what's changed.
Oct 20th, 2015, 12:14 PM
#26
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denisea, I am looking forward to your report after your trip! We were in London three years ago for a couple of days on our way to Italy and liked it but did not love it. It is a nice "gateway" to Europe, being easy to navigate speaking English.
We did have a fantastic Chinese dinner though - I'll see if I can dig up the contact info!
Now back to researching for my Positano apartment rental ...
We did have a fantastic Chinese dinner though - I'll see if I can dig up the contact info!
Now back to researching for my Positano apartment rental ...
Oct 20th, 2015, 01:59 PM
#27
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London is not as beautiful as Paris? It's certainly a lot cleaner, on the streets and underground. It has better public transport and taxis, and better service. Generally I also much prefer London restaurants to those in Paris.
London theatre is the best in the world - only New York can equal it. Having lived in London in the 90s, I agree with Flanneruk that it has improved a lot - even though I loved living there 25 years ago as well.
January and February are probably the least favorite months; you have the cold, without the festive cheer of November and December.
Go see a musical or play. Have tea at the Wallace Collection (and see the paintings as well), and if you're there in summer, go to the Regents Park Open Air Theatre.
London theatre is the best in the world - only New York can equal it. Having lived in London in the 90s, I agree with Flanneruk that it has improved a lot - even though I loved living there 25 years ago as well.
January and February are probably the least favorite months; you have the cold, without the festive cheer of November and December.
Go see a musical or play. Have tea at the Wallace Collection (and see the paintings as well), and if you're there in summer, go to the Regents Park Open Air Theatre.
Oct 20th, 2015, 04:25 PM
#28
"But London's a very different city from 15 years ago. Its centre's far more affluent and more spruced up"
Every time I return I notice the increasing affluence. My first visit was in 1971.
When I lived in London, back in the late Eighties, I knew a French couple who had left Paris for London. They preferred it because of the parks. Paris, they thought, needed more green spaces.
Every time I return I notice the increasing affluence. My first visit was in 1971.
When I lived in London, back in the late Eighties, I knew a French couple who had left Paris for London. They preferred it because of the parks. Paris, they thought, needed more green spaces.
Oct 20th, 2015, 05:17 PM
#29
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I love London.
Some of the things I have enjoyed in London:
The V&A. And have lunch in their cafe.
The Physic Garden in Chelsea
Selfridges
Marylebone High Street
The StreetArt walk by Londonwalks
The transport system makes it easy to get around and when you are tired of that London cabs are the only ones worth saving from Uber (Sort of joking)
Lots of good places to eat. I will have to do some digging to come up with names.
Some of the things I have enjoyed in London:
The V&A. And have lunch in their cafe.
The Physic Garden in Chelsea
Selfridges
Marylebone High Street
The StreetArt walk by Londonwalks
The transport system makes it easy to get around and when you are tired of that London cabs are the only ones worth saving from Uber (Sort of joking)
Lots of good places to eat. I will have to do some digging to come up with names.
Oct 20th, 2015, 05:28 PM
#30
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Hi again DENISEA,
Another suggestion - while visiting Borough's Market area on the Southbank, consider taking in THE SHARD, highest structure in Europe I believe. Dusk on a clear day is an excellent time to visit.
http://www.the-shard.com/
For historical contrast, check out the nearby GEORGE INN, an original coaching inn on the Thames.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/george-inn/
So much to do and see in London...
Another suggestion - while visiting Borough's Market area on the Southbank, consider taking in THE SHARD, highest structure in Europe I believe. Dusk on a clear day is an excellent time to visit.
http://www.the-shard.com/
For historical contrast, check out the nearby GEORGE INN, an original coaching inn on the Thames.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/george-inn/
So much to do and see in London...
Oct 20th, 2015, 05:28 PM
#31
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One outstanding restaurant was Lima, 31 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London.
Delicious Peruvian food and the Pisco sours went down very well. It was two years ago but I just had a quick look on TA and still looks good.
I can also highly recommend doing a bespoke guided walk around the City of London with Emma Krais, we did one and it was one of the best things we did on that trip. She is very personable, full of knowledge and enthusiasm for the history of London and she will tailor it to your interests.
emmakraistours.co.uk
Delicious Peruvian food and the Pisco sours went down very well. It was two years ago but I just had a quick look on TA and still looks good.
I can also highly recommend doing a bespoke guided walk around the City of London with Emma Krais, we did one and it was one of the best things we did on that trip. She is very personable, full of knowledge and enthusiasm for the history of London and she will tailor it to your interests.
emmakraistours.co.uk
Oct 21st, 2015, 02:49 AM
#32
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Loving all the suggestions. It's also interesting to read the comments regarding the changes in London. I liked London a lot when I was there (even though it's been a long time), so I am sure it is really top notch these days. Curious...Were the changes and improvements results of the Olympics and Royal Wedding?
Oct 21st, 2015, 03:55 AM
#33
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Nope. The royal wedding wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference. The Olympics meant a massive amount of money spent on some things necessary purely for the Olympics, others for which the games were merely a peg, like tje massive new developments around the Olympic Park and the city-wide improvements to public transport.
But the main driver is the insane property market in London and a planning system which tends to land quite a lot of decisions on the desk of successive executive mayors of London who (whatever their politics) appear never to have seen a skyscraper they didn't like the look of.
Part of that is pure speculation, and investment by people from countries where they can (currently) acquire a lot of money and want to find somewhere else, more politically and legally stable, where they can park it. That accounts for much of the really high-end market. What pull effect that has on the rest of the market, I don't know, but there is also a push effect from lots of younger people moving in to jobs in finance and various sorts of creative (and not always fatuous) activities, who all need office and work space as well as somewhere to live: and then there's all the people their money attracts, to provide their support services. But by that level, you're getting down to people working all the hours god sends (if they can get them) to pay for a share of a rabbit hutch somewhere (if they can scrape up an exorbitant rent).
Don't get me started......
But the main driver is the insane property market in London and a planning system which tends to land quite a lot of decisions on the desk of successive executive mayors of London who (whatever their politics) appear never to have seen a skyscraper they didn't like the look of.
Part of that is pure speculation, and investment by people from countries where they can (currently) acquire a lot of money and want to find somewhere else, more politically and legally stable, where they can park it. That accounts for much of the really high-end market. What pull effect that has on the rest of the market, I don't know, but there is also a push effect from lots of younger people moving in to jobs in finance and various sorts of creative (and not always fatuous) activities, who all need office and work space as well as somewhere to live: and then there's all the people their money attracts, to provide their support services. But by that level, you're getting down to people working all the hours god sends (if they can get them) to pay for a share of a rabbit hutch somewhere (if they can scrape up an exorbitant rent).
Don't get me started......
Oct 21st, 2015, 06:51 AM
#34
One place I've visited many times over the years, which I don't think has been mentioned, is Temple Church. It was badly damaged in the Blitz, but has been restored over the years. Look for the effigies of the knights in the floor. Apparently there's a scene in The Da Vinci Code set in the church, for which it was considerably spiffed up when the movie was filmed -- but don't let that discourage you!
Oct 21st, 2015, 08:49 AM
#36
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<Don't get me started......> LOL!
No lets keep you going you're doing a great job of outlining what's happening.
We read that more than two hundred tower blocks have been approved, obviously not just in the city but east and south of the river too, in areas like Vauxhall which have changed considerably.
I think it's hard for visitors to fathom how the rising rents and the numbers of speculative/overseas buyers have transformed neighborhoods in London It's not just a Mayfair phenomena anymore!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/wo...tors.html?_r=0.
No lets keep you going you're doing a great job of outlining what's happening.
We read that more than two hundred tower blocks have been approved, obviously not just in the city but east and south of the river too, in areas like Vauxhall which have changed considerably.
I think it's hard for visitors to fathom how the rising rents and the numbers of speculative/overseas buyers have transformed neighborhoods in London It's not just a Mayfair phenomena anymore!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/wo...tors.html?_r=0.
Oct 21st, 2015, 12:58 PM
#38
IMO, London has changed for the better since my first visit back in 1970 and since I'll be there again this coming Sunday I cannot say enough good about the place. It is what it is and I agree about the theatre options, too.
Oct 21st, 2015, 01:08 PM
#39
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http://searcys.co.uk/venues/st-pancr.../#.Vif-An6rS70 Just for you
Harrods
Borough Market
I have never had a proper tea so would love to do that.
Harrods
Borough Market
I have never had a proper tea so would love to do that.
