erinb

hi all,

Okay our itenenary is set for london. We are arriving morning of Thu oct 16th and leaving Fri, oct 24th. Our schedule is hectic but do-able I think...would you give me opinons?

Something you will notice is a lack of major sites in london. We have both been several times before and seen most of the major sites, what is left is the things that we have seemed to miss. This trip has alot of solo time where we split up, for me bookhunting, for her, shopping. With the exception of our day trips, we are trying to do most of our stuff together in the morning, then splitting and meeting each evening back at hotel for dinner or evening plans.

As far as meals go, For 5 out of the 8 evenings, we will pick up dinner at something cheap and quick, but we have three nice dinners planned, post theatre at Rock Garden, a dinner to be set later with 2 fodor friends, and then our final night at Hispaniola Restaurant on the river Thames. For lunches, same as dinner, for the most part something quick and fast and cheap except for 3 specials..1st day lunch at Orangery, Sunday Brunch at Dakota's on Ledbury (notting hill) and then Afternoon Tea at Browns Hotel on tuesday.

I think we have a great mix of stuff and the pound is killing me.. even with the cheap meals and lack of big attractions I am still looking at around an estimate of 400 pds just for attractions, trains, admissions and meals. aggghhhh...

my trip estimate without shopping money is now at $352 for airfare, $350 for hotel, and $600 meals and attractions and trainfare. Thats $1300 for 8 nights/9 days, or about $160 a day(including hotel and air). This includes 2 day trips, windsor and oxford. How is that???


Okay here's our itenenary!

Oct 16, gatwick express to victoria to gloucester, drop off luggage at hotel (Millennium Gloucester) then:

Kensington Palace/gardens
lunch Orangery
back to hotel to check in then
St Pauls Catherdral
dinner/shopping

Fri oct 17th,
Day trip to Windsor (paddington to windsor)
arrive back in london 4pm-5pm
back to hotel for rest, drop off until
Dinner 6-7:30(somewhere around Waterloo)
Imax (Matrix reloaded) 8:15

Sat Oct 18th,
Morning-Camden Market
lunch, then
Solo time(friend and I split, I head for bookhunting at charity shops)
Meet back at hotel for rest and drop off, then
St pauls for Ghost of London Walk at 7:30
Late Dinner

Sun Oct 19th
Morning-Bayswater Sidewalk Art Market
Sunday Brunch at Dakota's
then, at 1pm
Solo time(we split again)
I head to Museums, V&A and Science Museum(lord of rings exhibit)
Back at hotel for rest and drop off, then
7:30 Jack the Ripper Walk
Late Dinner

Mon Oct 20th
Morning-Day trip to oxford (paddington to oxford via train)
hop on hop off tour of oxford
sightseeing and shopping oxford
bookhunting oxford
5pm back to hotel for rest and drop off,
Evening solo time meet for dinner and either rest or shop locally around hotel

Tues Oct 21st

Morning-Madame Tussuads & Planetarium
Solo time for bookhunting
then back at hotel to change for afternoon tea and theatre
Afternoon-3:45 Browns Hotel for tea, meet foderite friend at tea
tea over at 5:30, then
head to theatre district
7:00pm Mama Mia at Prince Albert
Post theatre dinner at Rock Garden

Wed, Oct 22
Solo time(friend and I split)
for me all day
British Museum in morning
Bookhunting in afternoon
5:00 back at hotel for rest and drop off
Dinner (possibly meet 2 fodor friends for dinner)

Thu Oct 23rd
Solo Time
Bookhunting and last minute shopping
Oxford charity shop marathon in Zones 2 and 3 london
4pm back at hotel to rest, drop off & change,
6:30pm-Last night celebration dinner at Hispaniola Restaurant on the river Thames
(have you seen their menu....god!)
9pm head to tower hill for Ceremony of the Keys
Late night taxi ride thru London sites
back to hotel to pack

Fri Oct 24th...
Depart for home, gatwick express to Gatwick

Okay,...whewwww!

Opinions wanted!

allovereurope

Can I come? Love your itinerary! Seems like you both know what you're doing...the only thing left is to fix the currency markets so that it won't be so expensive!

Kavey

Looks wonderful to me too!

Anonymous

What they said -- if your friend cancels, let us know. Except that I'll go book-hunting with you! (Next trip, plan a night or two in Hay-on-Wye).

You overall budget looks fine to me, though if you want to trim something I'd say that Madame Tussaud's is a prime candidate for nevermind.

And you might want to check reviews for the Orangery. We were there in summer 2001 just before it closed for renovations and although the place is charming, the menu and service at that time were definitely sub-mediocre.

Degas

erinb, tell us exactly where you plan to do all this book hunting. And inquiring minds want to know all about Dakota's!

travelingtedrows

Why don't you try going to the British Museum at night? They are open on (I think) Thursday and Friday nights until 8:30. Our family did that last year and it was great! Not too crowded and no school groups. (I spend a lot of time with kids but mass groups like that bug even me.) The Elgian Marbles and Library are always open during these nights. Other exhibits are rotated. One night it's the Egyptian. The other night something else. We went 2 nights and saw a lot of the museum. When we went back on our final day during the day, it was a very different and not as pleasant experience. However, there are some exhibits you can only see during the day. Have fun!

erinb

hi all,

Allover- you said it...the dollar just took another nosedive...last week it was $1.60 per pd, now it is 1.65...I am pulling my hair out. I was really hoping it was gonna be the other way around!

Anon-let me tell you I was tempted on the hay-on-wye thing, especially after I heard about the books, but with the other two day trips I just couldn't see doing it this trip. It's on the agenda next time. And if we get low on money, madame tussuads is the 1st to go! we had already decided that. As for the orangery, I here since they have done the renov..there do a wonderful lunch tea thing and so I am going to try it our 1st day. We will see...

degas-honeychild! I am just gonna get on that there bus and let my book dust nose lead the way....(grin) Seriously where I am bookhunting is at absolutely any and every charity shop I see along the way. (You know us southern women...give us a bargain hunt and we will hunt that bargain til it's dead...or we are!) The when is the two big solo days wed and thur. these are my days to just go and go at it. I am hitting the bus system that day and riding until I see a store. we will also be in oxford so I here there are alot of books in oxford! (there will be alot less when I am done, believe you me!)

As for Dakota's this was another recommend for me. I was trying to find a nice brunch on sunday and couldn't find one under 30 pounds (cripes! it just chicken eggs! and pork bellies!ya know!)

see ya later!

Nidwaldner_Chris

Have you booked for the Lord of the Rings exhibition yet? There aren't many time slots left for the 19th. This exhibition is proving very popular. I'm going on Oct. 25 and the earliest available when I booked earlier this week was 4pm! Also keep in mind that I think the week your in London is half-term-all the kids are out of school.

erinb

Hi chris,

Thanks for the heads up on that, yes I am going to that exhibition on sunday and hope to get in...I may try to book online this weekend...otherwise I can only hope to catch a ticket...

thanks!

HeatherH

Erinb, I am sure you know this, but just in case, I hear Charing Cross around Leicester Square has quite a few used (and new) book stores ...

erinb

Hi heather,

I actually heard the same and went there on my last trip...but it was really disappointing. You know, you get an idea in your head (34 charing cross rd movie). however, it looks like alot of the older shops have closed.

I did find one or two, but they were very small and bent more toward rare books. There was one new and used fiction store and that was nice, but the concept of charing cross rd and books seems to have fizzled somewhat with all the closings.

Thanks anyway!

HeatherH

Drat! That was where we were going to spend some of our time in London. If you would, (PLEASE PLEASE) post when you get back where some of the bookstores you found were?

Degas

Do a text search for London bookstores.

There was a thread about a month ago and got many good suggestions for all kinds of books in a wide variety of areas. Hope it helps.

WhoAmI

Erinb, I noticed that you mentioned dinner and shopping for Thursday and Monday evenings. I was just wondering where you planned to shop after dinner, since I thought that most stores closed around 7 or 8pm?

erinb

HI,

We will probably shop til they close or we drop, then have dinner...we don't mind late night dinners!

I appreciate the reminder though, I forget some cities are not actually 24 hour like ours are...hey, has Wal-Mart reached london yet??? (grin) You know, if they had, we may have been able to save the cost of the hotel room for my friend...it is her mecca! (double grin)!

John

Am I reading this correctly? $350 for 8 nights hotel room? Where are you staying?

AAFrequentFlyer

It has been a tradition with me to bring at least one piece of art from the places I visit. I did the Bayswater sidewalk art market, and to be honest with you, I would not do it again. The art work is amatuerish at best. I walked the whole lenght of Bayswater road, and the only thing I bought(cheap gifts for back home) were these miniture pub signs. That's it, and I'm not BSing you. Why not go for Portobello market on Saturday morning instead. Most of the stuff outside is clothes and junk, but I did find great antiques, art and yes, books in many of the inside stalls.

Have a great trip!

rickmav

I also think it is a good itinerary. From personal experience, however, have found book shopping can be murder on back and arms while trying to manoeuvre on the tube. Might be worthwhile to splurge on a cab back to hotel on days you load up. And also bring along a well constructed backpack.

I agree with anonymous re: Madame Tussauds, in fact it kind of stands out from the rest of your schedule as not being in character with other things you are doing. Perhaps, that's exactly why you are going!

If you get a bit tired of book shopping - is that possible? - you might rest your feet a bit at the Old Bailey and check out an English trial. Great fun and interesting, too.

In Oxford there's a great pub beside Blackwell's, called The White Horse (both places favourites of Inspector Morse). And the Botanic Garden is a great place to rest your feet, examine your book purchases and watch the 'punters' on the river.

Have a wonderful time.

erinb

Hi all,

John, I am staying at the Millennium Gloucester...the rate I quoted is half rate (I am sharing with a friend), but even still it was a steal. I will tell you that you will probably never see it because we actually got it on a technicality and the hotel is honoring it.

I will say, however, that during season you can find specials for their standard rooms as low as 75 pds a night. I have seen this several times over the last year. Right now it's running about 90 pds.

Rick...just the man I want to talk to...thanks so much for the recommends in Oxford. Thanks for the concern on the book weights, but I have my trusting shopping/book bag tote and it can hold a bundle of books. Also, this is the one part of the trip that we really haven't researched much and are in the process of doing so now. We plan to purchase the hop on and hop off bus tour for $8 pds and it is good all day. I figure we will do that tour 1st thing and kind of orient ourselves to the town..make note of areas we want to come back to....then just start hopping on and off. We are going to try and get there early and we have no set time to get back, although we would like it to be early evening. I am worried about something though, we originally had this scheduled for Wed. Do shops in british tourist towns close on Monday??? We had this problem with one of our day trips in paris.

Any recommendations on sites to tour or places to see, we would really appreciate it. If you would start a thread on Oxford, it may make it easier...this one is a book. (sorry you guys!).

AA FFLYER-I know the bayswater sidewalk is kind of cheesy...we actually have been before. And others, if you are a collector of good original art...listen to AA, this is not london's best..its a tourist thing. I like to purchase one or two things to remind me of the trip and I now limit my shopping spending for just one or two big things.

This trip is book hunting and that is not rare books, just good finds. (I can't afford otherwise). I am actually not a big art collector, but I am a big lithograph collector and they do have a great selection, or at least they did the last time I was there...I also like watercolors and they were several really nice ones the last time we went. They also had a great selection of homemade cards. Along with that, it is all about being outside, near the park, so that Sunday, unless it's raining, I just want to be leisurely.

Thanks all! I am over my anxiety attack!

flanneruk

erinb:
Oxford, as you'll discover, absolutely is not a tourist town. Nowhere with a BMW factory could ever be called this. Shops open 7 days a week, to the extent allowed by law.
You may be disappointed by its second-hand book resources, especially in Broad Street/Magdalen Street where the main bookshops are.
Try High St, opposite the Examination Schools, Turl St and, though it's a slog from the main sights, Jericho Books at 48 Walton St
A good source for stuff in Oxford is www.dailyinfo.co.uk. Work your way through to "shopping" for shops and opening times.