Visiting London in July - Suggestion please...
Jun 17th, 2011, 08:41 AM
#21
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The Tower of London and Tower Bridge are right next to each other, so visiting the former will mean you automatically get to see the latter.
I would scrap Madam Tussuards - it will not really give you a flavour of the UK, plus usually has very long queues.
Britian is quite sweary in general, so there is probably nowhere any of us can suggest that will be four-letter-word free!
I would scrap Madam Tussuards - it will not really give you a flavour of the UK, plus usually has very long queues.
Britian is quite sweary in general, so there is probably nowhere any of us can suggest that will be four-letter-word free!
Jun 17th, 2011, 08:51 AM
#22
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The thing is... If we stay 2 nights in Manchester, we can take our luggage with us and leave it at the hotel and that will work out fine as long as we can come back by the time for the flight on Tuesday morning (which you said is not logically possible).
If we stay only Sunday night in Manchester, then where do we put our luggage on Monday when we travel in Manchester? Also we have to carry our luggage back and check in again for one night in London. That's why I think 1 night is not going to work if 2 nights doesn't.
If we take a day trip, we can catch the virgin train at 06:17am to get to Manchester at 08:28am and leave at 20:15 to arrive back at 22:33. Doesn't that give us plenty of time to see things? Also, if nothing is opened by 8:45am, we can go to the park and relax until something is open. Does that make sense?
If we stay only Sunday night in Manchester, then where do we put our luggage on Monday when we travel in Manchester? Also we have to carry our luggage back and check in again for one night in London. That's why I think 1 night is not going to work if 2 nights doesn't.
If we take a day trip, we can catch the virgin train at 06:17am to get to Manchester at 08:28am and leave at 20:15 to arrive back at 22:33. Doesn't that give us plenty of time to see things? Also, if nothing is opened by 8:45am, we can go to the park and relax until something is open. Does that make sense?
Jun 17th, 2011, 10:08 AM
#23
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You're young, you can surely do the day trip you mentioned. It would be a busy day and you'd have to have a good plan so you can maximize your time. Certainly choose exactly what is most important to see ahead of time. Then check to make sure these things are open and figure out how you'll get from site to site.
Jun 17th, 2011, 03:47 PM
#24
Those trains don't leave from/arrive at <u>Uxbridge</u>. How do you plan on getting from Uxbridge to Euston Station by 0617?
The tube doesn't run early enough to get you there from Hillingdon. So you'd have to take buses and tube, leaving by about 0500.
And the return journey will get you back to Hillingdon at approx midnight.
I don't understand any of the comments about your luggage? Any hotel will hold your bags after you check out -- that means one at Uxbridge -- or one in Manchester.
I don't at all understand why you'd prefer traveling from 5 AM to Midnight when you could very easily do an overnight trip to Manchester.
The tube doesn't run early enough to get you there from Hillingdon. So you'd have to take buses and tube, leaving by about 0500.
And the return journey will get you back to Hillingdon at approx midnight.
I don't understand any of the comments about your luggage? Any hotel will hold your bags after you check out -- that means one at Uxbridge -- or one in Manchester.
I don't at all understand why you'd prefer traveling from 5 AM to Midnight when you could very easily do an overnight trip to Manchester.
Jun 17th, 2011, 09:27 PM
#25
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What's the earliest time the tube runs from Uxbridge and how late does it run until? Is it the same time every day?
I didn't know that the hotel would hold your luggage before or after you check out.. That's new to me. Do all the hotels do that in England? If so, then do you suggest I leave London around 7-8pm, stay 1 night in Manchester, check out the next day but ask them to hold on to our luggage, explore Manchester, come back for our luggage and head back to London that night?
I didn't know that the hotel would hold your luggage before or after you check out.. That's new to me. Do all the hotels do that in England? If so, then do you suggest I leave London around 7-8pm, stay 1 night in Manchester, check out the next day but ask them to hold on to our luggage, explore Manchester, come back for our luggage and head back to London that night?
Jun 17th, 2011, 10:05 PM
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Jun 17th, 2011, 10:51 PM
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<b> libraries</b>
London Oxford and Cambridge between them probably contain the world's greatest resource of libraries. But access to the working library bit of the really great libraries is heavily restricted: visiting scholars can register almost instantly, but it's virtually impossible for a casual tourist to get to the bookshelves. If your mother's interest in libraries has a professional basis (like she works in one), she'll probably find it easier to get into the main libraries through her professional organisation or through networking via colleagues. This obviously doesn't apply to ordinary, local council run,public libraries – but they're pretty much the same everywhere.
For the general tourist, interested in the region's five main libraries:
- Make sure your mother joins you on your visits to Oxford and Cambridge. In Oxford, the Bodleian has an intensive visit programme, accessible on its website: Merton College library (the oldest working library in the world) has very occasional public tours, also accessible on the Merton College website. In Cambridge, visitor access to the University Library is less commercialised and cheaper than at the Bodleian, but is also on the CU website. If there isn't time on your Oxford and Cambridge tours to see the libraries properly, your mother really ought to take separate trips. If libraries are your hobby, really exhaustive trips to Oxford and Cambridge are absolutely essential.
- In London, the public exhibition spaces at the British Library are, by a million zillion light-years, the finest book exhibitions in the known universe. But your mother still can't get into the working bits of the library. However, there is an ingenious system for handling its more modern (say 1500-1750) rare books: the restricted area where they are stored is a huge glass cage, with the spines facing outwards so that readers access them from the secure area, while casual visitors can see the photogenic spines, which reach right up across several floors.
The British Museum no longer holds a significant working library. But it retains its early 19th-century Reading Room, where lunatics like Karl Marx scribbled out (and, claims the propaganda, researched – though obviously never thought about - the data the nonsense purports to be based on) their destructive fantasies. The Room, which is beautiful as well as historical, has been kitted out to look pretty much the way it was when serious writers used it. With Merton and the Bodleian, the single site anyone interested in libraries has to see.
Between them, London Oxford and Cambridge have about 300 significant libraries over and above council run public libraries. Many of the more specialist ones (like the Wellcome medical library opposite the British Library,or the dozens of local history repositories around London)do offer much easier access to casual visitors. A more precise set of questions will get you more useful answers.
<b>Churches </b>.
I don't understand your question. If you want to attend a Baptist service at certain times and places, you're as capable as anyone else of checking whether there actually is a service at the times you want at the places you want.
If you're looking for a tourist-style recommendation (London has overwhelmingly the most outstanding church music in the world, and a few of Europe's most architecturally interesting major churches), you won't get any in Chelsea or Wimbledon.
London Oxford and Cambridge between them probably contain the world's greatest resource of libraries. But access to the working library bit of the really great libraries is heavily restricted: visiting scholars can register almost instantly, but it's virtually impossible for a casual tourist to get to the bookshelves. If your mother's interest in libraries has a professional basis (like she works in one), she'll probably find it easier to get into the main libraries through her professional organisation or through networking via colleagues. This obviously doesn't apply to ordinary, local council run,public libraries – but they're pretty much the same everywhere.
For the general tourist, interested in the region's five main libraries:
- Make sure your mother joins you on your visits to Oxford and Cambridge. In Oxford, the Bodleian has an intensive visit programme, accessible on its website: Merton College library (the oldest working library in the world) has very occasional public tours, also accessible on the Merton College website. In Cambridge, visitor access to the University Library is less commercialised and cheaper than at the Bodleian, but is also on the CU website. If there isn't time on your Oxford and Cambridge tours to see the libraries properly, your mother really ought to take separate trips. If libraries are your hobby, really exhaustive trips to Oxford and Cambridge are absolutely essential.
- In London, the public exhibition spaces at the British Library are, by a million zillion light-years, the finest book exhibitions in the known universe. But your mother still can't get into the working bits of the library. However, there is an ingenious system for handling its more modern (say 1500-1750) rare books: the restricted area where they are stored is a huge glass cage, with the spines facing outwards so that readers access them from the secure area, while casual visitors can see the photogenic spines, which reach right up across several floors.
The British Museum no longer holds a significant working library. But it retains its early 19th-century Reading Room, where lunatics like Karl Marx scribbled out (and, claims the propaganda, researched – though obviously never thought about - the data the nonsense purports to be based on) their destructive fantasies. The Room, which is beautiful as well as historical, has been kitted out to look pretty much the way it was when serious writers used it. With Merton and the Bodleian, the single site anyone interested in libraries has to see.
Between them, London Oxford and Cambridge have about 300 significant libraries over and above council run public libraries. Many of the more specialist ones (like the Wellcome medical library opposite the British Library,or the dozens of local history repositories around London)do offer much easier access to casual visitors. A more precise set of questions will get you more useful answers.
<b>Churches </b>.
I don't understand your question. If you want to attend a Baptist service at certain times and places, you're as capable as anyone else of checking whether there actually is a service at the times you want at the places you want.
If you're looking for a tourist-style recommendation (London has overwhelmingly the most outstanding church music in the world, and a few of Europe's most architecturally interesting major churches), you won't get any in Chelsea or Wimbledon.
Jun 18th, 2011, 01:20 AM
#29
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You do seem a bit niaive and confused about travel, but if you've led a sheltered life in the US, then I suppose that does explain it.
As far as Manchester goes: I take it by Old Trafford, you mean Manchester United's ground? If so, I am warming to you now! There is a stadium tour that takes 1-2 hours and allowing for travel to and from the ground you've got half a day right there. I agree with Rylands library as a must. It's bang in the City centre on Deansgate and a proper look round will take a couple of hours. Allowing for time for lunch will take up another 3 hours.
Heaton Park is too far out for you to fit it in and the NCM is not really open to tourists. The airport is an airport and although modern etc. it's not really a destination. Ancoats has been pulled apart and the old mills that haven't been knocked down are apartments now. There are some bits of historical "industrial revolution" left, but not much and you don't have time to find them.
That leaves the Whitworth, Science and Industry Museum or Central Library. By far the most imposing building is the Central Library, built with cotton money(as were all Manchester's Victorian buildings) but again you won't have time to see them all.
The Central Library is a 5 minute walk from Rylands and you get to it through Lincoln Square, with its statue of Abe in the middle. The Whitworth is another 5 minute stroll away on the other side of the Town Hall. If you want history, then see the Town Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings around, both inside and out.
As far as Manchester goes: I take it by Old Trafford, you mean Manchester United's ground? If so, I am warming to you now! There is a stadium tour that takes 1-2 hours and allowing for travel to and from the ground you've got half a day right there. I agree with Rylands library as a must. It's bang in the City centre on Deansgate and a proper look round will take a couple of hours. Allowing for time for lunch will take up another 3 hours.
Heaton Park is too far out for you to fit it in and the NCM is not really open to tourists. The airport is an airport and although modern etc. it's not really a destination. Ancoats has been pulled apart and the old mills that haven't been knocked down are apartments now. There are some bits of historical "industrial revolution" left, but not much and you don't have time to find them.
That leaves the Whitworth, Science and Industry Museum or Central Library. By far the most imposing building is the Central Library, built with cotton money(as were all Manchester's Victorian buildings) but again you won't have time to see them all.
The Central Library is a 5 minute walk from Rylands and you get to it through Lincoln Square, with its statue of Abe in the middle. The Whitworth is another 5 minute stroll away on the other side of the Town Hall. If you want history, then see the Town Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings around, both inside and out.
Jun 18th, 2011, 06:10 AM
#30
ok, here are my suggestions to try and whip [said in its non suggestive sense] your trip into shape.
1. use priceline to get a decent place to stay in central london when you arrive. staying out of the centre may be cheap but it may also be less clean than you should like, and the constant travelling into london will eat up any savings you have made.
2. although anglican services vary according to time of day, purpose, etc. they normally take the same sort of form with prayers, reading, hymns, [in which the congregation normally join] and sermons, with, if you are lucky, some organ music and or choral singing. - as well as Westminster Abbey there are a number of churches in London where you could listen to some very good music for example the Temple Church, which has an excellent choir and a newly restored organ:
http://www.templechurch.com/
the July schedule is not up yet, but should be soon.
3. the manchester trip. i just don't see how you're going to fit this in. your family arrive at 6.30 pm on the saturday, and you have your conference starting on the Monday. i don't know where they are coming from, but do your family really want to spend all day on sunday trekking to Manchester and back, or have i misunderstood your schedule?
4. I'm interested in the London walks but I'm not sure I can understand the English accent well. Would I enjoy it even if I don't understand what they say?>>
heaven help you in Manchester then.
1. use priceline to get a decent place to stay in central london when you arrive. staying out of the centre may be cheap but it may also be less clean than you should like, and the constant travelling into london will eat up any savings you have made.
2. although anglican services vary according to time of day, purpose, etc. they normally take the same sort of form with prayers, reading, hymns, [in which the congregation normally join] and sermons, with, if you are lucky, some organ music and or choral singing. - as well as Westminster Abbey there are a number of churches in London where you could listen to some very good music for example the Temple Church, which has an excellent choir and a newly restored organ:
http://www.templechurch.com/
the July schedule is not up yet, but should be soon.
3. the manchester trip. i just don't see how you're going to fit this in. your family arrive at 6.30 pm on the saturday, and you have your conference starting on the Monday. i don't know where they are coming from, but do your family really want to spend all day on sunday trekking to Manchester and back, or have i misunderstood your schedule?
4. I'm interested in the London walks but I'm not sure I can understand the English accent well. Would I enjoy it even if I don't understand what they say?>>
heaven help you in Manchester then.
Jun 18th, 2011, 08:18 AM
#31
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I would also suggest leaving Manchester out, unless you are really determined. Of the places you mention, Heaton Park and the Central Library are not worthy of visiting. I live around the corner from Heaton Park and rarely go there, the grounds are not especially attractive and the Hall is an ugly building. Its only saving grace is they sell home made honey. The Manchester Science and Industy Museum (and indeed the Manchester Museum) are worth a visit. Old Trafford is for football fans so if you are in to football it is definitely worth a trip. Good luck.
Jun 18th, 2011, 09:03 PM
#32
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annhig:
I believe you misunderstood our schedule. The first Sunday is not when we plan to go to Manchester. It's the second Sunday. We will be in church during the day so we will leave at night if we plan to spend a night in Manchester. Then we spend the next day (2nd Monday) in Manchester. Come back Monday night (or stay another night there if I can figure a way to be at LHR Tuesday by 10:30am or 11am the latest)
I survived a trip to Japan on my own and they don't even speak English there... We'll be fine in Manchester. Sightseeing is one thing, trying to enjoy a guided tour where the guide may be far away and you have a hard time figuring out what they say is another.
stevelyon:
I will leave out Heaton Park. My mom would not want to skip a library so we may give the Central library a short visit as it's in the area where we will be. I saw that Manchester museum has the Harley Davidson show so I thought that would be worthwhile. My dad and cousin are football fans and the Old Trafford is a must for them. I even mentioned to them about forgetting Manchester and they would still go on their own. They are the main reason we are visiting Manchester..
I believe you misunderstood our schedule. The first Sunday is not when we plan to go to Manchester. It's the second Sunday. We will be in church during the day so we will leave at night if we plan to spend a night in Manchester. Then we spend the next day (2nd Monday) in Manchester. Come back Monday night (or stay another night there if I can figure a way to be at LHR Tuesday by 10:30am or 11am the latest)
I survived a trip to Japan on my own and they don't even speak English there... We'll be fine in Manchester. Sightseeing is one thing, trying to enjoy a guided tour where the guide may be far away and you have a hard time figuring out what they say is another.
stevelyon:
I will leave out Heaton Park. My mom would not want to skip a library so we may give the Central library a short visit as it's in the area where we will be. I saw that Manchester museum has the Harley Davidson show so I thought that would be worthwhile. My dad and cousin are football fans and the Old Trafford is a must for them. I even mentioned to them about forgetting Manchester and they would still go on their own. They are the main reason we are visiting Manchester..
Jun 19th, 2011, 05:14 AM
#33
you're right, HP, I did. then i'm in the 2 nights in Manchester camp.
re the guided tours, I assume that you're OK with the differing accents you hear in the US? in which case the "accent" of the average London Walks guide should be no problem. you may struggle in Manchester but if you are not taking a tour, you will as you say, survive.
re the guided tours, I assume that you're OK with the differing accents you hear in the US? in which case the "accent" of the average London Walks guide should be no problem. you may struggle in Manchester but if you are not taking a tour, you will as you say, survive.
Jun 19th, 2011, 09:12 PM
#34
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Annhig:
So you think we can leave Manchester early Tuesday morning and get to LHR by 10:30am?
I'm OK with the differing accents in the US. I may not always understand everything but I can certainly understand most of it. Do the people in Manchester have different accent than those in London?
So you think we can leave Manchester early Tuesday morning and get to LHR by 10:30am?
I'm OK with the differing accents in the US. I may not always understand everything but I can certainly understand most of it. Do the people in Manchester have different accent than those in London?
Jun 19th, 2011, 09:27 PM
#35
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i would recommend b&b belgravia. look it up on tripadvisor. we have stayed there. reasonable price... very short walk to Victoria station and lots of inexpensive eats around. they have a website and you can book direct from the site. it is in a quiet area just removed as i said from the hustle of Victoria Station but very close to walk easily. former PM Margaret Thatcher lives very nearby.
Jun 19th, 2011, 11:03 PM
#36
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There are very different accents all over London! I was there with my grandmother for five days, and pretty much every different individual has a different accent. They all pronounce things with the same style, but with very different intonation, speech quality etc. etc. Especially if you are going to libraries, you will hear an amazing variety in accents. For instance, in the Guildhall library in London, the man in charge had a very polished, upper-class British accent, which was quite charming really
, and just about every person working behind a cash register has a different take on certain words. It's really diverse! Manchester accents ( I know because I have a couple of friends who have one), are quite different to "standard" British. They tend to skip certain letters, like "T", in words like "bottle". Where a standard Englishman would say every letter in that word very crisply, a Manchester man would say it "bo'all", both ways are distinctly different from the American "boddle" pronunciation. Generally, British people are very easy to understand because their words are all very distinctly pronounced, but not in Manchester......
, and just about every person working behind a cash register has a different take on certain words. It's really diverse! Manchester accents ( I know because I have a couple of friends who have one), are quite different to "standard" British. They tend to skip certain letters, like "T", in words like "bottle". Where a standard Englishman would say every letter in that word very crisply, a Manchester man would say it "bo'all", both ways are distinctly different from the American "boddle" pronunciation. Generally, British people are very easy to understand because their words are all very distinctly pronounced, but not in Manchester......
Jun 19th, 2011, 11:41 PM
#38
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Ah yes, irishwhistler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VFqbroi1I
To hear examples of British regional accents, you can play around with these:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
In the north, you're more likely to get different vowel sounds from the south (say, something more like "cuhp" than "cup", or a short a to make "plannt" rather than "plahnt", as you would hear in the south), and some elision of the definite article, so instead of "go to the end of the road" you might hear something more like "go to t'top of (t)road".
But you could spend all day on regional and class differences in speech, and never get to the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VFqbroi1I
To hear examples of British regional accents, you can play around with these:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
In the north, you're more likely to get different vowel sounds from the south (say, something more like "cuhp" than "cup", or a short a to make "plannt" rather than "plahnt", as you would hear in the south), and some elision of the definite article, so instead of "go to the end of the road" you might hear something more like "go to t'top of (t)road".
But you could spend all day on regional and class differences in speech, and never get to the end.
Jun 20th, 2011, 09:49 AM
#39
So you think we can leave Manchester early Tuesday morning and get to LHR by 10:30am?>>
there are in fact about 5-6 trains that will get you from Manchester picadilly to LHR by 10.30 am. Here's the link [it shows the earliest ones, but there are a few more if you click the "later box"]
http://www.thetrainline.com/buyticke...mand=TimeTable
whether you want to take the risk however is up to you.
there are in fact about 5-6 trains that will get you from Manchester picadilly to LHR by 10.30 am. Here's the link [it shows the earliest ones, but there are a few more if you click the "later box"]
http://www.thetrainline.com/buyticke...mand=TimeTable
whether you want to take the risk however is up to you.
