Reading through current and old topics here on Fodor's has given me lots of ideas for my first trip to London but I'm curious to see what different ideas will be introduced through this thread. In every favorite city of mine, such as Chicago, I could give friends a tour of "my" city, as I see it through my eyes. If you were a tour guide in London what would you show people? What, in your opinion, is the most see museum, must eat at restaurant, best "off the beaten path" place to visit, etc.? Tell me about "your" London.

My London is Kenwood House, the old Tate, all of Marylebone but most especially Daunt's, the banks and bridges of the Thames (plus get on a boat, on the river), the South Bank (I love the eateries along The Cut), the British Museum (especially the Reading Room), the booksellers of Charing Cross Road and Cecil Court -- and all of London's magnificent public parks.

I also love the sound of Big Ben, and wandering inside the Houses of Parliament (easy to do after what most people consider normal hours).

Visit Highgate Cemetery
http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/

Greenwich - all of it including St. Alfege's Church where Henry VIII was baptized (and where my GtGrandparents were married with less fanfare, I expect)

Woolwich Arsenal is an interesting place and includes the Greenwich Heritage Centre.

Thames Flood Barrier
http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwic...ningCentre.htm

The British Library http://www.bl.uk/

London Walks http://www.walks.com/

"Have a pint at London’s last galleried coaching inn, The George Inn (77 Borough High St, SE1) and you’re drinking liquid history. Such pubs were a centre for London social life from the start – as reading Chaucer will make clear – and in the early fourteenth century, there were already 354 taverns in the city." I first saw this place on a London Walks tour.

Village of Blackheath (just outside Greenwich park). There are tons of restaurants, shops to browse, pretty church...If you go to Greenwich for a day, this village is a gem!

"My" London consists of the Chelsea-South Kensington white row houses; the book stores, especially Murder, Ink; the theaters; the V&A; Parliament-Westminster Abbey-Big Ben area; the British Library; the churches; London Walks; fresh flowers for sale outside the tube stops; sticky toffee pudding; just walking and riding the tube and going to the different parks. It's my very favorite place to visit.

tru echo, what a great thread you have started. I am going to London (unfortunately for only a few days) this June so the imput of those who know the city well will be most helpful. Like you, I want to make the best of my time there.

Gracias...

My London is the Palace of Westminster, Kew, and the District Line. They give me my points of reference.

There's a great wee Italian caff on the corner of Great peter Street and Tufton Street which is my eating point of erfernce

My London is Bond Street, the Burlington Arcade, the Royal Academy and Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly, Jermyn Street with Floris, Paxton & Whitfield, the men's shirt shops. Then up Swallow Street to my favourite, Liberty's, on Regent Street. Not far away are small good places to eat in Soho or Chinatown (my lunches at Wheelers and Prunier are no more although I hear that Berry Bros do good lunches with wines - you must reserve.)

When not in shopping mode, the V&A is top, also the National Gallery, the British Museum (so crowded these days, but it used to feel like my private museum in the china galleries) and the Wallace Collection. Meanwhile my husband is scouring Waterstone's on Tottenham Court Road, Quinto's, the Judd Street Bookshop, Henry Pordes and all the Charing Cross Road/Cecil Court shops.

My London is Borough Market, theatre, theatre and more theatre, National Gallery,Dockland Museum,river boat from the Tate to South Bank, The Pig's Ear and the Anglesea Arms, BADA antiques show, Sunday antique fairs, Antiquarius, Royal Academt and the Imperial War museum

I live in Blackheath and to say there are “tons” of things there is pushing it a bit.

There’s only two streets in the village

We’ve got five pubs (actually six – but we keep the good one secret) and a very good chippie plus more shops owned by rich men’s wives than you can shake a stick at...

It’s nice enough, but I wouldn’t want anyone to make a special journey for it. (But it is a much much better place to eat than Greenwich which has truly awful restaurants (including the world’s worst – it’s called Desperados and you’d have to be a desperado to go there).

Plus there’s always the possibility that you might bump into the ASBO Cat.

Thanks to everyone who replied, I've enjoyed reading about your London! Anyone else?

My London:

- a visit & meal in Chinatown
- a visit to Royal Opera House
- riding the buses, esp at night looking out the window
- a stroll in St James's Park
- a walk across the Thames on one of the bridges (I usually end up on either the Hungerford Bridge and/or the Millennium Bridge)

This thread is making me "homesick".

I've enjoyed many of the activities already mentioned. In addition

-going to the theatre in the West End. There's a half price ticket booth in Leicester (pronounced lester) Square. British actors you've seen in movies play in the West End theatres regularly.

-using the Underground to get around. What can I say? I became addicted the first time I stepped on one of the long, steep escalators.

-fish and chips at the Fryer's Delight, 19 Theobald's Road. An old time chippie; ok it's run by a Venetian family, but you can get a poke of chips with salt and vinegar.

-a pint in a pub.

-a day trip to Seven Oaks and a walk through Knoll Park.

-a tour of the Tower of London. You'll know a lot more about English history from 1066 to 1700 when you've walked the ground where much of it happened.

I've only been to London twice, spending about 13 days total in the City; will be back for 3.5 days this summer; hesitate to call it "my" London, but as a response to part of the OP's question of What would I show people if I were a tour guide (assuming at least 4 full days):
-the Tower and the Tower Bridge
-St. Paul's and the Milinneum Bridge
-Westminster Abbey and all the iconic "stuff" around that area including a walk over the Westminster Bridge (Hmm, I detect a pattern!)
-half a day in the British Museum and then on to the British Library
-using the Tube until it felt familiar
-walking through as many of the Parks as possible, at the very least Hyde and St. James
-eating at at least one pub, going in at least one local bakery, buying takeaway from at least one grocery store
-staying long enough in one place so that the neighborhood begins to feel familiar (="my" London in some miniscule way!)
-targeting some address or site (that might be a bit obscure) that is interesting to me or family member because of a reading or historical or movie connection (i.e., the Peter Pan statue or #84 Charing Cross or the George Inn) and using maps to go find it. It is in these little mini-quests that I have most felt like I was getting to know the city better. (This is the way we like to get "off the beaten path" by picking destinations that peak our unique interests and then figuring out how to get to them using maps, guide books, the internet and Fodors!)
-then if time permitted at least one half-day trip to Greenwich, Hampton Court or Windsor
-then if time permitted day trips to Oxford or Salisbury/Stonehenge or Dover/Canterbury or Bath or...

Oh please don't make me talk about my London! I adore the city and if I ever had an extra 500,000 GBP. I would buy a flat there. One of these days, and I mean it, I am going to go for 3 months, and do everything I love...a million times! I agree with everything everyone has said already.

bookmarking

Hmmm… My London?

Well apart from the bleedin’ obvious…

Bermondsey Antique market at 5am

Breakfast in a pub at Smithfield after a night shift

St Barts church (if you take one thing from this list make it this one)

Clerkenwell in general – see the St John’s museum

The parks and commons

Kensal Green and Nunhead cemetery (esp Nunhead – I’ve never seen anything like it)

Pie and mash in Beffnal Green

Sir John Soane museum

Whitehall and Horseguards parade and most of all the Cenotaph

Whitechapel gallery

Hawksmoor churches

The wobbly bridge

Courtauld gallery

Foxes everywhere at night

Deptford market and high st

A ruby in Southall or tooting

A Chinese in Chinatown or Bayswater.

White Hart Lane

Borough High St – the Market, the pubs and the chocolate factory (a theatre and gallery)

Lords and the Oval (cricket grounds)

Many music venues but most of all the Half moon and the 12 bar club (so small it’s a wonder it makes money)

The Roman street plan. The medieval street names

The Barbican.

The thames path

Walking around for miles and knowing you’ll always be able to get back to where you want to be cos our public transport is so extensive

The pubs (too many to mention)

I could go on…..

Deptford High Street? Interesting - family lived on it long ago.

Another suggestion for OP: Get a copy of The Perfect London Walk by Roger Ebert and Daniel Curley - spent a day following it.