runskyhy
It's not less monkey, it's Moe Monkey!
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2009
- Messages
- 1,003
Not a local, but we just returned from vacation there last week. Such a fantastic city and country! Heres what we liked
Food: There is a fun, little alley about one block east of Selfridges off of Oxford St. called St. Christophers Place that is filled with eateries of all kinds. There is also Covent Garden Markets: the aisle between the Apple Market & the Jubilee Market is a sunken food-court area with a variety of excellent places to eat. There are performers all around the market and shopping of all types souvenirs, local wares, food, etc. (We visited this market, as well as the Greenwich Market, Borough Market, & the Lower Marsh Food Market while we were there, and this was my favorite.) Also, Pret A Manger is a chain of eateries with a wide variety of great grab-and-go breakfast food (they seems to be located everywhere) and finally, we had an excellent Italian meal at Giotto on 52-54 New Oxford Street, just a few blocks south of the British Museum.
Attractions: The Ceremony of the Keys is a great experience, but we also love visiting the Tower of London during the day, as well. There is just so much to see there. Both Westminster Abbey & London Eye are excellent, too. You can cross the Westminster Bridge by foot to get from one to the other and get some fantastic views of the Parliament building (& Big Ben) along the way. We did this almost by accident (along with some fun wanderings around Waterloo) and had such an awesome time! We did not buy tickets in advance for anything because we didnt want to be tied down to a schedule, but I did make sure we arrived at the most popular attractions (specifically, the London Eye, Tower of London, & Westminster Abbey, at opening time and we never had more than a 5-minute wait for tickets. Schools were on break last week, too.)
Transportation: We used an Oyster card purchased at Heathrow to get everywhere we needed to go in the city and used it for the Underground, the double-decker buses, and the Dockside Light Rail. The Oyster website has a great section for visitors to determine the best fare option during ones visit. I found it is important to stand to the right going up & down Underground escalators (so climbers can pass) and there is no such thing as personal-space on the subway trains during rush-hour, but everyone was always extremely patient, courteous, and very, very quiet.
Tours: We took one 2-hour walking tour with London Walks no reservations necessary, just show up to the start location and pay the guide 9 pounds per person. It was a nice overview of the area, a friendly crowd, and the guide, Katie (also the daughter of the owner of the company) was awesome. They also offer private tours, but we didnt look into any of those. The company has a good selection of tours each day, and the list is available as a PDF on their website.
City Guide Books: We bought several of them beforehand Rick Steves, Fodors, & DK Eyewitness, and I liked DK Eyewitness the best. In addition to listing attractions & restaurants by area, it also offered walking routes to see the best of each area. We also picked up the laminated Streetwise London map before we went, which I originally thought would be a waste of money (because of all the free ones available for printing on-line.) Well, it had a lot more city streets listed on it than all the other maps we had, and it was not as large, so it was easy to access, but also easy to read. We both used it regularly. (I didnt carry it around open in front of me though usually referencing it before we headed off to the next place we tried not to be THAT obvious about needing it.)
Have a fantastic vacation in Scotland and London!
Food: There is a fun, little alley about one block east of Selfridges off of Oxford St. called St. Christophers Place that is filled with eateries of all kinds. There is also Covent Garden Markets: the aisle between the Apple Market & the Jubilee Market is a sunken food-court area with a variety of excellent places to eat. There are performers all around the market and shopping of all types souvenirs, local wares, food, etc. (We visited this market, as well as the Greenwich Market, Borough Market, & the Lower Marsh Food Market while we were there, and this was my favorite.) Also, Pret A Manger is a chain of eateries with a wide variety of great grab-and-go breakfast food (they seems to be located everywhere) and finally, we had an excellent Italian meal at Giotto on 52-54 New Oxford Street, just a few blocks south of the British Museum.
Attractions: The Ceremony of the Keys is a great experience, but we also love visiting the Tower of London during the day, as well. There is just so much to see there. Both Westminster Abbey & London Eye are excellent, too. You can cross the Westminster Bridge by foot to get from one to the other and get some fantastic views of the Parliament building (& Big Ben) along the way. We did this almost by accident (along with some fun wanderings around Waterloo) and had such an awesome time! We did not buy tickets in advance for anything because we didnt want to be tied down to a schedule, but I did make sure we arrived at the most popular attractions (specifically, the London Eye, Tower of London, & Westminster Abbey, at opening time and we never had more than a 5-minute wait for tickets. Schools were on break last week, too.)
Transportation: We used an Oyster card purchased at Heathrow to get everywhere we needed to go in the city and used it for the Underground, the double-decker buses, and the Dockside Light Rail. The Oyster website has a great section for visitors to determine the best fare option during ones visit. I found it is important to stand to the right going up & down Underground escalators (so climbers can pass) and there is no such thing as personal-space on the subway trains during rush-hour, but everyone was always extremely patient, courteous, and very, very quiet.
Tours: We took one 2-hour walking tour with London Walks no reservations necessary, just show up to the start location and pay the guide 9 pounds per person. It was a nice overview of the area, a friendly crowd, and the guide, Katie (also the daughter of the owner of the company) was awesome. They also offer private tours, but we didnt look into any of those. The company has a good selection of tours each day, and the list is available as a PDF on their website.
City Guide Books: We bought several of them beforehand Rick Steves, Fodors, & DK Eyewitness, and I liked DK Eyewitness the best. In addition to listing attractions & restaurants by area, it also offered walking routes to see the best of each area. We also picked up the laminated Streetwise London map before we went, which I originally thought would be a waste of money (because of all the free ones available for printing on-line.) Well, it had a lot more city streets listed on it than all the other maps we had, and it was not as large, so it was easy to access, but also easy to read. We both used it regularly. (I didnt carry it around open in front of me though usually referencing it before we headed off to the next place we tried not to be THAT obvious about needing it.)
Have a fantastic vacation in Scotland and London!
