Yankee with London Questions

[Magix]

Hi there! My first time over to the UK board, hoping you fine Brits can help me with some info for my upcoming Adventures by Disney trip to London & Paris.

On my arrival day in London, I'll have some spare time before I can check-in to my hotel and I'd really like to take the walk from Marshalsea prison to Execution Dock (I'm a bit of a pirate fanatic). So, can you tell me about the areas I'll be walking through? I want to make sure that, if I'm going through any sketchy areas, I'll be prepared. I'll be starting at the remnant of the Marshalsea wall behind St George's Church in Southwark. Then, I'll head across London Bridge, then down past the Tower of London all the way to Wapping Stairs, where Execution Dock was located. I have been told that the Wapping area is one of the oldest in London, but I'm not sure if that means it's just historic, or it's a bad part of town.

Any guidance you can provide will be extremely helpful to me! TIA!!

 

[mark&sue]

I hope you have a great time on your vacation. Sorry I can't help as although I live in London, I live to the North. Just wanted to say have a brilliant time in both London and Paris and come back here and let us know how you got on.


Susan

 

[Shane]

Hiya, hehe, again I dont know london as good as I wish but if you have any spare time and being a pirare fan (I think?) that you are I beleive theres tours you can take which acutally allow you to open tower bridge, I originally done it when I was small and was a great experiance, hope you have a fantastic visit!

Good Luck =]

 

[daipp]

Welcome to the UK - please bear in mind that when you arrive you will be jetlagged and will probably have flown through the night!

Have a great time.

 

[Magix]

Welcome to the UK - please bear in mind that when you arrive you will be jetlagged and will probably have flown through the night!

Have a great time.

Yes, I've been a little concerned about that and will have to see how I feel when I arrive, but if I can fit this in, I really want to do it. It's the only chance I'll have, as I'm on a guided tour and will only have one afternoon and evening off during the rest of the tour in London, at which time I plan to visit the Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory/Prime Meridian. If I can make this little pirate walk work, I've got to do it that first day (along with a visit to Nelson's Column). Hmm.. there seems to be a theme to my plans...

 

[Booknut]

Hi Tia,

I live in London and haven't seen half the things you want to see, they sound great!

Sometimes when I have friends come to stay they either do a walking tour in a group or they hire a blue badge guide (who have specialist training) to take them on a tour of what they specifically want to see. If you go to this website http://www.uk-tourist-guides.com/searchintro.php it will give you the option of searching for a specific tour guide who specialises in Maritime Britain and will have loads of info on everything you will be visiting and passing on your 'pirate walk'

It will probably be a bit pricey but as you only have a small amount of time it may be worth the extra expense as you may be able to tell them ahead of time everything you want to see etc.

Alternatively, this is a great site for historic things you will see on your walk and it covers most of London in helpful categories (including Shadwell and Wapping!). http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/walkslist.htm

I hope you love it here, i've lived here for 10 years and cannot imagine living anywhere else

 

[Magix]

Great links, Booknut! That walking tours site should help me quite a bit with both my pirate and Maritime Museum excursions.

I'm still trying to figure how to include the Golden Hinde in my plans, but I don't think I'll have time to get to it. Maybe I'll be able to get a quick look at it when we're on our Thames river tour. I hope so.

 

[Magix]

Dredged up this old thread, just so I could tell you guys how much I LOVED London!! What an absolutely fantastic city!! Really, the high point of the whole trip for me. I so desperately want to come back and tour throughout the UK sometime.

I didn't manage to do the pirate walk from Marshalsea to Execution Dock, because I was so spaced-out from the plane trip over. I did get a shot of the Execution Dock area, though, when I took a Thames boat from the Tower of London to Greenwich later in the trip. Poured (I mean, POURED) rain and I was soaked to the bone, but I got the picture.

The Maritime Museum was fantastic. I had an extremely short amount of time to see things before closing, so I just ran in to see Admiral Nelson's uniform from the Battle of Trafalgar. Amazing... I don't even have words for how much it moved me to see that on display. I've never been so effected by a museum piece before. I actually cried. I went upstairs, too, and saw the huge stern section from an old Navy vessel (a tall ship, but I can't remember the name offhand) hanging on the wall. That really got me, too. I recognized the name of the ship as one that had been used in the Patrick O'Brian books and it just floored me for some reason. It was such a huge stern, the biggest I've ever seen on or from a tall ship. Wow.

I felt like a real Londoner, taking the DLR and Tube back to my hotel from Greenwich. Smooth and hassle free, it got me within 1/2 a block of my hotel. Nice!

Really, you have a marvelous city, full of history and vibrancy. Can't wait to come back!

 

[jjpenguin]

Glad you enjoyed your trip, I'm really looking forward to your Trip Report.