November 24, 2004

• Yow, only a half-day in London? In that case, it's probably besto to go for the most dense highlights you can find... Interested in... ...really fantastic Modern Art? Get ye to the Tate Modern. ...the "biggies" of world history? It's all about the British Museum. Get the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta stone in one fell swoop. ...sightseeing? Get one of those open-top bus tours. In a space of about 2.5 hours, you get to see quite a lot. ...british history? You'll have to pick, because it's tough to see Westminster with the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London (and the old Roman Wall nearby) and do both justice in a half-day. ...theater? If you catch it on the right day you can get a good matinee show in the West End. --------- There is SO much to do in London, we didn't even get to do everything we wanted in 9 days. If my wife and I were going to London for half a day, we'd probably do something like this: - From Heathrow, hit the Heathrow Express to Paddington station. It's a bit pricier than the Tube, but saves you probably more than an hour's time. If you're flying into Gatwick, that half-day might just turn into a quarter-day. But I do believe there's an express train from Gatwick that goes to perhaps Victoria or Waterloo stations (which are fairly close to Westminster) - From Paddington, we'd either Taxi or Tube to Westminster, check out the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye (just on the other side of the Thames from Parliament), and if we've an hour or so to spare at the end, perhaps a walk to Piccadilly or Hyde Park. ------------ As for Shropshire and Ludlow, afraid I can't help at all.
• what sticks out the most from my (first) time in the UK last year: - The Victoria & Albert Museum - the Millenium footbridge - Trafalgar Square - walking around Tottenham Court Road, Strand and Charing Cross, checking out little shops and watching the locals go by. there's more, but I had a week to hang out, and it sounds like you don't. If I only had half a day to go back, I'd try and hit these places again.
• what to do in Ludlow--can't vouch for it, but the website makes everything look very nice. I'd guess one of the markets or fairs would be a very cool way to spend your time there.
• If you're going before 16th Jan, you might want to go to the National Art Gallery. The Raphael Exhibition is on, and I'm dying to go see it. Might be the first and last time so many of his pieces will be on display together.
• I was just in London for a week and felt like I saw hardly any of it - I would advise that you just walk around a bit, get lunch at a pub, actually see part of the city rather than just spend it inside a gallery (as good as they are). I spent half a day walking along the river, from Westminster to the Tower Bridge, crossing the river at every bridge I came to. If you do that, you'll get to see parliment, the London eye, St. Pauls, lots of different angles of the skyline, and if you get bored, right in the middle of this walk is the good ol Tate Modern, at the foot of the "millenium bridge". Most importantly - just relax and enjoy the few hours you have there - trying to stuff more than you can into the day will just make you cranky.
• HALF A DAY?! It's customary for any monkey coming to London to leave themselves enough time for a meetup. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, gyusan/ambrosia/everyone.
• I agree with gyusan's comments... I spent a couple of days in London and likewise don't feel like I connected with any of it. Some of my fondest memories are doing the most mundane things: having a pint of warm Guiness in a pub somewhere off the beaten path.
• I'm with gyusan - just look around for a bit. Though I have done the mapcap tour. In my own 1/2 day tour of London this summer, I went from King's Cross (half walking, half on the Tube) to Trafalger Square, walked from Trafalger Sq to Westminster (straight down Whitehall, which is most interesting with a military historian to tell you cool things about the buildings around). Saw St Mary's church (next to Westminster Abbey, and free), the outside of Westmister Abbey and the Parliament Buildings (check out the 11th century medieval hall lurking between the House of Commons and the House of Lords - I don't think you can tour inside that bit, but it's the best bit). Then got on a boat to go down the Thames towards the tower which gives you a good view of the whole city, visited the Church of All Hallows near the Tower, from where Pepys watched the Great Fire of 1666, then walked through the "City". Final stop was feeding the pidgeons at St Paul's Cathedral. That was all between about 1pm and 5:30, though it was good weather and my feet did hurt at the end (should have had better shoes). But it was a great day (ending with the mofi meetup). I think it worked for me because I got to see the iconic elements of London, the things that were most important to me. When I go back again with more time, I will see more galleries, the gardens and palaces, and definately do the full Tower of London Tour (2-3 hours, suposed to be amazing). But this time I at least got a sense of Westminster and the City (I feel like walking around a city is the most important thing to understanding a bit of it).
• Whatever you do, a Tube day pass is your best friend. No matter how close it looks on the map, it's farther.
• (What they all said, especially rolypolman. Don't try to cram lots of things in. It won't be fun if you try that.) I'd also recommend the Tate Modern, perhaps the National Gallery (on Trafalgar Square), and the area of the South Bank that lies across the Millenium Bridge. Maybe you could catch a film at the National Film Theatre - they've got some great stuff on at the moment. Or there's the London Eye. This is the area with ptobably the most concentrated number of really great things to do, and it has the added bonus of being a great area to just walk around, maybe have a nice meal (anything from one of the fancy-pants restaurants around the West End to a quality pub meal). But bear in mind, Central London is really quite small, so you can just walk from place to place in a pretty short space of time. From the South Bank to Soho is about ten, fifteen minutes up Charing Cross Road. See the stuff down by the river, then walk up to the West End and Soho for a meal in a little restaurant on some hidden backstreet somewhere. Or whatever. Tourist attractions to avoid: London Dungeons - over-priced and shit. Madame Tussauds - over-priced and shit. Tower of London - over-priced, quite shit. London Planetarium - over-priced, underwhelmingly shit. Anything involving places where the Royal Family live - over-priced shits. River cruises - cold, over-priced and shit. Most restaurants near Covent Garden or Leicester Square - some are great, obviously, but far too many are over-priced and shit. Going to see We Will Rock You - because I will hunt you down and kill you if you even think about it.
• It's customary for any monkey coming to London to leave themselves enough time for a meetup. *slouches down in her chair, feels guilty* a meetup would have been grand, and probably more memorable than whatever monuments I manage. At some point I'll get back to London, and will certainly allow time for a meetup. On preview: thanks for all the good input everyone!
• I notice jb and I have heplfully given completely conflicting advice about how easy it is to walk between places in London. Er... I was talking mostly about Soho, the West End, and the bits along the river, which are all a lot closer than the tube map would suggest. The same doesn't apply to other bits. Which are often a lot further apart than the tube map would suggest. Get a tube day pass. But have a stroll too... :-)
• Instead of doing tourist things just find a nice area and relax in it.
• People-watching. My favourite morning in Milan was sitting outside a cafe the day of a Milan v. Bayern-Wurttemberg (argh, spelling) football game and seeing the diehard fans strolling through the Duomo Square. I got less than 24 hours in Zurich and so spent the first hour on a bus tour around the city, marking on a map the places I wanted to go back to on foot and see properly. However, Zurich is undoubtedly more compact a city than London and easier to see everything on foot.
• I stayed 7 days and felt barely scratched the surface... even while I was led by a native Londoner, that took us from the usual sights to several excellent off-the-beaten-path places and restaurants. If time is scarce, wandering the area around the Tate, with a quick tube hop to Westminster (you want that picture with the Big Ben, don't you?) would be a nice introduction for future visits.
• Flashboy is right that you can walk a great deal, but also it takes a fair bit of time, and can wear you out (20-30 min from King's Cross station to Trafalger, only the second half in interesting west endness, 20 min from Tower of London to St. Paul's). I liked the freedom to be able to jump on the subway and get off somewhere else. Also good for when you have to get out of the city quickly to get back to the train station on time. But he's totally wrong about the river cruises - there is a simple ferry like boat that goes back and forth between Westminster and Greenwich, stopping at the Tower inbetween - 3 pounds or so each, with an all day tube pass. It depends on how warm it is, of course, because the best view is from the open top, but I liked it even in spitting rain. In general, if you are going to be outside for much of the day, try to dress as you would camping - take a few layers, including a waterproof jacket. My first time ever in New York was about this time of year, and I wore long johns, a long sleeve short and a sweater as well as a winter coat, and was very comfortable outside all day, despite it being very cold - it was the first snowfall that night. Whereas I had friends who wore just what they would to go to work and back, and they froze. (You never realise how different it is to stay outside for hours). I'm not saying this because I think you won't think of it, but just because I have watched too many people not have fun because of lack of warm clothes.
• jb is lying to you about the river cruises. She is a strange creature - on the one hand, providing supposedly "helpful" and "caring" advice about warm clothes, yet on the other maliciously trying to trick you into standing on a nasty, wobbly boat-thing in the freezing cold and wet on a grey river going past grey buldings with your skin slowly turning grey. My god, she even admits to liking the rain! This is either evil in its purest form, or she suffers from tragic condition that makes her believe such experiences to be tolerable, or even enjoyable. Thought: is this a Canadian thing?
• Those Canadians... *shakes fist*
• *oook?*
• jb, this flashboy chappie is clearly some sort of effete, pasty-faced city monkey who lacks the simple sense to dress for the occasion. I would pay him no mind. We resilient and resourceful tundra monkeys know better. As for monkeybashi, well I'm just disappointed.
• islander, with a nick like that you're supposed to be on my side. Jeez. Unless you're not really an islander, in which case I'm so totally suing you for false representation of...er...yourself. I think we can probably call this thread derailed.
• tracicle, at least we don't hie from that damp, green and sceptered thing out in the Atlantic. I do indeed reside on an island, one somewhat less well-known than yours. Actually, if I had half a day in London, I'd invite all the other London apes for a pint.
• I've had a few half-days in London, and pints were pretty much the go.
• I'd like to hear more about this rainforested island of yours one day, islander. Just don't let them make you drink your beer warm. *shudders*
• What's wrong with warm beer then, eh? Eh? Anyone?
• I don't believe British people actually like beer warm (unless it's mulled or something). That was originally the perception of those foreign people who like to drink lager which is actually on the point of freezing (and why not - im most cases it wouldn't taste of anything much, anyway). The correct temperature for decent beer is the temperature of a cool cellar. But the 'freezing gnat's piss aficionado's' point of view is quoted so often that some people over here have themselves started to describe the correct beer temperature as 'warm'. Incidentally, I think Flash is a trifle negative about those river cruises. Difficult for me to be entirely objective, since the reception after my first wedding was held on one of those boats - sister ship of the one which sank in a disastrous accident some while later (and they say there are no omens...).
• "Oh I have been to Ludlow fair And left my necktie God knows where, And carried half-way home, or near, Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer: Then the world seemed none so bad, And I myself a sterling lad; And down in the lovely muck I've lain, Happy 'till I woke again." A E Houseman, filtered through Plegmund's unreliable memory.
• *dreams of having a couple of beers with tracicle*
• this flashboy chappie is clearly some sort of effete, pasty-faced city monkey who lacks the simple sense to dress for the occasion. I am undone.
• Warm Guinness??? which pub was that in Rolypolyman? I'll have it burned down immediately. sheesh. The best view in London is commonly held to be from Waterloo Bridge it's not far from the Tate Modern. And dressing for London - do take care, JB's obviously cold-blooded! I was in New York this time last year and it was f%$@*&g freezin, whereas London can be quite mild at this time of year (I'm English I love talking about the weather!) As for Shropshire It's main tourist attraction is probably Ironbridge which has an ... Iron Bridge. It's actually a lot more fascinating than it sounds - I think it was one of the first in the world or something and I remember having a quite interesting day out there a long time ago ... lots of quaint English victoriana as well ...
• I was at school in Ludlow from 16-18. Given that it is customary to hate everything at that age, I didn't think much of it. However... It's very small, so you should be able to see all you want to in half a day. It has a castle. By British standards, it's not a particularly good one, so if you've seen a few castles in Europe before, don't bother. If you haven't seen any castles, it's probably the big attraction in town. Walk around. Not that you have any choice, as public transport is non-existent, but its appeal is (supposedly) in its general charm rather than specific places. Lots of nice, unspoilt, old buildings. Eat. Ludlow has a very high reputation for some of its restaurants, much better than its status as a small provincial town might warrant. I can't offer specific recommendations, but this is something well worth checking out.
• Ludlow has a reputation for sausages. I know this because for some reason Simon Mayo's Radio 5 show, which I am currently listening to, is coming from Ludlow today. Beyond the sausage thing, I have been unable to establish any concrete facts about Ludlow.
• Any time after June, Wolof. And we'll probably have to meet halfway, so somewhere in the Tasman Sea ought to do it. I'm sure if we take jb's advice on dressing for the weather it'll be fine.
• Oy, islander- you're a fine one to be talking about damp and green! How's yer tropical fungus, hmmm? ... turn anybody's scepter damp and green, 'twould ...
• Just a little scare tactic we've cooked up to ward off the ravening hordes of retiring baby boomers from Toronto.
• Can ye mail a spot o' the stuff to the Far East, here, laddie? We've got a bit o' infestation, too.
• We're comimg out with a new product, a spread for your morning toast, similar to Vegemite. We'll call it Gattimite
• or maybe Cryptomite
• ... or Ban-Tron.
• Real castles are always cool! I saw Bolingbrooke Castle, which is now just a ruin - but still - WOW. There were stumps of the walls, a tiny bit of masonry with a window still surviving, there the moat, half filled in. The castle wasn't really there, but looking away from it across the fields, you could feel what it might have been like. So cool.
• Thanks everybody. I'm back, and thoroughly jet-lagged. Spent my time in London walking around, with necessary pauses for refreshment. So now I have a feel for the place, and I thought of you London monkeys every time I sat down in a new pub, so I thought of you all often. My only observation on London is that the lighting in the tube it terrible, it makes everyone riding it look hung over and pasty-faced. Ludlow does have some excellent restaurants. And a bit of a castle, too. Etienne was exactly right- it's a charming little town with lots of lovely old buildings.
• That sounds lovely - we're all glad you had a nice trip.
• the lighting in the tube is terrible, it makes everyone riding it look hung over and pasty-faced Um. I'm not sure it's the lighting doing that... Glad you had a good time!