London Town

[hidari]

The Last time I was in London.... which I have been to maybe 6 times more or less... I woke up with a massive hangover after ten pints of Stout and Ale... and too many smokes.... and I was at the entrance of the Britisch Museum... which... looked TOO intimidating..despite my Hair of the Dog... hence instead I went to the Chalres Dickens Museum Just off Guilford Street... a bit of a walk from the British Museum but. much smaller.. more intimate, the walk will help your hangover and it feels much easier to accomplish...

[hidari]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Thursday through Saturday.
And yes, my intention is to do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. With a nice pub in between.

Actually you are better off doing Museums in between Pubs... where you meet real people, hear real stories... Helped me to see Vilnius, Gdanski, Kyoto, Shanghai, and Cork... to name a few...

[Kumabjorn]

At my advanced age those kind of pub trips would land me six feet under.
Besides, I will need to be something of a guide this time around. That is why I want some new experiences, if I'm going to lead another person around and translate and explain everything I need something for myself as well.

[TGS]

You can catch a boat from Camden Lock, hop off at Regent's Park Zoo - or not - then go on to Little Venice and sit outside a cafe watching posh people, the catch the boat back to eat some interesting food at the market and buy crap that will come to embarass you. A brilliant day out.

[Kumabjorn]

I'm beyond embarrassment already so it sounds like a great idea. People watching is always fun, especially when you live inside a dark forest.

[BenG]

I'll be passing through London tomorrow on my way to the Cumberland Gap.

[Fozzybear]

I rarely go to London despite being only about 40 minutes away by train (I hate crowds so only go there if I absolutely have to when travelling elsewhere in the country) but if I do go back to sightsee then the Natural History Museum and the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve at Barnes are the two places that would get me to go. Have been to the Nat. Hist. before and it was superb, I've not been to Barnes but really want to go and a friend went recently when the London Bird Fair was on there and said it was great.

[Bookworm_Girl]

London is one of my favorite global cities to visit. I hope you enjoy your travels. I'm jealous! If I had limited time, then my top places to go would be the British Museum and the Tower of London.

Piccadilly Circus is a great place to people-watch especially on a weekend night. There are also loads of restaurants to eat in the area.

If you look at a map, it's not that far to do a walk from Piccadilly Circus past the shops on Piccadilly down to Green Park. It's a lovely walk through Green Park past Buckingham Palace and then along St James's Park on Birdcage Walk down to Westminster Bridge where you can see Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and also the London Eye on the other side of the river. It's worth it to walk onto or even across the bridge, and you can get some beautiful photos. After that you can walk down Parliament St / Whitehall to the Horse Guards Parade. That takes you right past Downing Street which is gated (and heavily guarded obviously!) but at least you see the area where the Prime Minister lives. Keep following the road and it takes you to Trafalgar Square. From there you can walk up to Leicester Square and back to Piccadilly Circus. You could modify this walk to make it shorter. Or, you could spend a whole day just leisurely exploring this area of town if the weather is nice, and you would see many of the famous sites.

One of my favorite things to do is go to the theaters in the West End. You can buy half-price discount tickets in Leicester Square.

There's also the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. There's a Sherlock Holmes Pub on one of the side streets from the square. Food is just mediocre, but it's a novelty.
http://www.sherlockholmespub.com/history.php

No one has mentioned St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

I've always wanted to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum but never had time.

Also, many museums have a cafeteria inside with fairly decent (although expensive) food. Sometimes that's a time saving tip on a busy day.