Coming back to London (April 15-20)

[chad878262]

Heya all... Going to be in London with my wife in son from April 15-20. I'm going for work, but have enough miles that I'm bringing the family so they can get a bit of a reward for all the traveling I've done the past year and half or so. If anyone across the pond would like to meet us for a pint or has any suggestions of something we should make sure to see I always appreciate interesting/unique idea's!

My office is on Fenchurch so I'll likely stay in Novotel or one of the other hotels near the Tower of London. My son is super excited to see castles so will likely take him and the wife to Windsor Castle, but are there any lesser known castles that have really cool tours or offer an experience you maybe don't get at the more well known places? Anything else that is a 'must see'?

As always thanks for any feedback and feel free to send a PM if you'd like to meet up while we are in town!

[kleomenes]

If you have a free day, a boat up the Thames to Hampton Court Palace is a great day out.

[Solaris]

Aside from all the obvious attractions like the Tower Bridge, the Eye, Buckingham Palace, Portobello Road, etc, etc... I really liked the London Dungeon. A dark interactive (dressed up actors etc) museum about the history of London. Many european cities took their example as there is one almost everywhere now. Amsterdam, Rome, Prague etc.

Although it might be too early agewise since it is kind of dark... you know, dungeon and all that. Many kids go in but for kids under age 10 its kind of up to the parents if they think their child can handle it. You know what,... yeah... better to postpone that one till at least all partymembers are 10/12 years of age XD

As castles goes I’d say Warwick Castle. Classic castle that’s also really great for kids. They have medieval shows, you can dress up as a knight, run around in a maze etc. Check out some video’s on YouTube. For kids, definitely the best UK castle to visit in my opinion. Downside is that it’s about 1 hour 40 min by train from London but to me, well worth it.

I might be around or at least fly a couple of times over your head I’ll keep you informed if I happen to be there. Depends on my scedule.

[chad878262]

We all love boat rides so taking a ride on the Thames and then doing a Castle tour sounds fantastic... Will have to google Hampton Court Palace as I'm unfamiliar with it off the top of my head. (I know, uncultured, barbaric Americans and their lack of knowledge of history...)

Yeah, I think Colin would love the idea of the dungeon thing, but in practice he'd probably end up sleeping in my bed with me and the wife for the next 3 months so I'm going to go ahead and not suggest that one!

The Warwick castle thing sounds awesome, not sure if we'll be able to swing a 3 hour round trip to get there and back, but I'll check out Youtube and show it to the wife to see if she is willing to do it. Won't show anything to Colin unless we are actually going to make the trip! Disappointed 8 year olds are no fun.

If your schedule allows you to be in town it'd be wonderful, thought I know you have plenty to keep you busy these days so we'll just play it by month/week and see what tomorrow brings.

thanks for the idea's guys!

[Thorsson]

If you're going to Hampton Court, then you are pretty close to Kew Gardens (in fact IIRC the boat stops off at Kew). Warning though - don't go by boat any distance if it's raining (and April is well-known for its showers in UK)!

As for castles, I rather like Leeds Castle, which confusingly is nowhere near the City of Leeds, but rather a small village of the same name. You can even stay there (although it is pretty expensive).

This site shows some other options.

[chad878262]

Thanks Thorsson, very much appreciated!

[Camera9]

I can suggest you the museums in London!
They're all free to visit and most of them are huge, you can barely see everything in one go.
If you like art the National Gallery is wonderful and that's in Trafalgar Square. If you stop in Holborn you can easily walk to the British Museum which has an amazing Egyptian and Mesopotamic area.
If you have kids (but even if you don't ^_^) the Natural History Museum is another nice place to visit, free as well. 5 minutes walking from South Kengsington station.

A part from the museums, my favourite place in London is definitely Camden Town! I can't even describe it...
If you're around Kew Gardens in a sunny day (good luck with that XD) you might want to have a look at this botanic garden... it's really really nice, lot of animals (you can easily find squirrels and also deers if you're lucky), there's a nice lake, tropical plants, huge trees and beautiful flowers. To be honest there are a lot of beautiful parks in London: Green Park, Hyde Park (which is huge) and St. James Park as well. But you would need the sun to enjoy the beautiful colors at their best...

The Tower of London (you can see the royal treasure here and some interesting towers but the ticket is pricy), Tower Bridge (less pricy), Westminster Abbey (you pay for this one but it's quite unique, it's worth it) are all nice places to visit!

The last thing that I would suggest you to visit is the Sky Garden: it's basically a skyscreaper where you can see the London skyline all around you. It's amazing and it's free as long as you book it on their website (it's always very busy and usually available only at lunch time)

Try the Edward Theather as well... it's very funny and entertaining
That's all, enjoy it!

[chad878262]

Lots of great stuff here Camera, thank you!!! The museums are great ideas too, the hard part will be me deciding what out of all this stuff I want to do and what stuff to suggest to my wife to do with our son on the days I have to work!!!

[Thorsson]

Some good suggestions there, but if it's a nice day, I suggest a walk along the South Bank. It's a walk I make often and it's full of stuff to see and experience. Cross the river at London Bridge on the right hand side and head into Borough Market (scene of last years tragic attack, but don't let that put you off), home of London's best street food. From there you can go to the Golden Hinde (a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship) and then up Clink Street, past the The Clink Prison Museum (clink being slang for prison, from the name of the actual prison here) and then turn right down to Bankside. You could take a short detour to see the site of the original Globe, but if you carry on you pass the new Globe, which is made in the original style. Just past there is the Millennium Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge over the Thames - worth a quick pop up to get some views along the river.

Just past there is the Tate Modern; probably too advanced for your son, but there are often events in the Community Garden outside. You then pass under Blackfriars Bridge and just after there is the Oxo Tower. At the top of the Oxo Tower is a restaurant, but I'll let you into a secret known by very few - you can go up there and there is public access to a balcony which has great views along the river. Just past there is London Television Centre - if you see a crowd, it probably means someone famous is around.

Next up is Waterloo Bridge and around there are the British Film Institute (BFI), Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) and Royal Festival Hall - it's culture darlings. All along this area it is quite lively and buzzing. After Waterloo you are at the London Eye (and if you did want to go, the London Dungeon). Just past those is Westminster Bridge, so you are good for Big Ben, Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey.

[chad878262]

That's some fantastic detail. Thanks again!

[Zanniej]

Don't know if you've ever been there, but for children young and old (and that includes me!) Hamleys is also awesome to have visited once. It's a five story toy store, where a lot of toys are continually demonstrated.

Something completely different from the other stuff that's been mentioned in this topic so far, but worth mentioning I thought (unless such stores are common where you come from?)

[chad878262]

That'll be a winner... my wife and son exclaimed "we gotta go there! "

Well done Zanniej!

[Thorsson]

Actually walked this again yesterday (had to visit PWC) and I'd make one change to my suggested route (BTW there are plenty of places to sit down and have a drink en route so you can easily break the journey up into chunks), which is, starting from where you are head out over Tower Bridge (rather than walking up to London Bridge) - you can actually go into the bridge about half way across, plus if you look back you get a different, and in my view rather pleasant, view of the Tower of London. At the other end of the bridge you have the juxtaposition of ancient and modern as there is the new City Hall with "The Shard" in the background (all of London's new skyscrapers have names or nicknames it seems) to the right and the refurbished Butler's Wharf to the left - three distinct periods in one view. At the end of the bridge you turn and walk through Potters Fields Park (if you didn't know, a Potter's Field signifies an area for pauper's graves - you'll find PFs all over the place and, it seems, almost as many books with the same title - obviously the name appeals to writers).

Passing through the park you enter 'More London', which is a new complex that includes the City Hall. It has a small, fast-running water channel running down the main walkway (More London Riverside), which I'm sure young feet will find it fun to hop over and back. At the end turn right into A200 (Tooley Street) and follow this road for about 250 yards (Tooley St forks to the right about half way, but stay on the main A200). You go past the Tour for Muggles and need to cross the road (A3 to London Bridge) towards the "Barrowboy & Banker" pub. Turn left and you will see Southwark Cathedral on your right; just before the railway bridge are steps leading down into Borough Market (as mentioned in my earlier post).

BTW if you like awesome stores, Harrods is definitely worth a visit - you could tie it in with a visit to Buck House (nickname for Buckingham Palace), Hyde Park or those free Museums.

[chad878262]

Thanks again Thorsson! Getting quite the notepad of ideas for walks and sights to see!