PDA

View Full Version : Added incentives nice and london?



MGC
02-10-2003, 12:10 AM
My wife and I will be ending our OSD trip to Gothenburg by taking the side trip to London. Diana with Volvo travel was great in arranging for us to take the trip at the end of the trip.

Who else is planning on taking these trips? For those that have already been to London, do you have any recommendations on any sites that are a must see?

Low Tide
02-10-2003, 08:28 AM
I am taking the Nice extension, also at the end of the trip.

As for London, I'm probably biased and by no means an expert- but I did live there while working in the House of Commons. A lot depends on your preferences.....

Like I said, I'm biased.... art and culture will figure high on my list.  Along with seeing some of the pretty urban parks in central london.  If you are a lover of contemporary art, you must see the Tate and the Tate modern. They have wonderful web sites to pre-plan a visit. An extended walk through the heart of the central London parks on the weekend is a nice diversion and convenient given your proximity to Kensington (If you stay at Jury's) Add to that a tour of Westminster, Parliament, St. Paul's and the British/Natural History Museums (ie- home of all the STOLEN greek friezes and sculpture from the Acropolis) are MUST SEES. Pick up show tix at the discount booth in Picadilly and tour the shopping district for some winter sales and you have three days gone.... email me if you want other specific recommedations based on my tastes..... pubs in the Queens gate/Nottinghill neighborhoods, transport options, and such...

AutoMonkey
02-10-2003, 08:31 AM
How long will you be in London? I lived there for 6 years and have been back several times since as a tourist. It's a huge city - what sort of things are you interested in? Feel free to add to this thread or send me a PM.

AutoMonkey

barrysharp
02-10-2003, 12:29 PM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Who else is planning on taking these trips? &nbsp;For those that have already been to London, do you have any recommendations on any sites that are a must see? [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I&#39;m not taking the attractive OSD offer for the 3-day London side trip. I&#39;ve opted instead for a Sweden/Norway trip with my son as navigator.

Suggestions for London (not knowing your preferences/interests) are:

1) Goto a live theatre show and then skip into Soho for a great meal after. Soho is the red-light district but don&#39;t worry -- just stay focused on finding a meal place -- and there are lots -- it&#39;s also an interesting place to see/watch Londoners milling around.

2) Visit Windsor Castle -- official Queen&#39;s residence.

3) Hop on an open-air red bus at Piccadilly Circus for a quick tour of downtown London and weather permitting go atop and take tons of pics/movies.

4) Visit St. Pauls

5) Visit the Fish Market and climb the stone column to find out the havoc caused by the Great Fire of London -- the reason why most (if not all) buildings are brick and mortor rather than wood frames.

6) Go on the London Eye to get a bird&#39;s eye view of London surrounding landscape -- search on Google for &quot;London Eye&quot; as you can book a &#39;flight&#39; in advance if you like.

7) Ever wonder how the Jail got the name &quot;Clinker&quot; -- visit Clinker Street and find out.

8) Take a tube train ride to Hampstead (Northern Line -- the black line on the tube map). Hampstead is the highest point in Greater London and it&#39;s tube train station is the deepest underground (some 200-300 feet) and was the best place for people during WWII. Hampstead has street fairs, art displays on the hill leading up to the horse drinking pond (in days gone by horses needed a drink after hauling the carriages up the hill). There&#39;s a good/famous pub called the Bull &amp; Bush on the Heath and where I proposed to my wife http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif . We were also married in a Hampstead church but it&#39;s now boarded up when we last visited there &nbsp;http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif &nbsp;much like many of the smaller churches in London these days. I believe about 7% of UK are now considered church goers&#33; Hampstead also has an area known as The Vale of Health -- a place that was somehow ignored by the Great Plague that hit London a ways back. People living in The Vale of Health survived this plague&#33; There are over 40 pubs in Hampstead and there&#39;s some great real estate in the area.

9) Visit Little Venice and have a nice lunch at Jason&#39;s alongside the canal -- and maybe take a canal boat ride. I used to fish here as a boy long before they spiffed it up. I had my 21st celebration on a canal boat ride http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/hehe.gif

10) Visit ALL the museums -- The Science Museum was always my favorite -- Kensington location -- also visit/see the Albert Hall.

11) Goto Speakers Corner -- Hyde Park -- east end of Oxford Street.

12) Take wife to Bond Street to see the fancy cloth shops. Visit the Selfridges store on Oxford Street which is a very large shopping store.

13) Visit Hamleys on lower Regence Street (a small walk from Piccadilly Circus) -- a great toy store for ALL ages.

14) Goto Bath (some 104 miles west of London) to see the Roman baths -- I don&#39;t recommend you dring the water at the health spar. From my school boy history I recall it was the place where Romans sat around in the green murky hot spring waters to rid themselves of desease(s).

15) Take a coach tour out to Stonehendge (80 miles from London in Hampshire). As a boarding school boy I used to eat lunch on the fallen stones. With all the tourists these days they no longer allow you to get too close (ropes all around it)

16) Visit Greenwich -- nautical center of the world. See the Cutty Shark and the small sailing boat that circumvented the world.

17) Visit House of Commons, Big Ben and Westminister Cathedral where many of the English Kings/Queens are buried. Winston&#39;s statue is around there somewhere.

18) Ride on a London taxi.

19) Buy some dishes and have them shipped home VAT tax free and a lot cheaper than you find in USA -- just show them your passport to verify you&#39;re a non UK resident.

20) Visit a local Volvo dealership and buy me a wood/leather steering wheel http://xc70.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Mail me if you need further info.