London!

[theatokos]

This post/question session is for those who know London at all.

In three weeks I'm back to Roehampton. This time I'll have Friday evening to myself, which I plan to fill with a movie and dinner (either in Putney or in Richmond), Saturday is an all day conference and then I think I'm going out to dinner with my advisers and fellow scholars. Sunday is an entire day free. I will be back in the area two weeks later and then three weeks after that. What do I do with myself on my Sundays?? There are SO MANY choices! I don't know where to begin. The Tates, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the British National Library, the different Castles, the different gardens and parks, various bookshops. And on and on. What's reasonable to fit into a single day? I have no idea where to start. Do I go into the city? Or do I stay near the Roehampton area and explore Richmond, Mortlake (John Dee's house!), Richmond Park? I'm overwhelmed by choice. I plan on getting an oyster card to facilitate public transport.

Lastly, does anyone know if you can walk the Thames? Like, is there a path that I could just meander on, or is it broken up by sections that don't allow pedestrians? I fell in love with the Thames on the last trip and want to explore it more. I even picked up Peter Ackroyd's book, Thames: Sacred River (same guy who wrote London: the biography) today at the library.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Comments

[bravenewcentury.livejournal.com]

In terms of fitting things into a single day, you'll probably want to check the opening hours of places you're interested in, as it's a Sunday. Honestly somewhere like the British Museum or the National Gallery you could probably spend the whole day, but maybe picking one thing for the morning and one for the afternoon would enable you to balance things out a bit. You might also want to plan to visit a park or something else that's always open earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon when other stuff starts to close, or make a plan for good weather and another one for bad weather (always a good idea in the UK!). Check out where things you're interested in are in relation to one another (both in the physical world and in terms of the Underground, which is much easier to navigate than the buses for a London newbie) in case you can take in one thing on the way to another. And get a map!

You can't walk uninterrupted along the Thames- it is still a working river, after all- but there are large stretches where you can walk. One of the nicest is South Bank- you can visit the Tate Modern then stroll along the river front where there are some nice (if overpriced) shops and restaurants, a big second hand book stall, lots of street performers, and usually an ice cream van or two.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Thank you!

The one thing that throws me about London (from my one trip) is the distances. It's actually much smaller than I expected. Or rather, in the space of a 10 minute bus ride I can pass through 3 towns/neighborhoods. It makes judging the distances a challenge. Plus the maps show a ton of streets but a lot of them might be tiny old streets. Very confusing for an American!

Also, I don't know if you're interested but the June one-day conferences are Creation, Nature and Incarnation and then Faith and Feminism.

[keypike.livejournal.com]

I loved The Tower of London. We did it in about half a day (and that was in the rain, so we didn't walk the grounds much, just the inner buildings).

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

My adviser also recommended the Tower to me. I am curious as what I'll actually end up doing.

[lopezuna.livejournal.com]

I'd love to go back to the V&A. I enjoyed the National Portrait Gallery for some reason. I remember the Rothkos from the Tate Modern but otherwise it didn't leave an impression. Loved the Tower of London when I visited as a kid. But for me the best bit of London is just wandering around and running into places out of books - I have a thing for the 19th Century Novel, and grew up on very Anglocentric children's literature (Joan Aiken, Noel Streatfield, Arthur Ransome etc etc).

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Me too! I've always preferred English Lit to American Lit. And I LOVE the 19th century novel. And the gothic novel too. So perhaps just walking around would be just fine too.

[qibitum.livejournal.com]

Fwiw, I think British Museum is a must for history/archaeology/religion nerds (like me!) If not this next trip, then you really should see it at some point. I spent the better part of a day there, but was totally done by 3:00 or 4:00pm (just in time for an after-pint with friends!) and probably could have called myself done by 2 or 3pm. It gets completely overwhelming after a while.

And I don't know about outer London, but in Central London you can (& should!) walk along the Thames a fair amount. Quite a bit to see right around Waterloo station/the London Eye. Pop over whatever-bridge to see Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. And somewhere down by London Bridge is a lovely little pub right on the water with a replica of the Golden Hinde out front. And I also highly recommend the Millennium Bridge (pedestrian only) right around sunset. St Paul's Cathedral on one side, the Tate Modern on the other. Fabulous!

(fwiw, the Tate Modern itself didn't do much for me, but modern art often doesn't so ymmv).

Oh and: http://www.treadwells-london.com/ is also not too far from there (between the underground & short on-foot jaunts, Central London is really pretty easy to navigate). Thorn was actually doing a workshop there the day after I had to leave town. The proprietors seemed quite chat-upable so I highly recommend a visit there as too!

[qibitum.livejournal.com]

Oh, and a decent, not too pricey foodie spot I liked: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/visitor_information/food_and_drink

Turns out the manager (at least when I was there back in Sept) is an expat 4th (or maybe 5th) generation Chinese-San Franciscan (who used to manage the catering for the SF Opera). We bonded over missing SF & he took great care of me.