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London Trip Report
I've finally gotten around to finishing up my trip report from my trip to
London over the holidays. I went for a week right after Christmas with a friend of mine and had a blast. It turned out to be a bit cheaper than I figured it would be, too. My over all impression is that London is a great town but you probably need at least two weeks to see the whole town and without rushing from one attraction to the next. Anyway, without further delay, here's the report: Fri Dec 26 We arrived at Gatwick, cleared customs relatively quickly and were on the Gatwick Express within an hour. It may be worth mentioning that there's no need to buy tickets at the wicket in the airport -- you can buy them on the train. They accept credit cards on board as well as cash. At Victoria Station, we bought 7-day travel cards for zones 1 and 2, which covers all of central London. I also withdrew some pounds from an ATM. No extra fees showed up on my bank record (I have a Plus System ATM card). We had reservations at the Curzon House Hotel, a hostel near Gloucester Road tube stop, so the ride was quick. The hostel was clean. Pillows, bed sheets and comforters where provided. Soap and towels for showers were not. A breakfast of cereal and toast served from 8-9:30am was also included. There were no lockout periods. We stayed in a room with 4 bunk beds and paid a weekly rate of 75 pounds plus a 5-pound deposit for keys. After dropping off our luggage -- take a backpack rather than a suitcase or anything on wheels if you can, it makes stairs at tube stops much easier and I don't think carting his suitcase up four flights of stairs to get to our room was one of my friend's fondest memories of the trip -- we headed for Westminster tube stop where we gawked at Big Ben, snapped a few photos and explored the area before opting to peruse a Dali exhibit next to the Millennium Wheel. That was a mistake. Not to say that the exhibit wasn't good but there was nowhere to sit in the museum, so after being up all night, the museum drained us of the rest of hour energy and fresh air didn't revive us, so we headed back to the Curzon House for a quick nap, picking up an international calling card along the way. I got up earlier than my friend so as to catch up on e-mail, phone home and then explore the area. I picked up a copy of TimeOut which proved to be an invaluable aid in planning our evenings out, and wandered as far as Earl's Court tube stop. After going back to wake my friend, we headed back to a pub not too far from Earl's Court and had dinner and a few pints of Guinness while being entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one another. When the pub closed we decided, armed with the knowledge of the London club scene an Australian we'd just me had imparted on us, to head for Piccadilly Circus. Forgot that the Piccadilly line goes through Gloucester Road so we took the District line, then got off and walked. Once we'd explored the area, we settled on a club on Haymarket called Tiger Tiger. Cost 10 pounds to get in and bottles of Beck's were 3.50 IIRC but it was worth it. There were lots of very nice-looking women there. We left when things started to quiet down around 2:30am and it was then that we realized that we didn't know how to get back, so we walked, and eventually ended up at Victoria Station where my friend chickened out and decided to take a cab. 15 pounds later we were back at the hostel. I think we got taken for a ride - both figuratively and literally. Any opinions? Sat Dec 27 Got up at around noon, completely missing the hostel's breakfast and headed to the tube, stopping at a restaurant called Garfunkel's that was serving an all-day traditional English breakfast. Not bad at all. The National Gallery is huge. I don't know how people claim to be able to "do" London on 4 days. I'd be pressed to "do" the National Gallery in that much time. I only saw one wing, lots of paintings circa the 16th C while my friend opted to see everything. After wandering around some more we ended up at a pub near Victoria called The Albert, where we had dinner and a couple pints of bitter. We took our time getting out to Piccadilly that night and as a result, most of the clubs were already full. In some places doormen would tell us straight out that we wouldn't be admitted unless we came with women, which was a bit of a shock. I'm sure doormen use that method of deciding which groups to let in the whole world over, but I've never heard one admit it to people in line. We ended up at this sports bar (the name of which escapes me) down the street from Tiger Tiger and not only did they let us in, but cover was only 3 pounds, compared to the 10-15 every other club was charging. We soon saw why. The music was awful and the dance floor was laughable. But being the optimist that I am, I figured it wasn't anything a few requests to the DJ and a few pints of stout couldn't fix, so we ended up closing the joint. Note to Americans and Canadians: Don't bother trying to tip when you walk up to a bar and buy a drink here. It takes too long to explain to the barman why it is that you're giving him more money than he's charging you for the drinks. This time we'd done our research and took a late bus back to the hostel. It was quite an experience, but then again late buses in just about any city right after the clubs let out is usually quite an experience. Sun Dec 28 Got up at around noon and headed for Hyde Park and walked across it to check out Speaker's Corner. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the variety. Maybe it had already begun to quiet down but aside from one Jamaican guy going off about the whole Iraq situation, the rest were all a bunch of Jesus Freaks. So we listened to the Jamaican for a while before heading off to Oxford Street (by accident) where we ended up at a department store and looked around at the post-Christmas sales for a while before seeking out a pub for a late lunch and a pint of bitter. After wandering around a while longer and popping into a couple random stores, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. By this time, it was already dark outside and we found that there was a huge union jack being projected onto the Palace from a projector some distance back from the palace. At times falling snow would be super-imposed on the union jack. It looked really neat but unfortunately the pictures I took didn't come out well. That evening we decided to leave the guidebook at home and explore our way to a place to eat dinner. We ended up wandering around the area by Sloane Square tube stop and finding a sit-down pizza place. Another bit of advice for North American visitors: When you're seated at a restaurant and the waitress comes up for the first time, don't bother asking how she is. While it's friendly and considerate of a patron on the west side of the Atlantic, waiting staff in London gave me the impression that behaviour like that was an annoying waste of their time. Realizing how much of our days we'd been missing by getting up late the past couple days, we opted to call it an early night rather than go out clubbing again. Mon Dec 29 We managed to get out of the hostel by about 10am but spent some time having breakfast at a cafe just down the street from Gloucester Road tube stop. My friend had the traditional English breakfast and I had Scottish smoked salmon. Both of us were pleased. After breakfast it was off to the British Museum, where, like the National Gallery, my friend wanted to see _everything_ and I wanted to take me time, so we split up, I spent my morning perusing the Egyptian Rooms and then had lunch at the museum cafeteria. In the afternoon I went through all the Latin American displays then finished off my visit browsing books in the Reading Room. We left in the late afternoon and made our way to Harrod's to go on a shopping spree geared towards making our girlfriends less bitter that we'd gone off for a week's vacation in London while they were left at home... a few stuffed animals, some clothing and a couple other knick knacks later we left Harrod's in search of some good Indian food. That search took us to a place called Chowki. Which, if memory serves me correctly was on a street called Denman, near Piccadilly Circus. If you go to London and only have time to eat at one Indian restaurant, you will _not_ be disappointed if you choose this place. We both went with the "Regional Feast", cost around 15 pounds for the non-vegetarian version and was hands down the best meal I had, not only in London, but in probably a few years. After sampling the half-dozen dishes that came with the feast (small portion of each but overall a decent amount of food) and a couple beers each, we headed back to the hostel for another early night. Tues Dec 30 We got up and headed straight for Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. We got there at 11am and already there were three rows of people up against the Palace's fence and many, many more sitting on the base of the monument. The ceremony itself is cool but overrated. Though I suspect that anyone who's heard of it would have to see it for themselves to believe me. I actually ended up amusing myself by taking pictures of other people trying to push their way closer to the gates and hold their cameras high above their heads while attempting to get pictures of the ceremony. I found though, that the best way to get pictures was to approach any guy with his girlfriend on his shoulders and ask her nicely to snap a couple shots with your camera. After the changing of the guards we made our way through a park with a pond in it, snapped some pictures of the swan in the pond and made our way down to Westminster Abbey which was one of the best tourist attractions in the city, in my opinion. We spent a few hours there before heading off in search of a post office to buy stamps and a photolab to get some film developed. We ended up at a little fish and chips shop for lunch. Everyone had told me that the best fish and chips are outside of London but with only one day left it looked like we weren't going to get a chance to go on any day trips. After finding a pub to look over our pictures and have a pint, we made our way back to the hostel briefly where we decided that it was time to start giving some serious thought to a plan for New Year's Eve. This led us to a bar in Camden Town called the Barfly, which was to be part of a multi-venue NYE party that looked to be really good. Unfortunately they'd sold out of tickets just hours before we got there. Desperation sunk in with my friend and he insisted that we head back down to Piccadilly Circus and beg random clubs to sell us tickets to their NYE event until we found a place that wasn't sold out. Thankfully I managed to convince him that we would be best off waiting until the next day and figuring out where we wanted to go rather than just going to the first place that had tickets available, so off we went to the infamous sports bar we'd found on Saturday. Only Tuesday, apparently is student night there. I managed to get in with an expired university ID card and my friend managed to convince them that his health care card was proof that he was a medical student. This time the place was mobbed. But pints were only a pound. We closed the place and headed to the hostel on the late bus. Wed Dec 31/Thurs Jan 1 I got up and called our next choice for NYE festivities and found that they did have tickets, so off I went to The Dome (also in Camden) while my friend went to attempt seeing the entire Tate Modern in an hour. My trip was successful, so I went to meet him at the Tate Modern where he was so impressed that he insisted on giving me the "Tate in Twenty Minute Tour" before heading for the Tower of London. Thankfully I don't like modern art much, so I didn't feel rushed by going through the sections of the museum we saw in 20 minutes. Off we went to the Tower of London. We got there at 2:50pm but they'd already closed claiming it to be 3pm. We were not happy but still walked around the whole thing to get a few pictures before heading for Saint Paul's Cathedral. I really had my heart set on seeing the view from the top of the dome so we skipped the displays at the bottom and gave only a cursory view to the inside of the museum in order to make it up all 500-and-something stairs to the very top where we used up the rest of our film. On the ground again we set off in search of a photo lab that was still open. Everything was closing early because it was NYE. Found one in a Boots not far from Holborn Tube stop then went wandering in search of food and beer. So many places were closed that by the time we'd found a place we barely had time to finish a pint before heading back to the photolab to collect our pictures. Back at the pub we ordered some food and looked over our pictures before heading back to the hostel to get ready for New Year's Eve. We were at The Dome by 10pm. It's a fairly big two-level club that was playing mostly metal (think Slipknot, Deftones, Metallica, etc) on the lower level and alt-rock (think Green Day, Offspring, Strokes, Muse, etc) on the upper level. It was still pretty empty but filled up quickly. The crowd was about 19-21 years old. The place stayed open well in to the morning and actually started serving a free breakfast at 5:30am. We made it back to the hostel at a bit past 7am, showered, packed and were at the Tube stop by 8:30am. Took the Gatwick Express back to the airport and flew home. Richard |
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London Trip Report
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London Trip Report
In message , Richard writes
explored the area before opting to peruse a Dali exhibit next to the Millennium Wheel. That was a mistake. Not to say that the exhibit wasn't good but there was nowhere to sit in the museum, so after being up all night, the museum drained us of the rest of hour energy and fresh air didn't revive us I always find shuffling round museums, exhibitions and the like really tiring, much worse than walking for miles at a normal pace. few pints of Guinness while being entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one another. Could have been me. Oh, wait - I'm Irish. Phew. And not so elderly, yet. Once we'd explored the area, we settled on a club on Haymarket called Tiger Tiger. Cost 10 pounds to get in and bottles of Beck's were 3.50 IIRC but it was worth it. It seems to be standard policy now for pubs and bars in the West End to charge entry after a certain time, especially at weekends. However, I was drinking Becks for 3.00UKP a bottle in Soho way back in 1992, so I suppose 3.50's not bad. decided to take a cab. 15 pounds later we were back at the hostel. I think we got taken for a ride - both figuratively and literally. Any opinions? I'd expect that distance to cost that much in heavy traffic during the day, but not on relatively empty roads at night. I think black cabs tend to charge double after midnight. If it was a minicab (which looks like a privately owned car), you need to ask how much before you get in (of course, a tourist won't always know how much is enough). Got up at around noon, completely missing the hostel's breakfast and headed to the tube, stopping at a restaurant called Garfunkel's that was serving an all-day traditional English breakfast. Not bad at all. Before you come next time, have a look at: http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/ so you can avoid going into places like Garfunkels. doormen would tell us straight out that we wouldn't be admitted unless we came with women, which was a bit of a shock. I'm sure doormen use that method of deciding which groups to let in the whole world over, but I've never heard one admit it to people in line. It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has happened to me as well in Covent Garden. Got up at around noon and headed for Hyde Park and walked across it to check out Speaker's Corner. Very overrated, but at least you can go off and enjoy the rest of the park once you've had enough. there was a huge union jack being projected onto the Palace from a projector some distance back from the palace. At times falling snow would be super-imposed on the union jack. It looked really neat but unfortunately the pictures I took didn't come out well. That was part of a project organised, I think, by Bob Geldof to illuminate some of London's landmarks. Marble Arch was one of the other buildings that got projected on. That search took us to a place called Chowki. Which, if memory serves me correctly was on a street called Denman, near Piccadilly Circus. I can recommend the New Piccadilly Cafe on the same street. Food's not great, but it's a real slice of the '50s in the middle of town. A 'formica palace', as the Classic Cafes website puts it. -- congokid Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google http://congokid.com |
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London Trip Report
"congokid" wrote in message
... I'd expect that distance to cost that much in heavy traffic during the day, but not on relatively empty roads at night. I think black cabs tend to charge double after midnight. If it was a minicab (which looks like a privately owned car), you need to ask how much before you get in (of course, a tourist won't always know how much is enough). It was the double charge after midnight that got us, then. We left the club around 2:30am and walked to Victoria Station. I doubt we found the most direct route, either. The cab was one of the standard black ones. I'd seen the privately owned ones, too. Only I tend to ignore people who approach me to offer taxi services wherever I am. Write it off to too much time spent in Mexico, I suppose. It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has happened to me as well in Covent Garden. Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in hopes of getting them to come out. I suppose I could always wait for some girls to come by the line and offer to buy them drinks if they get us in... Richard |
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London Trip Report
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:44:00 +0000, congokid
wrote: In message , Richard writes few pints of Guinness while being entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one another. Could have been me. Oh, wait - I'm Irish. Phew. And not so elderly, yet. The drink has put ten years on you, Congo. ----------- Barbara Vaughan My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup |
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London Trip Report
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:43:13 -0500, "Richard" wrote:
It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has happened to me as well in Covent Garden. Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in hopes of getting them to come out. Not a problem. Every public telephone will have plenty of numbers of women that you can call. |
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London Trip Report
In message , Jesper
Lauridsen writes On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:43:13 -0500, "Richard" wrote: It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has happened to me as well in Covent Garden. Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in hopes of getting them to come out. Not a problem. Every public telephone will have plenty of numbers of women that you can call. Now I think about it, there *was* a woman in our group that got refused entry to the Salisbury on St Martin's Lane. Too many blokes I presume. -- congokid Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google http://congokid.com |
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