Weekly Forum #4

I’m in London right now! For the very first time in my life!

(Note: I’m not counting the time in my early twenties where I got rerouted through Heathrow Airport during a very hectic Madrid-to-Seattle trip, where I then got rudely yelled at, and then had my check in luggage lost for three weeks…. that one time doesn’t count. This is a proper do-over. And instead of Heathrow, I flew in through Gatwick. So there. Ha!)

If you live around London, or ever visit London, what are some of your favorite places to go?

If you’ve never been, but you want to go to London one day, what would you like to go see?

10 Replies to “Weekly Forum #4”

  1. Carla,
    Congrats! Go to the British Museum and see three things at least: 1. The Rosetta Stone on the ground floor; 2. The British Museum Reading Room ditto; 3 Upstairs one flight and see the clocks and watches exhibit. Let me know ho you do!
    Al Gregory “Darwin” who’s been to Britain 30 times!!!!

    1. Thank you for the advice, Dawin! I did indeed go to the British Museum on your recommendation and it was so lovely to see the Rosetta Stone!

  2. I should have just emailed you, but now I’m going through the back posts of my London blog so here’s an info dump:

    – Natural History Museum (stunningly beautiful and free)
    – Sherlock Holmes pub on Northumberland Ave if it’s open??? They closed for renovations but by Feb 2 might be open again.
    – Sherlock Holmes museum, even though it is actual highway robbery at £15. It’s absolutely charming and completely wonderful and worth a trip, despite the cost.
    – Hyde Park for a wander (or Regent’s Park, since you’ll be right there, both are splendid)
    – walk across Tower Bridge
    – St Pancras Station hotel, if you like Victorian architecture (I do), and then nearby the British Library
    – Grand Museum of Zoology at UCL, if you like dead animals (I do)
    – there is a coffee shop called Dillon’s on Gower Street attached to the Waterstones (near UCL) that serves tea by the pint for £2, it is magical
    – actually definitely eat at Speedy’s on N. Gower, if you have time, because they do a killer Full English
    – Tate Britain in Pimlico is a splendid selection of British art, if you like paintings (I like some)
    – National Gallery & Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square always worth a visit
    – there’s an Indian restaurant on Brick Lane (one of many) called Muhib that has THE BEST INDIAN FOOD IN THE CITY in my opinion so don’t miss it if you’re in the East End
    – Lady Dinah’s Cat Cafe in Shoreditch/Bethnal Green
    – The Twinings Tea Shop on the Strand
    – Baker Street Station (the H&C line platforms are the originals from 1863, the Jubilee line platforms have the SH story summaries and the Bakerloo line platforms have the SH silhouette tiles)
    – Museum of London (free, history of London, currently with additional Crime Museum special exhibit which is gr8)
    – near the MoL, you can also see some of the fragments of the ROMAN London Wall which was built up on a few times but still stands
    – definitely see a show but it literally doesn’t matter what you see. Check and see if you can get day tickets, usually between £10 and £25, by showing up about 90 minutes before the box office opens on the night you want to see the show. They’ll say when the box office opens and how many tickets they offer on the show’s website.

    That should keep you busy. Have the most fun. xx

    1. Hi Misty!

      Your advice came at a perfect time. We were enjoying the last two days of our stay in London and by that point I wasn’t sure what to do next. But I read the comment you left and it was full of great advice!

      I went to many of the places you mentioned, though I wasn’t able to visit the Sherlock Holmes Pub because it opened on the day we left. Mom loved the Tate Britain, but took one look at the Tate Modern and wasn’t impressed (she had the most adorable sour kitten look on her face when she saw the replica of Duchamp’s “Fountain”). I really enjoyed the Crime Museum special exhibit in the Museum of London. We also bought so much tea at the Twinings Tea Shop!

      Thank you so much for the great advice!

  3. They already gave you good advice, I may only add, if you have a couple of free hours, a short visit to the Temple. It’s perhaps the most Victorian neighbourhood that you can find in London, just off Fleet Street. The old Templar church, though rebuilt after WWII, is well worth a visit. The historical Fountain Court appears in some Dickens’s works. Speaking of Dickens, there’s the nearby Cheshire Cat Pub (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese), the oldest pub in London, which is not to be missed. You can fit both these two in a visiti to St.Paul’s Cathedral, just a short distance away.
    Also, as I had already told you, if you have time and want a taste of real British food, a dinner at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand is a must for every Sherlockian and/or Watsonian. 🙂

    1. I took your advice and went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese! It was very cool and the food and drinks were great too! Thanks, Reggie!

  4. If you have time, I recommend visiting the Victorian and Albert (V&A)museum. I like it because of the wide variety of items in its collection, including ceramics, furniture, jewelry, and costumes. If you enjoy walking, London Walks offers a wide variety of walks including a Sherlock Holmes walk on Friday afternoons. The company has been leading walks since at least the 1980s (when I first went on one). I have not been on the Sherlock walk, but I have been on a number of their walks including their Dickens, Literary London, and Jack the Ripper walks, and a few pub walks.

    1. The Victoria and Albert Museum was amazing. We spent hours walking around the museum and I think we still didn’t manage to see everything. When we got tired, we with to the cafe in the museum and it was wonderful! Thank you for the advice!

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