London bound

[Drogue]

I think Cort got a good few of the important bits - Parliament Square, South Kensington and the British Museum, though there's a few more.

If you like art, have a look at the Tate Modern, Tate Britain and National Gallery, which all have some famous and some spectacular work in. The rest of the south bank is great for cultural stuff - the British Film Institute, the Royal Albert Hall, etc. Also, if you can afford it and want to, it's definitely worth catching a West End show or such.

As for going out, the West End has to be tried for the experience - very busy and bustling. Most clubs are stupidly expensive though. Penthouse in Leicester Square has a lovely view. For the top clubs though, it's got to be Mayfair or Kensington area. Tremendously expensive, and you have to have the typical well-dressed in mixed groups to get in, but I've had a couple of amazing nights there. Probably my favourite club is Guanabara in Holborn though, because it's not ridiculously expensive (<£10 to get in, ~£5 a cocktail), plays Brazilian music, serves Brazilian drinks and has a great atmosphere.

Going away from Parliament Square there's Whitehall, with Downing Street, the Queen's household cavalry and if you're there at the right time, the changing of the guards. The London Eye is also worth going on for an amazing view. In fact I don't think you get a better view unless you have an office in Canary Wharf looking west

Buckingham Palace, St James Palace and the parks around it are all worth seeing, and a great place to go for lunch. While shopping probably isn't a priority, I reckon it's worth visiting Harrods just to get the little green bag (and have a look at the place - it's not just huge, it's amazingly opulant and garish.

There's also the Tower of London that's quite interesting, and has the London Dungeon and Crown Jewels, as well as Tower Bridge nearby. Somerset House is possibly worth a look, being huge and grand.

Oh, and if you're there two weeks, I'd recommend a day trip to either Oxford or Cambridge. Both are really pretty, have amazing architecture and history and are about the most quintessentially English places anywhere near London. London isn't English, it's mostly multi-cultural, but Oxford and Cambridge are very much English, and within an hour of London by train.

Originally posted by Dauphin
A couple of the bars are where hot chicks go to pick up rich banker type husbands, if you are into that kind of thing.

Um... where would that be...?

[Dauphin]

Pretty much any bar (i.e not a pub) near Bank and Liverpool St in my experience.

[Solver]

it's worth visiting Harrods just to get the little green bag (and have a look at the place - it's not just huge, it's amazingly opulant and garish

You forgot expensive

I'd also recommend you consider Stonehenge. If ancient monuments and that kind of stuff interests you, it would be a shame to miss the Stonehenge while in the vicinity.

[Provost Harrison]

Nah, it became obsolete years ago...

[MOBIUS]

Of course if you want a proper joined up list of attractions, my favourite walk is along the South Bank...

The entire walk from Westminster to Tower Bridge is literally a continuous line of attractions liberally interdispersed with plenty of 'rest stops' (waterside pubs).

A couple of years old but still up to date.

As people said before, you need to head to the main museums as they are free - cos nothing else in this city is!

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
As people said before, you need to head to the main museums as they are free - cos nothing else in this city is!

The parks and architecture are free. That's where I get much of my entertainment these days. Good excercise too.

Nice South Bank guide, btw. According to one of the 'Time Team' investigations, the first Roman crossing of the river was from what is now St Thomas's Hospital to what is now the Houses of Parliament.

There a Roman Temple of Mithras to be seen in the City too, as well as their wall.

[Dinner]

Cambridge was cool. I had a layover at RAF Mildonhall so we got to go out in Cambridge for the night. We went to a few pubs and we ran into this crusty old English guy named Nigel, he must have been in his 50's but the guy loved to party, drank like a fish, and danced so much and so enthusiastically that he got 20 year old hot chicks to agree to dance with him. Nigel was a good guy who bought us drinks (we returned the favor of course) and who showed us the best pubs and clubs to go to in Cambridge.

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


The parks and architecture are free. That's where I get much of my entertainment these days. Good excercise too.

APART from the parks and architecture, and the main museums, nothing else in this city is...

There a Roman Temple of Mithras to be seen in the City too, as well as their wall.

Just down from Mansion House I believe...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Ninot
Molly! Save us!

Let me know what you're interested in, otherwise this could take some time....


The area around Shoreditch/Hoxton has taken off in a wholly unexpected way- to any of us who knew London in the 70s.


It's now full of artists' studios, exhibition spaces, groovy bars and pubs, funky little clothes shops, et cetera.

It's cheek by jowl with Brick Lane/Bangla Town, where you can get authentic Bengali cuisine for very little of your hard earned loonies, and you can also visit the famous 24 hour beigel shop and have a great salt beef beigel.

There's the Jack The Ripper walking tour, which as you're coming in August, would be just before the right time to take the tour, as the Autumn of Terror is the name for the killing spree in 1888.

You can also see the Huguenot churches and houses some of which are now mosques and musuems.

There's Spitalfields' Market, Petticoat Lane flea market on the weekend, the newly revamped Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green...

You can also see the Museum of Docklands, walk under the Thames in Brunel's pedestrian tunnel over to the South Bank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/06/28/coast05walks_stage4.shtml

There are churches where Captain Cook married (St Margaret's in Barking) and where his children were christened (St. Dunstan's in Stepney).

http://exploringeastlondon.co.uk/Stepney/Stepney.htm

You can find areas where Jack London wrote (The People of the Abyss) and where Charles Dickens observed life go by:

The Prospect of Whitby, the oldest riverside inn in London. Built in 1520, it was originally known as the Devil’s Tavern, but its name was changed in 1777 after the collier the Prospect, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, which regularly moored alongside it. The pub doesn’t look that impressive from the outside, but once over the threshold you are pitched into a time warp that has changed little since the days when Dickens, amongst others, used to drop in for a tipple. Old prints and photos of the river adorn its walls. The flagstone floor and pewter-topped bar, perched on old beer barrels, are truly antiquated, and have witnessed both the low and high life of London’s docklands. Standing in its atmospheric interior you really do get the impresion that you have truly joined Charles Dickens in the Victorian era. As far as pub stops go this is without doubt a highlight of our London Walks.

http://www.london-walks.co.uk/38/prospect-of-whitby-sights.shtml

Then there's the Naval College at Greenwich, which is now a World Heritage Site,

http://www.worldheritage.gre.ac.uk/naval.htm

the National Maritime Museum, the Greenwich Observatory...

Greenwich is recognised for its cultural heritage:

the grandeur and sheer beauty of its buildings;

the magnificent vistas and views across London;

its royal history, as the birthplace of both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, among others

its naval and sea-faring history - the Old Royal Naval College was built originally as a hospital for veteran sailors and Admiral Lord Nelson lay in state in its Painted Hall prior to his funeral. The National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark are also within the WHS boundaries;

its scientific accomplishments – with Greenwich Mean Time and Longitude 0°, Greenwich is the centre of time and space.

The ensemble of buildings set in and around the oldest Royal Park in London and bordered to the north by the River Thames reads like a who’s who of British architecture.

Sir Christopher Wren, Inigo Jones, Sir John Vanbrugh, Nicholas Hawksmoor and Joseph Kay all have important and beautiful examples of their work here, which together constitute the World Heritage Site.

As you wander through the WHS you will experience views and vistas that have changed little since Canaletto painted it almost three hundred years ago. Back then, you would have met seafarers and ship builders, scientists, boatmen and fishermen. Now you are more likely to encounter students and visitors from all over the world who have come to appreciate not only the inspirational architecture, magnificent open spaces and exceptional museum collections, but also to enjoy the lively shopping experience and year-round programme of events.

http://www.greenwichwhs.org.uk/world_heritage/index.asp

if you want more detailed information, send me a p.m. about what your particular interests are and I'll try to dig out some little known or unusual sites/sights for you to see.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Oerdin
the best pubs and clubs to go to in Cambridge.

Now that's an oxymoron

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by molly bloom


Let me know what you're interested in, otherwise this could take some time....


The area around Shoreditch/Hoxton has taken off in a wholly unexpected way- to any of us who knew London in the 70s.


It's now full of artists' studios, exhibition spaces, groovy bars and pubs, funky little clothes shops, et cetera.

It's cheek by jowl with Brick Lane/Bangla Town, where you can get authentic Bengali cuisine for very little of your hard earned loonies, and you can also visit the famous 24 hour beigel shop and have a great salt beef beigel.

There's the Jack The Ripper walking tour, which as you're coming in August, would be just before the right time to take the tour, as the Autumn of Terror is the name for the killing spree in 1888.

You can also see the Huguenot churches and houses some of which are now mosques and musuems.

There's Spitalfields' Market, Petticoat Lane flea market on the weekend, the newly revamped Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green...

You can also see the Museum of Docklands, walk under the Thames in Brunel's pedestrian tunnel over to the South Bank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/06/28/coast05walks_stage4.shtml

There are churches where Captain Cook married (St Margaret's in Barking) and where his children were christened (St. Dunstan's in Stepney).

http://exploringeastlondon.co.uk/Stepney/Stepney.htm

You can find areas where Jack London wrote (The People of the Abyss) and where Charles Dickens observed life go by:



http://www.london-walks.co.uk/38/pro...y-sights.shtml

This was the area I grew up in (we used to huddle in the Museum of Childhood for warmth in Winter during school lunch hours!) and worked for a while. I can highly recommend all of those sites if you're interested in a most inexpensive way of exploring the dark underbelly of East London.

If you end up near Spitalfields/Brick Lane, also check out the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road - along the road before you get there are a clump of excellent Vietnamese restaurants. Behind it is the excellent Columbia Road Flower Market (but gets VERY crowded!). If you fancy a multi-cultural journey through today's London, take a 149 or 243 bus north from the museum and watch as the shops on the side of the road overtly change from enclaves of Vietnamese to Kurdish to Asian to African to Orthodox Jewish to West Indian...

Then there's the Naval College at Greenwich, which is now a World Heritage Site,

http://www.worldheritage.gre.ac.uk/naval.htm

the National Maritime Museum, the Greenwich Observatory...

http://www.greenwichwhs.org.uk/world_heritage/index.asp

if you want more detailed information, send me a p.m. about what your particular interests are and I'll try to dig out some little known or unusual sites/sights for you to see.

Greenwich is also excellent, try getting there from East London via the DLR through Canary Wharf.

[Cort Haus]

Not to mention the stripper bars in Shoreditch ... a pound a dance in the glass.

[MOBIUS]

Browns, Metropolis etc...

I know them well from my Broadgate days...

[Drogue]

Seems I'm going to enjoy East London next year...

[MOBIUS]

So, which investment bank did you sign up for then...?