Top 10 Things To Do In London, by a Londoner
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2006
1
47
48
Trip End
Ongoing
London,
England,
United Kingdom
Sunday, June 14, 2009
10) St Paul's
Cathedral. Want to see inside? You should, it's incredible. But it's going to cost you £11, AND you can't take photos. Instead, go to a Sunday service, which starts at 6pm, and is FREE. You don't have to be religious! And granted, you won't get to wander around, but you can sit and gaze in wonder for 45 minutes!
9) Free papers! Leave the Metro alone in the morning though, our commuters are fiercely
competitive for those papers between 7.30-9.30am, hehehe. In the late afternoon and evenings, two free papers are given out outside each station and busy areas. The London Lite (distributors in yellow jackets) is printed with ink that doesn't come off in your hands, and the London Paper (distributors in purple jackets). Both have the same kind of stories, but the London Paper has better entertainment listings.
8) Take buses not tubes! I'm not trying to incite a boycott of the tube due to the recent strikes. Much. But I do find taking the bus is way more interesting than the tube, and cheaper to boot. You get to see your surroundings, and where you're going, especially if you're on the top deck of a double decker. This comes from many years of experience of squeezing on the Piccadilly line in rush hour. I'd still take the tube for long distances though. If you're planning to take the tube in Central London, all the stations are pretty close to each other, there's really no point...so walk!
7) Most museums are free, but also the best ones (National History Museum, British Museum, Science Museum) are jam packed full of tourists and school kids all the time. You should check these out of course, but also the Museum of London, near St Paul's, is currently running a Great Fire of London exhibition. A nice slice of London history right there.
6) The Ben & Jerrys Sundae Festival (www.benjerry.co.uk/sundae/) over one weekend in July. Quintessentially British. Toe wrestling, a Pimms bus, a Helter Skelter, awesome music and FREE ICE CREAM. What more could you want? Did I mention unlimited free ice cream?? This is London's best festival now the Mayor's cancelled our free anti-racism festival, Rise. (It's not free, but it's cheap, and you need to book tickets in advance, which is why I've included the link)
5) You've not had a proper English experience if you've left without sampling fish & chips. They used to be wrapped in actual newspaper, before the world went mad on health and safety, but now they're in plain paper. The two I'd recommend are The Chippy on Poland Street W1, the chips smell good at least. I haven't sampled it myself as they have nothing vegetarian and because the chips are cooked in duck fat, but my entire office loves this place. For the top fish and chips in London you need to get to Berwick Street W1. Parallel to Poland Street and Wardour Street, this place has queues coming out the door every lunch time, so get in quick. And yes I have actually tried this one!
4) A boat ride on the Thames Clippers are a must, I'd recommend a trip from Bankside Pier, you travel under Tower Bridge and past the Tower of London and arrive in Greenwich in style, which is a good thing because it's in the middle of nowhere.
3) And with that, I definitely recommend Greenwich as a must see! It not only houses the Royal
Observatory, (worth the walk up the hill for the views alone), the Meridian Line, the National Maritime Museum, the o2 (formerly known as the monstrosity, or the Millennium Dome) and the (currently undergoing renovation) Cutty Sark, it's also home to the Cutty Sark pub, (nice to sit outside for a pint and pub lunch) and Greenwich market. If you're lucky enough to be there at night, that green laser beam in the sky is coming from the Royal Observatory and shows the line of the Prime Meridian. Anyway, Greenwich market. Your main reason for coming here at
the weekends will be the brownies. Raspberry swirl, chocolate fudge, walnut and pecan, cheesecake brownie, blondie, there are others...have one of each. Trust me on this one.
2) Battersea Park is hands down the best park in London. (Although I might be biased because it's at the end of my road.) On a rainy weekend you can go and sit near the lake, on sheltered benches, and read all your heart desires. On a sunny weekend you can take a walk through this little slice of overlooked garden paradise. It's got a tropical garden, it's got a zoo, it's got a
Peace Pagoda, it's right by the river, and best of all, you can hire pedalo and rowing boats to go out on the lake. £4 for half an hour, £6 an hour.
1) South Bank. This is the place to be at the weekend. There's always something for everyone, street dance, skateboarding, street performers, musicians, opera singers, jazz, comedy (currently the E4 Underbelly Festival), book sales, food stalls, photography exhibitions, and most importantly, candy floss. Today there was a flashmob doing the Lambeth Walk. Great stuff. You cannot be bored. Time your walk right and see the sunset over the Houses of
Parliament.
Additionally, here's my Top 3 Travel Hints:
1) Everyone who commutes to work uses www.tfl.gov.uk to get the latest updates on public transport as there's always something to hold up your journey; delays, a tube strike, engineering works - the journey planner tool on the right hand side is super useful also.
2) You'll be needing an A-Z, a book which every self respecting Londoner owns, if not carries around with them, it's basically a map of London and it's invaluable as London is so big, often the same street name has two postcodes.
3) If you plan on travelling on the tube (boooooooooo!) then you can pick up a free tube map from any tube station. You'll be needing it. Also I'd recommend an Oyster Card rather than separate tickets, as travel here is super expensive and you can save money this way. It will cost you (£3 at last count) to get one but you can get a refund for the card before you leave!
