Help from Londoners

[DLB]

Evenin'

The family and i are visiting London for a week starting next Saturday. We have booked a flat near Tower bridge and have already decided to do most of the normal visits (Tussards, tower, tower bridge, oxford st, the parks, Downing st, etc)

We do however have a free day with nothing planned and i wondered if any of you good Londoners could suggest an activity for us (Me, the missus, two sons - 11 and 6)

Also we want to see a show while in London but i would like to avoid the £200 prices i've seen online- any ideas?

Finally, i'm intending to do some running from the flat at tower bridge whilst in London - can i run alongside the thames from tower bridge due west?

Any suggestions would be most welcome!

Darren

 

[yorkshiregoth]

You could try South Kensington station which is on a direct line from Tower Hill station via the District or Circle lines. Once there you have the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all of which have free entry.

 

[ianrauk]

Your kids (and you) will love the London Dungeon.

 

[DLB]

You could try South Kensington station which is on a direct line from Tower Hill station via the District or Circle lines. Once there you have the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all of which have free entry.

yeh, we've already got a day booked for the science museum and the natural history museum. At last something that doesn't cost the earth in London

 

[topcat1]

London eye a bit pricey but great fun, london zoo-regents park
and here's a little gem the Ducktours-they do a mini tour of london and then go into the Thames
for a ride in the river. That's right the bus goes in the river.


If you run on the south side of tower bridge you can get some miles in also worth spending some
time walking on the southside along the thames.

 

[DLB]

Your kids (and you) will love the London Dungeon.

LOL

i went to the London Dungeon when i was 11 and fainted. It the only time i have ever fainted! Thanks for the suggestion but i'm not sure it's suitable

 

[DLB]

London eye a bit pricey but great fun, london zoo-regents park
and here's a little gem the Ducktours-they do a mini tour of london and then go into the Thames
for a ride in the river. That's right the bus goes in the river.


If you run on the south side of tower bridge you can get some miles in also worth spending some
time walking on the southside along the thames.

going to do 'The eye'
Where do we get the Ducktours from? - sounds great!

 

[Arch]

yeh, we've already got a day booked for the science museum and the natural history museum. At last something that doesn't cost the earth in London

The really great thing about that is that you don't feel you have to see everything and get your 'moneysworth'. Museums can get very tiring, so you can dip in and out if you all start to get fatigued.

A nice walk on a good day to take in some sights is to go from Trafalgar Sq, down the Mall, double back through St James' Park alongside the lake (and get an icecream), across Horseguards, out into Whitehall, down past the end of Downing Street to Westminster, and then back along the embankment and up Charing Cross Road (I think) to get you back to Nelson's Column. Loads of sights in one go, and it needn't take too long, even ambling along.

 

[Aperitif]

A bus to Woolwich, via Canary Wharf and all the glass is - wow! Traverse the Thames on the Woolwich Ferry, for free and pick up another bus...to Grenwich, then up the hill tor the 'Meridian' perhaps (nice café at the top of the hill), or to Tate Modern. A quick visit to the imagery on the Fifth floor before repairing to grand views of London from the bar on the 7th. (with Wcs etc).

I love the view from the Tate...

 

[ianrauk]

A great free show is the Changing Of The Guard. 11am weekdays, 10am Weekends at Horsegaurds andat Buckingham Palace at 11:30am. It's quite a good spectacle.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

going to do 'The eye'

Not much help, I know, but the first time I ever went on an airliner (A BA '757), it was 1999, pre 9/11 and I had just got out of hospital.

The pilots let me up into the cockpit for the landing into Heathrow (we were going Glasgow - Heathrow - Zurich), and on the way in, flying up the Thames at 8,000 feet, they gave us a tour pointing out everything, including Wimbledon to the south and Windsor Castle way off in the distance in front of us, whilst the lit up carpet of the runway at Heathrow slowly became clearer and clearer.

I remember looking down and seeing the Eye still on it's side, waiting to be put up.

I can't say you will get quite the same view as we had, but it should still be good from the top anyway, as will the likes of St Pauls.

Where do we get the Ducktours from? - sounds great!

Just follow the big yellow bus shaped like a boat!!

 

[topcat1]

going to do 'The eye'
Where do we get the Ducktours from? - sounds great!

Straight across from the eye you'll see these yellow buses with big wheels
on york road i think you can book the tickets at the eye ticket office

or go to london ducktour.com

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Oh and if you are at the Eye, go to Waterloo, see the Cuneo statue and try and find the mouse! (most people don't even know it's there).
Actually, don't, it was filthy the last time I saw it and your kids might catch some pigeon bourne disease!

Seriously though, in the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo, they are putting on a show of The Railway Children at the moment, which your kids might like.

Also, St Pancras is worth seeing, purely on the rather flimsy evidence that it now looks fantastic instead of it being the dark, dirty, smokey (and atmospheric) Cathedral like building it was before, complete with a huge glass and metal roof.
The atmosphere has been lost now though as has the effect of the roof seeing as they have built on the end of it with that ugly shed thing and raised the tracks up now (the tracks used to be where the shops now are below, so the roof looked HUGE).

Still nice to see though in it's current shiny new state, and it gives an impression of what these places must have looked like when they were new.

 

[slowmotion]

I do not know the ticket prices, but the Imperial War Museum is fascinating, especially for boys of my generation (ahem).

http://www.iwm.org.uk/

You might like a boat trip to Greenwich. You must visit the National Maritime Museum if you go that way.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/

I don't wish to sound like a party-pooper, but give Madame Tussuad's a miss...the queues are horrendous and the wait isn't worth it IMVVHO.

Have fun...lots of it...

 

[brokenbetty]

Take the Thames Clipper down to Greenwich and get photos of the kids standing over the meridian