Emergency London Tourist Stuff(s)
Friday, July 31st, 2009Tourist Stuff in London
Anyone who knows me appreciates I’ve been in a bit of a whirlwind in the last couple of weeks. I went from going to Taiwan to cover some metal, to suddenly acquiring a new girlfriend (who was formerly in said band) and who turned up in a planned way on my doorstep last night intending to stay a month.
As I was trundling towards T3 on the Picadilly line the night before last, I started sketching out things we could do in London. Before long I had more that 50 things I regarded as essential, many of which I hadn’t done before. So there’s the list I came up with. We’ve already knocked off Covent Garden, the National Gallery and Chinatown.
Museums
- Tate modern – great building, meh exhibitions
- Tate Britain – good exhibitions
- Hayward – free at the moment I believe
- Victoria and Albert – will miss the next big Friday late, but still good to visit
- National gallery – lovely art, great buildings, great commentary
- National portrait gallery – hopefully something photography that won’t piss me off
- British library – anything worth seeing for non-members?
- Royal Academy – anything free and decent? Worth it if we’re near Fortnum and Mason
- British Museum – cool stiff we stole
- Photographers gallery – 50/50 chance of pissing me off
- Canary wharf (museum) – can double up with Greenwich
Historic Buildings
- Hampton Court Palace – she likes Henry VIII
- St Pauls – great building, great view from the top
- St Martin in the Fields – nice café in the crypt
- Westminster Abbey – never done it. Would be nice
- Buck House – actually neither of us care about this
Theatre Stuff
- Avenue Q – yeah yeah. it’s cheap and funny
- Globe Theatre – bit of culture
- ICA – I’m a member and they show cool films
- IMAX – not especially London, but I want to see Harry Potter
Shopping!
- Forbidden Planet – laugh at the nerds
- Japan Centre – good books, good food
- Hamleys – just because
- Harrods – same
- Carnaby St – not what it was, but Austin Powers
Markets
- Camden Market
- Spitalfields
- Brick lane
- Portobello road
- Covent garden
- Chinatown
- Borough Market
- Marylebone high street
- Greenwich
Other Random Stuff
- London zoo
- Smithfield
- Tourist bus
- River bus/tour
- Primrose hill – view London, nice pubs in the village
- Tower of London/London bridge – at least look at the outside
- Cinema Wednesdays – I got her an Orange SIM. Would be rude not to
Food!
- Pie and mash eels
- City fullers- PIE!
- Teachi – good, cheap dim sum
- Leongs – Taiwanese food in case she gets desperate for home cooking
- Crown and goose – my local. Foamy ale
- Somers Town coffee house – nice pub in an odd place
- Fish and chips
- Brick lane curry
- Drummond street curry – mmmm…dosa