One week staycation in London - hit me with ideas
PerfidiousPorpoise 15 Aug 22 09:42
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So far I have the London Mithraeum and the Horniman Museum.

Assume u have done the joh soane and the hunterian?  They r my fave less travelled museums.  london museum and a walk up st paul's dome?  Walk the london wall and look for the london stone.  (Last two sentences sponsored by bentines.)
 

I think you can book a walk in brunel's tunnel.  Or maybe a disused underground station, I think down st and the strand are open on occasion.  Cam would inow best

horniman is not really worth it, unless you have kids under 6.  The butterfly thing is good, the aquarium is disappointing, and the remainder of the collection is so-so.  Fine if you live in the area, but wouldn't bother otherwise.

 

I like the postal museum (but weird WW2 hard-on throughout), the National Gallery and, for Bentines, the Museum of London.

Dulwich Picture Gallery is one of the most-robbed galleries in the world. 

Would add - re-hang at the Courtauld Gallery combined with a lunch in Cov Garden beforehand and a cocktail at no1 aldwych afterwards.

How about a paddleboard session on the great union canal or at Teddington / Richmond?

There is a kayak trip which starts at Chelsea Bridge to Tower Bridge and returns at dusk.  Great going under bridges and seeing London at night. 

Postal Museum up at Mount Pleasant is cool and you go on an old postal train under London. Lunch in Exmouth Market afterwards.

Coram Fields playground and the Foundling Museum.

Disused station a good idea above. 

Clink Prison and Borough Market for some food. 

Walk around Wren's churches in the City. Fabulous architecture and some fascinating history. 

Also, if you haven't been there, Tate Modern. It's fantastic.

Top of St Paul's is great, agreed.  The rest of the building is pretty neat too.  Unfortunately one of the best reasons to visit the Tate Modern (the viewing gallery) has closed since the pandemic.  

 

Elephant I’ve done the Line. The first and final thirds are nice, particularly enjoyed the first. Some decent art and a nice walk along the river.
 

The bit to and through Canning Town is a bit of a drag and the route is difficult to follow (I ended  up walking through an industrial park for some time…though I’m not entirely certain I hadn’t lost the route).

Hunterian is closed at the mo, I think. 

For the road less travelled, the Wellcome collection usually has some interesting stuff, British Library standing collection is good, Dennis Severs House is weird but worth 10 minutes before some lunch at Spitalfields. The Design Museum has a decent football exhibition on presently. 

I lived in London during the 1990s.  About 20 years ago, I sent a mail to a friend who was moving to London, noting a few of the things I liked to do in London:

> -Go see the Arsenal - like being in Dublin and not catching a big GAA
>> match at Croke Park ...
>>
>> -Go and marvel at all the money worshippers in the tall money temples
>> in the Isle of Dogs
>>
>> -Have a curry in Brick Lane (avoid the ones who try to usher you in)
>>
>> -Go down through the park from Lancaster Gate and catch some
>> classical music at the Albert Hall 
>>
>> -Food?  Where to start?  I'm years out of date, but I reckon The
>> Bleeding Heart in Bleeding Heart Yard is still good, as is Mon
>> Plaisir in Covent Garden - or for quick cheap (veggie but still nice) food in the
>> middle of the day, try Food for Thought in Covent Garden or for good
>> coffee during the day, try Freuds Bar in the basement at 198
>> Shaftesbury Avenue
>>
>> -Fly a kite (try to) on Hampstead Heath
>>
>> -Greenwich and stand on the date line and check out some ships like
>> Cutty Sark
>>
>> -Wander through my old work place in the Royal Courts of Justice in
>> the Strand and check out where barristers work in the Inns among the
>> cherry trees (no wonder they're on a different planet) and then go
>> down Fleet St and have a cider in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (despite
>> the name, it really is old, Charles Dickens used to drink there)
>>
>> -Go see Hampton court palace (the size of the toilet was startling)
>>
>> -One of my fav walks in London - across the Hungerford footbridge
>> from where I used to work along the South Bank past Mandela's statue
>> and go see the Tate modern and back via the wobbly bridge & London
>> Eye.  I'm no fan of boring paintings but the Tate modern, housed in a
>> former power station, is well worth a visit
>>
>> -Westminster, The Mall, Horse Guards, Downing Street and the Houses
>> of Parliament (get a visitors pass)
>>
>> -Look out for quirky street names, eg, in parts of Chinatown

>>
>> -Camden Lock market for a bottle of patchouli oil and some junk food
>> and some serious Goth watching
>>
>> -Make a like a real East Ender and go dog racing at Walthamstow or
>> Wimbledon dog track
>>
>> -Ice skating at Somerset House or Broadgate
>>
>> -Wander through the City of a weekend morning and check the contrast
>> between the marble glass and steel of the European bank of recon
>> [they ripped out all the original marble and had it replaced with
>> better Italian marble at a cost of zillions, just because the CEO
>> didn't like the colour of the original marble] and then a few streets
>> away the relative seediness of the old East End
>>
>> -Buy an apple or something in
>> https://boroughmarket.org.uk/visit-us/; and all manner of
>> weird tat in Portobello market in Notting Hill
>>
Go see a proper London punk gig in Camden with
>> some shower of eejits with fab haircuts and zero talent, maybe in
>> Dingwalls or the Underground or the Forum in Kentish town; but the
>> flyers are best for up to date info, venues change every few months.

London museums - some of the best museums anywhere but you'd need a month to do them
justice:

British Museum, Science Museum, Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert
Museum, National Gallery, Imperial War Museum, Natural History Museum,
National Maritime Museum, London Transport Museum, Museum of London
etc