Visiting London

[Oxigen_Waste]

So yeah, I'll be there a week, so, other than the obvious, what should I visit?

 

Plus, good places to eat and nightlife etc etc.

[jayseven]

Yeah, visit sheffield. It's where the cool kids are at.

[Daft]

Fire and Stone next to Covent Garden is immense.

[Oxigen_Waste]

Come on, is that it?

[The Bard]

It's not that fun a city =p. Bunch of museums, which are cool if you haven't been there before, so I reccommend you check those out if you havent already. Most of them are free like the British Museum, Natural History, Art and Portrait Galleries etc.

 

Parks are fun if you're with friends and a lot of beer.

 

Oh, and Trocadero if you want some stiff Street Fighter competition .

[ReZourceman]

I think Selfridges is awesome. Mainly the food hall I love.

 

And I go to Oxford Street, HMV etc. And Forbidden Planet, and theres is a great great comic shop outside Leicester Square tube station. If you take the normal exit at Leicester Square, turn left and walk about 100 yards, there will be like a hairpin to the left, look down there and you should see Orbital Comics, its very cool. And bold, hard to miss.

 

http://www.orbitalcomics.com/

[Eenuh]

Ooh yes, I'd like to know cool things to do in London as well! Will only be going for three days though.

 

I've been once last year, but all I did then was visit museums. And Borough Market (yummy food!). And a pub somewhere haha.

[or else you will DIE]

southbank (where the eye is) is very nice at night during weekends. incredible vibe.

 

hyde or victoria park on a sunny day can be great fun.

 

the O2 is pretty cool. lots of places to eat, has a nice cinema, some clubs and stuff. i'm guessing they will be bringing in the indoor beach soon too.

 

trocadero in piccadilly is great for amusements / bowling / bumper cars / whatever else

 

just stay away from camden. it's a total shit hole and you'll probably turn into a heroin junkie by the time you head home.

Edited April 12, 2010 by or else you will DIE

[The Bard]

The O2 is awful. Nothing but shit overpriced restaurants. I played at the Indigo2 venue there though. That was also kinda shit.

 

On the other hand, I couldn't disagree with your post about Camden more; its fantastic, and totally the kinda place O_W would enjoy, lots of gig venues, especially Camden underground, where you could probably pop into any night of the week and find a decent metal band playing (by decent, I mean like...Vader and Decapitated)...I saw Baroness there a couple of months ago. The market is pretty fun for all sorts of weird contraband and cool ethnic food stalls.

 

Camden is rad. Also, there are drugs.

[Daft]

I can't imagine visiting London. It's a major cosmopolitan city. Living in it is fantastic because you get to know your part of it and yet 90% of it is still a mystery.

 

"When a man is tired of London he is tired of life".

 

Try the Tate Modern, The Globe Theatre, The Old Vic, The London Aquarium, The Saatchi Gallery and while you're there the King's Road. Kew Gardens, London Zoo, Tate Britain, the Royal Academy, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Royal Opera House or Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall. The National Portrait Gallery and obviously the National Gallery, The West End (I'm not a fan of theatre), the BFI and the OXO Tower on the South Bank.

 

It depends what you want to do exactly. Needless to say, there's a lot to do.

[dan-likes-trees]

"When a man is tired of London he is tired of life".

 

Try the Tate Modern, The Globe Theatre, The Old Vic, The London Aquarium, The Saatchi Gallery and while you're there the King's Road. Kew Gardens, London Zoo, Tate Britain, the Royal Academy, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Royal Opera House or Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall. The National Portrait Gallery and obviously the National Gallery, The West End (I'm not a fan of theatre), the BFI and the OXO Tower on the South Bank.

 

It depends what you want to do exactly. Needless to say, there's a lot to do.

 

This. Also, London's generally great to just wander around for hours and find cool stuff.

 

Still, I feel I should know more about it considering I only live like 30 mins away...

[McPhee]

Don't take the tube. Walk or bus it.

 

There's nothing wrong with the underground, but you miss so much by taking it and a lot of the time (certainly in central London) it can take longer than walking. It can be great for getting across long distances quickly across the less interesting parts of the city (like from the train stations in to the centre, or from the centre out to Camden, Canary Warf, Wimbledon etc.) but in the area from Hyde Park across to Tower Bridge, and from South Bank up to Oxford Street I'd go above ground whenever possible.

[chairdriver]

ALTHOUGH, the tube is so essential. I love being and seeing on it.

[jayseven]

The tube is shit, but marginally shitter than other forms of public transport in london. It's so depressing, sweaty, impersonal, crowded. Much like most of london [/obv. dig].

[Debug Mode]

You'l mainly be relying on your own personality to have fun if you visit London.

 

I find annoying the shit out of people the key, try starting conversation with a random on the tube, it's funny how much you're looked upon like as a mad man for even possibly considering talking to strangers, when it's pretty much second nature in shit loads of other regions. I guess multi-cultural part of London designated the Japanese way of doing things for public transport.. It's depressing.

 

But that's not something to visit, visit Leicester Square, purely for the amusement of its high concentration of chain restaurants selling steak.

[Ashley]

You'l mainly be relying on your own personality to have fun if you visit London.

 

I find annoying the shit out of people the key, try starting conversation with a random on the tube, it's funny how much you're looked upon like as a mad man for even possibly considering talking to strangers, when it's pretty much second nature in shit loads of other regions. I guess multi-cultural part of London designated the Japanese way of doing things for public transport.. It's depressing.

 

But that's not something to visit, visit Leicester Square, purely for the amusement of its high concentration of chain restaurants selling steak.

 

Talking to strangers in any part of the country is weird

 

Although I did see two strangers talking on the tube recently and enjoying it. Granted, he was a teenage male and she was a fit french girl.

 

I don't have much to add about visiting London. Of all the times I've been the closest I've come to doing something touristey is...I don't know actually. I usually just hang out with friends.

 

I did see this recently. Don't know if its your 'thing' but its pretty cool.

[Debug Mode]

Ah, us scousers love talking to people. Whether it be friendly banter with the local supporters, or simply demanding tourists belongings.

[Ramar]

What ever you do, don't start taking pictures of the electronic advertising in Piccadilly Circus. Not only is weird people like taking pictures of adverts, its damned annoying when people block where you're trying to walk.

[Shorty]

Hmph, I think that's a bit harsh! Piccadilly circus is one of the most famous images of London, you see it and you instantly know where it is. Like Big Ben or the London Eye. It's pretty normal to want a photo in front of it, it's an instant memory of where you've been. If you live near London or go there a lot you won't think much of it, but huge illuminated banners aren't that common in our cities.

 

You could say the same thing for Times Square, but you wouldn't...

[Eenuh]

Hmph, I think that's a bit harsh! Piccadilly circus is one of the most famous images of London, you see it and you instantly know where it is. Like Big Ben or the London Eye. It's pretty normal to want a photo in front of it, it's an instant memory of where you've been. If you live near London or go there a lot you won't think much of it, but huge illuminated banners aren't that common in our cities.

 

You could say the same thing for Times Square, but you wouldn't...

 

I'm not sure I'd ever seen a picture of Picadilly circus; I just had to google it. And it still doesn't seem familiar (though I've heard the name mentioned a million times here on N-E). =P

 

I think maybe I was expecting a big circus tent or something... now that would've been cool! =D

[Shorty]

Never seen 28 Days Later? American Werewolf in London? Wayne's World 2? (in which Wayne and Garth have the same revelation that you just did )

[Eenuh]

Never seen 28 Days Later? American Werewolf in London? Wayne's World 2?

 

I've seen 28 Days Later (saw it a few months ago actually) and might've seen Wayne's World 2 at some point years ago. Still don't really recognise the place. But then big neon signs all look the same to me and don't really interest me much. =P

[Ellmeister]

Surely it depends on what sort of person you are as to what you'll enjoy. Simply spouting stuff may not help.

 

Surely Oxigen_Waste should tell us what he likes to do other than argue the about movies :p

[Fierce_LiNk]

I really like the Underground. It's very well constructed and I like how you can get pretty much anywhere on it. I much prefer it to the Paris Underground, but maybe that's because I've had less experience with that one.

 

I've had a quick google search for you and found this: 101 things to do in London. Granted, most of it would be touristy stuff, such as Museums and Visit Big Ben, that sorta thing.

 

Daft has made a pretty good list. It really depends what you want to get out of it. If you're after a pub or place to eat, there must be a million and one to find in London. Keep walking and go wherever your feet take you!

[Will]

I really like the underground too, granted I've never been on any other underground system but the thing really is amazing. It's way way better than any other public transport system in the country - plus it's usually quite good fun to ride.