I'm off to London for a few days next week. In amongst the heady whirl of West End shows, top restaurants and hanging around in bars I'll have some time on my hands so I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for things worth seeing or doing?
I'm planning to get to the science museum, the IWM and possibly the Tate, but what else is there of interest? Exhibitions, museums, burlesque acts, whatever you like. Not too fussed about things like Buckingham Palace and I like my museums dry, dusty and old-fashioned rather than interactive and kiddy friendly.
Suggestions can be as unsavoury as you like and the regularly asked question of decent comic/bookshops may also be addressed if you feel like it.
Cheers, Pete.
The Victoria and Albert Museum is a must.
-Bouwel-
Go stand by the statue of Anteros/Eros and stop a random stranger. Say to them "Tut! It's like Piccadilly Curcus out here".
If it's still on whilst you're there, the Waterhouse exhibition at the RA (http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/waterhouse/) is supposed to be worth a look... haven't been yet but I am planning on going that final weekend!
Damnit, I was going to recommend the V&A. Top place, and just a short shuffle from the Natural History and Science Museums.
Last time we were in London we did a ferry trip to the meridian and observatory at Greenwich - great fun, and some decent pubs too. Didn't even get to the naval stuff.
Quotepossibly the Tate
Whats that I wonder?
QuoteWhats that I wonder?
Big art gallery (well, several, but two in London - Tate Britain and Tate Modern, both well worth the visit).
The Tate Modern is superb.
We went along with me fully expecting to be in a red rage the whole time. But then there's a room with a Monet waterlilies and Jackson Pollock's Summertime opposite each other and I was almost in tears.
I'm actually hanging round this thread waiting to see what Spooky Steev recommends in the (very subtly included there, Cosh) burlesque department, but while I'm here I have a tip: there are some great free "guided" walking tours available on mp3 - personal blogged ones, not commercial tourist pap, and I thoroughly enjoyed strolling about half-listening to some amiable slightly-out-of-breath duffer wittering on about pump-handles, beadles and barrage balloons. There's even a Ripper's Whitechapel one which is supposed to be very good, but I've never felt quite right doing a 'murder' tour.
My father, a professional tour guide, would not appreciate me offering this advice, so it may be a form of post-adolescent rebellion rather than an actual helpful tip, who knows.
The John soane museum is unmissable :
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:tCWiBhK5mfwJ:www.soane.org/+john+soane+museum&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a
Also go and visit Spitalfields.the nearest stop is Liverpool St.Cross the road [Bishopsgate St] and cut through one of the sidestreets and you will see ChristChurch Spitalfields and around it are streets and streets of 18th century townhouses.There are also stacks of Curry houses if you fancy a ruby.
This area is the setting for From Hell as you might already know.
Also The British Museum [Russell Sq tube] is excellent if you like traditional museums.I recommend the V+A museum as well.
The British Museum is without a doubt one of the finest places in the world, especially if you like your dry dusty affairs.
QuoteThe British Museum is without a doubt one of the finest places in the world, especially if you like your dry dusty affairs.
...and
spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof. And one of the world's greatest comics shops in Gosh! just across the road, and a great gaming shop just around the corner.
Quoteand spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof.
I was in the British Museum for the first time last January - and the feeling of joy and wonder at the impact of the old & new on entering that courtyard is something I'll always remember. (I was there for the terracotta warriors, which induced the same feeling!)
Also - the Natural History Museum, the Tate Modern/Britain, St Pauls (Tate Modern & St Pauls are quite close to one another too)
For the museums/galleries, you definately need to target what you want to see, as several days could safely go by and you wouldn't see half of what's on display.
M
Tate Britain is more of a must than Tate Modern, which can be saved for another visit. Even better is the National Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery is a surprisingly good and educational visit if you're more interested in the likenesses of historical personages than the actual art, but I'd save that one for a 'mopping up' expedition. I waited until I was 38 to see the National Portrait Gallery, and it never did me any harm - it was still there.
The beauty of it is that Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery are all free admission.
The fastest I've ever got round the National Gallery is 20 minutes, but a good 3 hours usually does the trick.
The National Gallery is stunning. I had planned a quick jog around on my last visit (November 2006), and ended up being poleaxed and rooted to the spot in room after room.
The British Museum, however, is my bête noir. I cannot spend less than a full day there on any given visit. My beloved missus understands this after possibly bitter experience, and despite having a liking for museums herself any joint trip to London of necessity features a 'personal day', where we part at breakfast, I go straight to the BM and stay there (apart from a midday excursion to Gosh!), and then mcuh later we meet up in the little coffee shop upstairs in Foyle's on Charing Cross Road. Then we pretend to listen to each other's geeky enthused ramblings over an apple slice, and once concluded resume our peaceful joint existence.
Radiator's top things to do in London:Food and Drink
You can blag lots of free samples of amazing foods (and maybe even buy something!) at
Borough Market.
http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/ (http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/)
You can buy some exotic foreign sweets and chocolate at
Cybercandy, Covent Garden - bit pricey, but good for gifts etc - who wouldn't want a green tea flavoured KitKat?
http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/ (http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/)
A picnic in
St. James Park if the weather is good - you can get really nice sushi from
The Japan Centre in nearby Picadilly Circus.
http://www.japancentre.com/ (http://www.japancentre.com/)
There's a really great pizza place called
Franco Manca near Electric Avenue in Brixton - prices and food are amazing - think they're only open at lunchtime though.
Bodeans in Soho is good if you like meat dishes (they even have meat in the beans), and at the other end of the scale
Mildred's, also in Soho - great for veggie food.
http://francomanca.co.uk/ (http://francomanca.co.uk/)
http://www.bodeansbbq.com/ (http://www.bodeansbbq.com/)
http://www.mildreds.co.uk/ (http://www.mildreds.co.uk/)
If you find yourself in East London, head over to
Kingsland Road where you'll find lot's of great, rough and ready Vietnamese restaurants - spicy frog's legs and crispy noodles ftw. Also check out
Rasa in nearby Stoke Newington if you fancy a curry with a difference.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl)
http://www.rasarestaurants.com/UserPages/index.aspx (http://www.rasarestaurants.com/UserPages/index.aspx)
For pubs, you're kind of spoilt for choice, I tend to stick to any pub owned by the
Samuel Smith's Brewery as they're cheap (by London standards at keast!) - mainly
The Glasshouse Stores in Soho and
The Chandos in Covent Garden, the latter of which has a usually-available darts board. I also quite like the rather touristy
Cove in Covent Garden, as they serve good Cornish Pasties.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&source=hp&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=list+of+samuel+smith+pubs+london&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&view=text&ei=wWeeSo-nCYaQsAa94c23AQ&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1 (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&source=hp&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=list+of+samuel+smith+pubs+london&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&view=text&ei=wWeeSo-nCYaQsAa94c23AQ&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1)
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/20/2046/Cove/Covent_Garden (http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/20/2046/Cove/Covent_Garden)
Stuff To Do
For books and comics shopping,
Forbidden Planet in Shaftesbury Avenue is good, and you could always have a look in those two bookshops that are selling
2000ad trades for £2 each. One's in
Chiswick, the other is more central - Euston Road. The details of which are in this thread:http://2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,25632.msg444258.html#msg444258 (http://2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,25632.msg444258.html#msg444258)
http://forbiddenplanet.com/ (http://forbiddenplanet.com/)
The
Hunterian Museum near Holborn is well worth a look if you want to see something a little different (and less busy!) - pretty macabre stuff but a very nicely maintained museum - best of all it's
FREE.
http://www.londonnet.co.uk/museums/hunterianmuseum.html (http://www.londonnet.co.uk/museums/hunterianmuseum.html)
The London Cartoon Gallery near Great Russell Street is well worth the £3ish entry if you're interested in comic art. Last time I was there they had
some nice John Burns Dredd and Dante pages, along with loads of early Beano and Dandy strips and political cartoons etc.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/am15435 (http://www.culture24.org.uk/am15435)
The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal
Green is mildly diverting, and more importantly,
FREE.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/ (http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/)
The art installation
Seizure, near Elephant and Castle is worth a look, if it's still on that is - a derelict council flat coated on the inside with bright blue crystals - quite magical - and if you do what I did you can take one of the crystals home with you and tell everyone you have a piece of Turner prize nominated art on top of your telly. It's
FREE entry, too!
http://www.londontown.com/LondonEvents/RogerHiorns-Seizure/411c8 (http://www.londontown.com/LondonEvents/RogerHiorns-Seizure/411c8)
Take the Docklands Light Railway (a pleasant experience in itself!) to get to
Mudchute Farm - a nice day out, especially if you have children (or simpletons like me) with you.
FREE entry, but I think you may need to book ahead.
http://www.mudchute.org/ (http://www.mudchute.org/)
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 September, 2009, 11:59:51 AM
QuoteWhats that I wonder?
Big art gallery (well, several, but two in London - Tate Britain and Tate Modern, both well worth the visit).
Oh, should have known. The Tate Art gallery rings a bell. It's one of primary locations featured on the Map of London in some game based on Dracula on Steam. I was playing the demo over a week ago.
get yourselves down to the Observatory at Greenwich for a great planetarium show, we did the Black hole one and Minihuff still talks about it, looks like its showing Ice Worlds just now( wot no mention of Hoff?)
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/planetarium-shows/ (http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/planetarium-shows/)
there is the rest of the Obsevratory buildings too which are fine for a stroll
Greenwich Park is great for a bit of green space too and there's a boat trip there and back or take the brilliant walking tunnel under the Thames to the Norff side and take the Megacity like Zoom, well the docklands light rail back into town.
If you make the whole day of it there, then there's the Martime Museum and lots of wee independent shops around Greenwich too as well as the Cutty Sark ( not sure what state thats in just now)
Don't forget to go back home. ;)
V
Surprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet. Its a fantastic and enlightening place. If anybody goes there I can't recommend enough looking at the building itself its a great bit of architecture and has some fantastic little surprises carved into the stone work.
The British Museum is also wonderful.
Last time my wife and I went down there we avoided the Tates as we always go there and explored a couple of other Galleries. The Hayward Gallery was fantastic and had an Anthony Gormley display which was quite superb. Not sure its still there but it was a great gallery anyway. Also the National Portrait Gallery which is excellent too.
QuoteSurprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet.
Other than Mikey and me, you mean? ;) Still, bears repeating, and you're spot on re: the details in the architecture. Shades of the Monkey House in Button Man I! Plus, fossilised Ankylosaur skin, what more could any sane person want?
Go and gawp at whatever loon is there that particular hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. All part of One & Other ongoing art installation. Some are weird, some fun, and some you find yourself thinking "Why did you go up there at all?"
http://www.skyarts.co.uk/site/plinth/
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 September, 2009, 04:35:09 PM
QuoteSurprised no one's mentioned the Natural History Museum yet.
Other than Mikey and me, you mean? ;) Still, bears repeating, and you're spot on re: the details in the architecture. Shades of the Monkey House in Button Man I! Plus, fossilised Ankylosaur skin, what more could any sane person want?
Ha well yeah obivously I meant aside from you two...??? I wonder what new exciting bit of my brain decided to edit out any reference to what I was scanning posts for then... where's that other thread about us all being mutants I think I found my mutant power...
2 tips for eating out :
Sticky Fingers in Phillimore Gardens just off Kensington High St. I have been going there since 1992 and its always reliable if you like Burgers and that type of thing.
http://www.stickyfingers.co.uk/
Also for a cheap Italian go to Porchettas - Upper St Islington.Cheap delicious and often quite busy but its worth it.
http://www.laporchettapizzeria.co.uk/
Quote from: peterwolf on 02 September, 2009, 04:45:34 PM
Also for a cheap Italian go to Porchettas - Upper St Islington.Cheap delicious and often quite busy but its worth it.
http://www.laporchettapizzeria.co.uk/
Haven't been there in donkeys... Yes really good food.
Hmmm hungry now.. :-\
Quote from: House of Usher on 02 September, 2009, 01:53:16 PM
Tate Britain is more of a must than Tate Modern, which can be saved for another visit.
Darn, I was going to say exactly that. Tate Britain showcases the best of British art up to 1900, and is just stunning. Tate Modern does have a few wonderful pieces, but it also has a lot of pretentious modern wank (yes Mr Rothko, Ms Emin, I'm looking at YOU) and hideous crowds most days. The big turbine hall is good, not sure what's in there currently.
My favourite London pub (though it's many years since I was there) is the Pillars of Hercules in Soho. Old, seedy and definitely not trendy.
I was very disappointed with the size of the gallery spaces when I visited Tate Modern after it first opened. It was impossible to get far enough back from some exhibits to see them properly, and Rodin's The Kiss was shoved in a corner on the landing beside the escalator.
There is some right old tat on display sometimes, but there's always something thought provoking or going to evoke an emotional response. There's a large copper box with an orange floor by an America sculptor. I love to see that on display, and I was pleased to see it in the new gallery after years of it presumably being stored.
I remember once complaining about the thematic hanging in Tate Britain. I'm pleased to say it has reverted back to displaying paintings chronologically and according to style and school. There's a satisfactory level of detail about it on wikipedia.
It's a week I'm going for not a month!
Cheers for all the suggestions gents and a special mention to Radiator's compendium of links. The blue flats sound well worth a visit, with the British Museum and the Observatory very likely candidates too.
Now all I need to find is a Dutch bar where I can watch the Scotland match on Wednesday night...
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 September, 2009, 01:08:21 PM
QuoteThe British Museum is without a doubt one of the finest places in the world, especially if you like your dry dusty affairs.
...and spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof.
... and tons of stolen property, I should add.
You lot are making me feel like a terrible Londoner. I tend to only see much of the stuff you mention when we have visitors from abroad. But once we are in any other city abroad we rush around like lunatics to see every museum/gallery that exists.
I haven't been for many years, but way back I thoroughly enjoyed the Imperial War Museum. Interesting to see the personal belongings of soldiers in the trenches in WWI – their improvised body armour (lead plate on string), weapons (knuckle dusters) etc. Not sure if that is still on display, mind you. Might be an interesting time to go, what with the anniversary of declaring war on Germany in WWII.
http://london.iwm.org.uk
I just read the title for this thread topic properly.
Like, what would you try doing in your sleep?
Anyway......
Things to do in London or the whole of Britain Isles......
Re-enact scenes from "American Werewolf In London"
Go visit th Tavern of the Slaugthered Lamb in the Scottish moors one evening as the moon waxes.
Comment loudly to evrybody on it's interior archictecture.. like the five pointed upside down star painted on the wall in blood situated in a alcove between two candles.
Ask ablout the local werewolf legends.
Keep doing this until everybody goes quiet and stares at you uncomfortably.
Bewary of the man playing darts. You don't want to make him miss.
Play a game of chess with Rik Mayoll.
Remember the Alamo!
When on the moors later that night, and if you plan to leave the roadside at any stage in you journey. Make sure you buddy is wearing the red coloured parka.
If you are injured, make sure you get the cute female nurse who will find you adorable and fall in love with you. Letting you move in with her into her town house apartment in central london. This way, You will have free lodging during your stay.
Complain to the doctor and your now imaginery buddy about vivid dreams of running through the forest naked and slightly scaberous of appaerance, eating the raw flesh of deer.
While your female nurse firend is away, listen to alot of Creedance, Wareen Zevon, and Van Morrison while waiting for the eminent first or second night of the full moon. Then roll around on the floor in agony, baring your teeth, running around on all fours, snarling and howling like a true clincial lycantrope.
Stalk people in the central london underground at night and remember it's better if they are alone.
Walk around London in the day time, stopping to talk to your imaginary buddy who you left behind in the moors of Scotland.
Complain about vivid dreams of you and your family at home being attacked about undead gun totting Nazis while watching The Mupppets.
Go to Piccadilly Circus, and at the public telephone booth. Ring your Nurse girlfriend and tell you love them very much before breaking off your relationship with her and declaring your a murderer to anyone and every one around you. Make sure there are some Police Bobby's present. Pull your pants down. Run around naked and covered from head to toe in blood and scream at the top of your lungs that you are a werewolf.
Then run and hide in the local porno cinema. Talk very loudly to no one in particular. Make sure there is a topless lady with large wobblies on the big screen.
It should be early evening as the second or third night of the fullmoon approaches. If you are okay, undergo another imaginery werewolf transformation by removing all your clothing if you haven't done so already.
Go outside, running on all fours and try to catch the nearest doubledecker bus. Keep a eye out for the Speical OPs and Military personal and the sound of gun shots, tell-tale sparkle of silver ammunition flying around.
If you have not decapitated the bus driver than run into a alleyway and play dead until all is quiet again and if you have not been killed, like really.
Go home.
Quote from: TordelBack on 02 September, 2009, 01:08:21 PM
QuoteThe British Museum is without a doubt one of the finest places in the world, especially if you like your dry dusty affairs.
...and spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof. And one of the world's greatest comics shops in Gosh! just across the road, and a great gaming shop just around the corner.
Agreed on both counts. Can't think why it wasn't the first post actually. Many is the weekend I've spent almost entirely wandering about, sitting in the reading room etc. The special exhibitions, whilst a "little" interactive, are too good NOT to go for. World-leading establishment by all industry standards.
Gosh and the games shop I forget are amazing. As is the National Cartoon Museum, not far away (and run, I think, by the folks that brung you Gosh).
The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery (NOT the same thing) are both excellent affairs and well worth an afternoon of anyone's time, but it sounds like you've an embarrassment of riches for your trip. Enjoy it and come back soon.
You'll have a great time, as Samuel Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Oh! and if you happen to pass the Spurs Shop on the Tottenham High Road, can you pick me up a Spurs Home Kit for a 4-month old!!
Quote from: House of Usher on 02 September, 2009, 06:49:34 PM
There's a large copper box with an orange floor by an American sculptor. I love to see that on display, and I was pleased to see it in the new gallery after years of it presumably being stored.
I found it. It's
Untitled by Donald Judd. This picture doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid. You need to be able to look down inside it. The box is of siuch a height that the refelective interior surfaces don't reflect the room or the viewer, just the floor of the box and its reflection in the other interior surfaces.
(http://www.ivarhagendoorn.com/files/blog/donald-judd-1.jpg)
Only just found this thread- apologies if you've already been and gone!
Some things to do:
Ongoing until Today, 06 September
SWEENEY TODD IN LONDON
An opportunity to see the Edinburgh hit show - two shows only in London!
Hosted by: Finger in the Pie Theatre Co
Type: Music/arts - Performance
Where: Jackson's Lane
When: 05 September at 20:00 until
06 September at 16:00 YOU'VE GOT AN HOUR TO GET THERE! Sorry!
Today, 06 September
Finger in the Pie Cabaret Showcase
Here Come the Girls!
Hosted by: Finger in the Pie Cabaret
Type: Music/arts - Performance
Where: Madame JoJo's BREWER STREET SOHO
When: Today from 19:00 to 21:30
BINGO'S BACK WITH TIMBERLINA!
Every Monday at the RVT
Hosted by: Royal Vauxhall Tavern
Type: Party - Night of Mayhem
Where: Royal Vauxhall Tavern
When: Tomorrow from 19:00 to 23:55
Glitterbeast - Battle of the Sexes!!!
Time to crown the sexiest beast of them all! POETRY, hosted by Totally brilliant bloke Marquis Andreas Von Graant
Hosted by: Glitterbeast
Type: Trips - Road Trip
Where: Bacchus Pub & Boozer
When: 09 September from 20:00 to 00:00
GO TO THE FOLLOWING TO MEET MY LOVELY WIFE, DOMINO BURLESK, WHO WON'T BE PERFORMING, BUT IS BEING FEATURED IN THE PHOTO EXHIBITION. (I'm not going)
EXHIBITION PLUS ROCKABILLY CLUB NIGHT.
ROCKERS
an exhibition by Leonie Morse
Hosted by: Filthy McNasty's
Type: Music/arts - Exhibit
Where: Filthy McNasty's Whisky Cafe
When: 10 September from 18:00 to 00:00
Hope some of that is of use!
SBT
I'm just back from a weekend in London. Two nights out, two museums, a quick look inside St. Paul's Cathedral, first and second ever experiences of eating in Pret a Manger (mmm!), and picking our way through the Saturday evening rush-hour crowd from the Millennium footbridge to Oxford Circus. Bumped by a hotel chain from Lambeth to Southwark, thus necessitating underground rail travel I'd normally avoid, with half the underground closed for engineering work.
A packed weekend with many highlights and many, many trivial low points.
I went to see 'Wicked' at the Apollo Theatre. It was brilliant, and as good a revisionist fable as you'd read in any comic book.
Also my second visit to the Tate Modern in 10 years. I hated it for the second time too.
The Victoria and Albert Museum, on the other hand, was lovely to visit. The best bits for me were the fashion section, the sculpture gallery and the C17th furniture and paraphernalia.
I didn't find a single comics shop though! Aaaargh. Consequence of a busy week in which it slipped my mind to look up where to find one via this very website (even this very thread). Oh well. Tharg's Future Shop for Progs 1658-1660 then.
QuoteAaaargh.
Close, but it's actually Gosh!
The V&A should be the template for all museums. The BM has it beat for sheer splendour and content, and I love it more than almost anywhere in the world, but the V&A is the best at presenting and explaining its collections, and frankly making you feel
welcome. We do various assessments of creating access to heritage, and I always end up referring to the V&A.
At least these days Tate Modern is displaying Rodin's The Kiss properly, but on the whole I found it an enormous collection of tat, somewhat diminished for being separated from the 'Britain' collection. Maybe a lot of the decent stuff is on display in their Liverpool gallery? I don't know. I'm not saying there was no good art at all, because that would be untrue. There was a good display of cubist, vorticist and futurist art, surrealism, especially Magritte but not especially Dali, no Mondrian, not enough Kandinsky, too much Joan Miro, some shabby Warhols. Too many 1960s expressionist videos of naked people rolling around in gunge.
'Thirty Pieces of Silver' was a superb installation.
One of the things I disliked most about Tate Modern is how it attempts to address itself to its perceived audience. It doesn't seem to be about addressing a general public and taking art seriously so much as providing a fun day out for the metropolitan elite and their over-privileged pre-school children. At the Victoria and Albert I saw some brilliant parents wandering around discussing the art with their kids and listening to their untrained reactions and interpretations and laughing with them, but it shrivelled my soul at Tate Modern to see posh parents queuing for activity packs and crayons without which presumably no trip to a public art gallery would be complete these days.
I hated the Tate's cafe too. When I'm at a museum or art gallery I expect to be there about 4 hours, so I want somewhere to leave my coats and luggage, well maintained toilets, and somewhere I can get a soft drink, tea or coffee, a sandwich and a bit of cake. I don't want a lot of fuss, printed menus, besuited waiters and a general pervading atmosphere of snobbery and social exclusion and a meal that might take up valuable time otherwise spent gawking at art. A cafe should be a cafe, not a restaurant. There's a restaurant for toffs and snobs on the top floor, so the cafe doesn't need to be one as well. It thought it significant that the enormous cafe was half empty on a Saturday afternoon at the same time as the miniscule espresso bar upstairs was cramped and busy with strangers sharing tables, and trays of empty cups piling up here and there. And there was nobody in the espresso bar stroppily intoning the reprimand "there is a queue," when the queue was plainly visible, orderly, fast-moving and unavoidable.
Gosh is a pretty good comic shop, for almost everything except the actual prog (they tend to stock a pretty good selection and volume of the Twoth collections though, which is always nice).
The V&A is an excellent museum and the Tate Modern is unbelievably dull.
Had two hours to kill the other Saturday (was a 'taxi' for the day to take the wife to London)...took a walk to Gosh...man I used to love that shop, and it was every bit as good as I remembered.
A while back when we went up to London we went on the Duck Tour, which was good fun.
http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/ (http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/)
and we also went up Tower Bridge, which was informative and good fun at the same time
http://www.towerbridge.org.uk (http://www.towerbridge.org.uk)
Quote from: Mikey on 02 September, 2009, 01:43:11 PM
Quote from: Tordelbackand spectacular modern architecture in the central courtyard roof.
I was in the British Museum for the first time last January - and the feeling of joy and wonder at the impact of the old & new on entering that courtyard is something I'll always remember.
I'd always intended to come back to this thread and thank folks for their suggestions. The British Museum was great even if (or possibly because) I only had time to visit a very small portion of it. I'm a big fan of oriental ceramics and there were some choice colours in there. I wasn't sure what you guys were talking about, but walking into the courtyard after an hour or so spent amongst the Assyrian collection, was quite jaw-dropping.
Other things I visited which I'd heartily recommend. The RAF museum at Henley is great if you like planes and a day at the National Wetlands Centre is cracking if you like ducks. Which I do.
I completely forgot about that blue house thing, but the Turner collection at the Tate Britain was fab, even if they had taken a few of the choice works out of circulation for the upcoming Turner and the Masters exhibition. I also saw Troilus & Cressida at The Globe: an excellent production of a rather lacklustre play which featured Matthew Kelly (who I thought was dead and my friend thought was a kiddy-fiddler) as a dirty old uncle.
Sorry to correct you, but I think the RAF museum's in Colindale (although it purports to be in Hendon). Short tube ride from me, I feel SURE I'd notice if it were in Henley.
Quote from: Mike Gloady on 02 November, 2009, 09:57:46 PM
Sorry to correct you, but I think the RAF museum's in Colindale (although it purports to be in Hendon). Short tube ride from me, I feel SURE I'd notice if it were in Henley.
Oops. Yes, RAF Hendon is what they call it. Still good wherever it is.
The cafe in the V+A is recommended as i have eaten in there a few times.