You've got one day to show two Americans London...

[mrsfran]

I've got some American friends coming to London soon. They've got one day (a Saturday) before they move on to France (I know) and I am tasked with showing them a good time. I love showing people around because I love London but I want to do a good itinerary. They're not expecting miracles and totally understand there's only so much you can do in one day and are not expecting me to whizz them round everywhere.

Pubs aren't really on the agenda as they don't drink, and museums and art galleries are fine but not the be all and end all to them. What they want is a sense of what London has to offer. I'll be meeting them at Victoria.

So I was thinking: tube to Westminster, come out of the tube station and hey presto! Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral etc. Good start. Walk up Whitehall to Trafalagar Square, say hello to the pigeons, gosh look at the National Gallery, maybe pop in and have a look at a Van Gogh, have lunch at the NG Dining Rooms. On to Covent Garden, take in some street performers. If they're up for it, a drink in the Cheshire Cheese (a pub that's older than your country!).

And then some other stuff that I haven't worked out yet.

What do you think? What would you do if tasked with showing some tourists London?

And no, I won't be taking them to a council estate in Tower Hamlets, before anyone suggests that one.

 

[mrsfran]

Oh, I might try to fit Buckingham Palace in there somewhere too. And a ride on either the 9 or 15, the two Routemasters still in service.

 

[bi0boy]

Take them up the Monument to get a bit of history, then walk past the Tower and see Tower bridge and Canary Wharf in the distance.

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Or uou can get boat from Westminster down to the Tower and then pick up a bus back to Trafalger Sq and then up to Covent Gdn after that. All jolly fun and the chaps on the boat do a nice bit of tour guiding.

 

[mrsfran]

Or uou can get boat from Westminster down to the Tower and then pick up a bus back to Trafalger Sq and then up to Covent Gdn after that. All jolly fun and the chaps on the boat do a nice bit of tour guiding.

Oooh that sounds good. Could you give more details/a URL?

 

[gaijingirl]

The London Eye and a walk down South Bank - preferably including a meal/drink somewhere around the Oxo Tower for the view (I did this with my friend from Philadelphia who came to say for 2 nights 1 day for my wedding - she spent one night in East London and one night in Brixton - so I felt it only fair to treat her to a night's drinking with a view of something half decent... )

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Oooh that sounds good. Could you give more details/a URL?

Err, I think the TfL website probably has the info you'd need - they certainly have timetables and such like. I think we got the boat that goes all the way down to Docklands but got off at the Tower because we wanted to show it to the kiddies. Takes in Belfast, the Globe and all that stuff.

I'll look for the url and come back with it...

Ooh, that was quick:http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1131.aspx will take you there. You prolly want the Leisure Timetable - there seem to be at least two which will do that bit of the trip. I guess the same site will do bus times but to be honest you just need to wait on the main bot of road on the north side of the tower and something red will come along ;-)

Lovely on a nice day - although the idea of the eye is a good one as well: as you're just across from there for starters it'd be good.

Where do you propose feeding them btw? Chinatown's a short wander from Covent Garden...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

London Eye definitely. I don't think most people realise how big and busy London is 'til they see it from a height

Maybe start at Tower of London as that will take the most time, get bus down to London Eye, walk across River so they can see Parliament, walk up Whitehall for Trafalgar Square and National Gallery (or you could go to Tate Modern on way to London Eye) and then on to Covent Garden and Chinatown maybe?

 

[teuchter]

Get the boat down to Greenwich, and remind them that we own the Meridian line.

 

[brix]

Agree with gg about a walk down the South Bank.

Start at London Bridge and take them to Borough Market for breakfast. Walk down the river taking in the views. Have a look around the Tate Modern.
Stop and enjoy the best view of London which is the view from Waterloo Bridge. Possibly do the London Eye.
Cross over the Hungerford Foot Bridge and have lunch in either Covent Garden, Soho or Chinatown. Take the 24 from Trafalger Square or Tottenham Court Road and go up to Camden. Get off at Stables Market and have a quick nose in there. Cross over the road and have an ice cream in Marine Ices (great ice cream at an Italian gelateria that's been going for 75 years - http://www.marineices.co.uk/definitive_history.html) and then walk it off with a stroll up Primrose Hill. Enjoy another fabulous view of London.

Collapse.

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Man, they're American. No way can they walk that far **;-)**

 

[mattie]

A second shout for Borough market.

I quite like walking from St Pauls, Smithfields (it may not be there much longer) and into the Barbican. Quite a contrast of buildings in that short walk, and I love the Barbican for some reason.

And if they're fat Americans, there's always the stairs at Covent Garden tube.

 

[Bungle73]

Take them up the Monument to get a bit of history, then walk past the Tower and see Tower bridge and Canary Wharf in the distance.

The Monument's closed until December.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

A friend of a friend came to visit London for the first time while I was living there. All three of us went on one of those bus tours.

We didn't plan it but it randomly happened that it was light when it started (somewhere near Marble Arch I think), and I think it went across the river at some point, and then it got darker and it went along the banks somewhere near the dungeons and the sloop, I think, and it was quite pretty with all the lights along the banks and across the bridges.

I'd previously sniffed at the idea of doing something so touristy, but actually it was quite good.

 

[gaijingirl]

Bus tours are good - especially if they're hop on and off-able. I've done it 2x now in Edinburgh. They may be pricey, but if your time is limited it's like buying a greatest hits, rather than all the individual albums for the single you like! And they tend to be cheesy as fuck - so actually quite a good laugh.

 

[Detroit City]

What do you think? What would you do if tasked with showing some tourists London?

I would just take them to Wimpy Burger for lunch

 

[isitme]

Take them up the Monument .

might be painful lol

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Take 'em to a squat party and get 'em ketemized.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I've got some American friends coming to London soon. They've got one day (a Saturday) before they move on to France (I know) and I am tasked with showing them a good time. I love showing people around because I love London but I want to do a good itinerary. They're not expecting miracles and totally understand there's only so much you can do in one day and are not expecting me to whizz them round everywhere.

Pubs aren't really on the agenda as they don't drink, and museums and art galleries are fine but not the be all and end all to them. What they want is a sense of what London has to offer. I'll be meeting them at Victoria.

So I was thinking: tube to Westminster, come out of the tube station and hey presto! Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral etc. Good start. Walk up Whitehall to Trafalagar Square, say hello to the pigeons, gosh look at the National Gallery, maybe pop in and have a look at a Van Gogh, have lunch at the NG Dining Rooms. On to Covent Garden, take in some street performers. If they're up for it, a drink in the Cheshire Cheese (a pub that's older than your country!).

And then some other stuff that I haven't worked out yet.

What do you think? What would you do if tasked with showing some tourists London?

And no, I won't be taking them to a council estate in Tower Hamlets, before anyone suggests that one.

I'm a North American, so my opinion half counts.

I quite liked Kensington Palace. Way better than Buckingham, which is boring, although the Horse Guards on Pall Mall was worth seeing.

The Battersea Power Station. Kensington. I went to Whitechapel and liked that. Maybe nowadays, that would mean Brixton; I don't know.

The portrait gallery was interesting: is that the Tate? The faces of english people from 1750. It allowed you to compare with what was on the streets now. The museum with all the fabric was boring: Victoria and Albert? The War Museum left a lot to be desired. I figure, all the war you've caused, it would be like the smithsonian. I'd give it a pass.

You have to take them to 10 Downing Street. Such a contrast from Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

[The Groke]

If they're up for it, a drink in the Cheshire Cheese (a pub that's older than your country!)..

I miss the Cheshire...



You have the Mitre just up the road as well, which I believe is even older and was also very briefly in the movie Snatch....

 

[skyscraper101]

1 day to show people London is easy.

I agree go to Westminster and you've got Big Ben, Parliament Westminster Abbey all in one hit. Then walk over the bridge (there's you're great view) all along the southbank (plenty more great views) and you've done the London Eye, Book market, Festival Hall, Globe, Tate Modern, and St. Pauls on the opposite side of the river via the millennium bridge (more great views).

Cross back over and continue upto City Hall, HMS Belfast, Tower bridge, London Bridge and you can stop at Borough Market along the way. Sorted. All this can be done in three hours.

If anyone's hungry along the way you've got loads of choice of places to eat from pubs with 'real English Fish & Chips' to things like Wagamamas and suchlike and plenty of ice cream vans and stuff along the way.

Once you're at the Tower Of London you can hop on a tube and take them direct to Picadilly Circus in time for the early evening, plenty of photo ops. Go to Lei-ces-ter square to walk around - get some snaps in the red phone boxes etc and show them a slice of 'Theatreland'

Then you'll still have time for soho, old comton street, berwick street, dean st. etc...Gerrard St./Chinatown and another good opportunity to eat. If you've got time you can walk back down via Pall Mall to Trafalger Sq and Whitehall and even Buck Palace if you're feeling bothered (but its not all that really).

If I had a second day I'd do the parks, palaces, and stuff but for one day I think a combination of River Sights and Piccadilly/Soho is the best combination.

 

[mrsfran]

I like that itinerary very much, skyscraper101. No worries about them getting tired walking, they do lots of hiking in the old US of A. I would like to show them Soho etc, and to get there in the evening would be good. I may well follow that, but perhaps get a boat from the Tower to Embankment and then up to Covent Garden/Picadilly.

 

[spring-peeper]

After visiting London, most people I know talk about going to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards and feeding the pigeons at Trafalgar Square. The Tower of London, Big Ben and riding on a double decker bus are also right up there.

I know they are touristy things and all, but they are the things that they expect to see.

I think your friends are lucky, missfran, they have you to show them around and you know your city. Everything else you show them will just add to their love of London, but just make sure they get to do the touristy things. Or at least offer it to them.

 

[Bungle73]

A friend of a friend came to visit London for the first time while I was living there. All three of us went on one of those bus tours.

We didn't plan it but it randomly happened that it was light when it started (somewhere near Marble Arch I think), and I think it went across the river at some point, and then it got darker and it went along the banks somewhere near the dungeons and the sloop, I think, and it was quite pretty with all the lights along the banks and across the bridges.

I'd previously sniffed at the idea of doing something so touristy, but actually it was quite good.

There is actually a bus tour that runs in the evening called "The London by Night Sightseeing Tour", http://www.london-by-night.net/, which I went on a few years ago. It was enjoyable going round London at night seeing it all lit up. The only down side was the driver/commentator thought City Hall was the Gherkin and the new Hungerford bridge was the wobbly (Millennium) bridge.

 

[Citizen66]

I'd probably just send them a dvd of it and pocket their air fare.

 

[the button]

Don't forget to tell them to walk really slowly, and stand on the wrong side of the escalators on the tube. Oh, and make sure that they always stop dead in the middle of the street, or ideally in passageways on the underground. Being pushed past while people say "Fuck's sake," under their breath, is an integral part of the visitors' experience.

 

[8den]

Don't forget to tell them to walk really slowly, and stand on the wrong side of the escalators on the tube. Oh, and make sure that they always stop dead in the middle of the street, or ideally in passageways on the underground. Being pushed past while people say "Fuck's sake," under their breath, is an integral part of the visitors' experience.

Or stand at one of the entrances to Oxford Circus and good long look at a fold out tube map.

I'd agree with the Borough market thing. I'd disagree about the Eye though.

A) It's an hour, it's just too long.

B) Considering the recent exchange rate, a trip on london eye would cover their mortgage payment for a month.

 

[Dan U]

if it's a nice day detour via St James Park when you leave Parliament Square.

walk across that little bridge over the lake. look one way Buckingham Palace, look the other the Foreign Office.

i love that view and i live here. tourists must lap it up.

 

[Bungle73]

A) It's an hour, it's just too long.

I thought a "flight" on the Eye was half an hour?

 

[8den]

I thought a "flight" on the Eye was half an hour?

Well I could be wrong, but at the least it felt like an hour.

My general vibe after the eye was that it would be much better at half the cost, and half the time*

*and they could have twice as many passengers so they wouldn't lose any revenue.