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London Trip Report



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 14th, 2004, 10:10 PM
Richard
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Default London Trip Report

I've finally gotten around to finishing up my trip report from my trip to
London over the holidays. I went for a week right after Christmas with a
friend of mine and had a blast. It turned out to be a bit cheaper than I
figured it would be, too.

My over all impression is that London is a great town but you probably need
at least two weeks to see the whole town and without rushing from one
attraction to the next.

Anyway, without further delay, here's the report:



Fri Dec 26

We arrived at Gatwick, cleared customs relatively quickly and were on the
Gatwick Express within an hour. It may be worth mentioning that there's no
need to buy tickets at the wicket in the airport -- you can buy them on the
train. They accept credit cards on board as well as cash.

At Victoria Station, we bought 7-day travel cards for zones 1 and 2, which
covers all of central London. I also withdrew some pounds from an ATM. No
extra fees showed up on my bank record (I have a Plus System ATM card).

We had reservations at the Curzon House Hotel, a hostel near Gloucester Road
tube stop, so the ride was quick. The hostel was clean. Pillows, bed sheets
and comforters where provided. Soap and towels for showers were not. A
breakfast of cereal and toast served from 8-9:30am was also included. There
were no lockout periods. We stayed in a room with 4 bunk beds and paid a
weekly rate of 75 pounds plus a 5-pound deposit for keys.

After dropping off our luggage -- take a backpack rather than a suitcase or
anything on wheels if you can, it makes stairs at tube stops much easier and
I don't think carting his suitcase up four flights of stairs to get to our
room was one of my friend's fondest memories of the trip -- we headed for
Westminster tube stop where we gawked at Big Ben, snapped a few photos and
explored the area before opting to peruse a Dali exhibit next to the
Millennium Wheel. That was a mistake. Not to say that the exhibit wasn't
good but there was nowhere to sit in the museum, so after being up all
night, the museum drained us of the rest of hour energy and fresh air didn't
revive us, so we headed back to the Curzon House for a quick nap, picking up
an international calling card along the way.

I got up earlier than my friend so as to catch up on e-mail, phone home and
then explore the area. I picked up a copy of TimeOut which proved to be an
invaluable aid in planning our evenings out, and wandered as far as Earl's
Court tube stop.

After going back to wake my friend, we headed back to a pub not too far from
Earl's Court and had dinner and a few pints of Guinness while being
entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the
whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one
another.

When the pub closed we decided, armed with the knowledge of the London club
scene an Australian we'd just me had imparted on us, to head for Piccadilly
Circus. Forgot that the Piccadilly line goes through Gloucester Road so we
took the District line, then got off and walked.

Once we'd explored the area, we settled on a club on Haymarket called Tiger
Tiger. Cost 10 pounds to get in and bottles of Beck's were 3.50 IIRC but it
was worth it. There were lots of very nice-looking women there.

We left when things started to quiet down around 2:30am and it was then that
we realized that we didn't know how to get back, so we walked, and
eventually ended up at Victoria Station where my friend chickened out and
decided to take a cab. 15 pounds later we were back at the hostel. I think
we got taken for a ride - both figuratively and literally. Any opinions?



Sat Dec 27

Got up at around noon, completely missing the hostel's breakfast and headed
to the tube, stopping at a restaurant called Garfunkel's that was serving an
all-day traditional English breakfast. Not bad at all.

The National Gallery is huge. I don't know how people claim to be able to
"do" London on 4 days. I'd be pressed to "do" the National Gallery in that
much time. I only saw one wing, lots of paintings circa the 16th C while my
friend opted to see everything.

After wandering around some more we ended up at a pub near Victoria called
The Albert, where we had dinner and a couple pints of bitter.

We took our time getting out to Piccadilly that night and as a result, most
of the clubs were already full. In some places doormen would tell us
straight out that we wouldn't be admitted unless we came with women, which
was a bit of a shock. I'm sure doormen use that method of deciding which
groups to let in the whole world over, but I've never heard one admit it to
people in line.

We ended up at this sports bar (the name of which escapes me) down the
street from Tiger Tiger and not only did they let us in, but cover was only
3 pounds, compared to the 10-15 every other club was charging. We soon saw
why. The music was awful and the dance floor was laughable. But being the
optimist that I am, I figured it wasn't anything a few requests to the DJ
and a few pints of stout couldn't fix, so we ended up closing the joint.

Note to Americans and Canadians: Don't bother trying to tip when you walk up
to a bar and buy a drink here. It takes too long to explain to the barman
why it is that you're giving him more money than he's charging you for the
drinks.

This time we'd done our research and took a late bus back to the hostel. It
was quite an experience, but then again late buses in just about any city
right after the clubs let out is usually quite an experience.



Sun Dec 28

Got up at around noon and headed for Hyde Park and walked across it to check
out Speaker's Corner. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the variety.
Maybe it had already begun to quiet down but aside from one Jamaican guy
going off about the whole Iraq situation, the rest were all a bunch of Jesus
Freaks. So we listened to the Jamaican for a while before heading off to
Oxford Street (by accident) where we ended up at a department store and
looked around at the post-Christmas sales for a while before seeking out a
pub for a late lunch and a pint of bitter.

After wandering around a while longer and popping into a couple random
stores, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. By this time, it was already
dark outside and we found that there was a huge union jack being projected
onto the Palace from a projector some distance back from the palace. At
times falling snow would be super-imposed on the union jack. It looked
really neat but unfortunately the pictures I took didn't come out well.

That evening we decided to leave the guidebook at home and explore our way
to a place to eat dinner. We ended up wandering around the area by Sloane
Square tube stop and finding a sit-down pizza place.

Another bit of advice for North American visitors: When you're seated at a
restaurant and the waitress comes up for the first time, don't bother asking
how she is. While it's friendly and considerate of a patron on the west side
of the Atlantic, waiting staff in London gave me the impression that
behaviour like that was an annoying waste of their time.

Realizing how much of our days we'd been missing by getting up late the past
couple days, we opted to call it an early night rather than go out clubbing
again.



Mon Dec 29

We managed to get out of the hostel by about 10am but spent some time having
breakfast at a cafe just down the street from Gloucester Road tube stop. My
friend had the traditional English breakfast and I had Scottish smoked
salmon. Both of us were pleased.

After breakfast it was off to the British Museum, where, like the National
Gallery, my friend wanted to see _everything_ and I wanted to take me time,
so we split up, I spent my morning perusing the Egyptian Rooms and then had
lunch at the museum cafeteria. In the afternoon I went through all the Latin
American displays then finished off my visit browsing books in the Reading
Room.

We left in the late afternoon and made our way to Harrod's to go on a
shopping spree geared towards making our girlfriends less bitter that we'd
gone off for a week's vacation in London while they were left at home... a
few stuffed animals, some clothing and a couple other knick knacks later we
left Harrod's in search of some good Indian food.

That search took us to a place called Chowki. Which, if memory serves me
correctly was on a street called Denman, near Piccadilly Circus. If you go
to London and only have time to eat at one Indian restaurant, you will _not_
be disappointed if you choose this place. We both went with the "Regional
Feast", cost around 15 pounds for the non-vegetarian version and was hands
down the best meal I had, not only in London, but in probably a few years.

After sampling the half-dozen dishes that came with the feast (small portion
of each but overall a decent amount of food) and a couple beers each, we
headed back to the hostel for another early night.



Tues Dec 30

We got up and headed straight for Buckingham Palace to see the changing of
the guards. We got there at 11am and already there were three rows of people
up against the Palace's fence and many, many more sitting on the base of the
monument. The ceremony itself is cool but overrated. Though I suspect that
anyone who's heard of it would have to see it for themselves to believe me.
I actually ended up amusing myself by taking pictures of other people trying
to push their way closer to the gates and hold their cameras high above
their heads while attempting to get pictures of the ceremony. I found
though, that the best way to get pictures was to approach any guy with his
girlfriend on his shoulders and ask her nicely to snap a couple shots with
your camera.

After the changing of the guards we made our way through a park with a pond
in it, snapped some pictures of the swan in the pond and made our way down
to Westminster Abbey which was one of the best tourist attractions in the
city, in my opinion. We spent a few hours there before heading off in search
of a post office to buy stamps and a photolab to get some film developed. We
ended up at a little fish and chips shop for lunch. Everyone had told me
that the best fish and chips are outside of London but with only one day
left it looked like we weren't going to get a chance to go on any day trips.

After finding a pub to look over our pictures and have a pint, we made our
way back to the hostel briefly where we decided that it was time to start
giving some serious thought to a plan for New Year's Eve. This led us to a
bar in Camden Town called the Barfly, which was to be part of a multi-venue
NYE party that looked to be really good. Unfortunately they'd sold out of
tickets just hours before we got there. Desperation sunk in with my friend
and he insisted that we head back down to Piccadilly Circus and beg random
clubs to sell us tickets to their NYE event until we found a place that
wasn't sold out.

Thankfully I managed to convince him that we would be best off waiting until
the next day and figuring out where we wanted to go rather than just going
to the first place that had tickets available, so off we went to the
infamous sports bar we'd found on Saturday. Only Tuesday, apparently is
student night there. I managed to get in with an expired university ID card
and my friend managed to convince them that his health care card was proof
that he was a medical student. This time the place was mobbed. But pints
were only a pound. We closed the place and headed to the hostel on the late
bus.



Wed Dec 31/Thurs Jan 1

I got up and called our next choice for NYE festivities and found that they
did have tickets, so off I went to The Dome (also in Camden) while my friend
went to attempt seeing the entire Tate Modern in an hour. My trip was
successful, so I went to meet him at the Tate Modern where he was so
impressed that he insisted on giving me the "Tate in Twenty Minute Tour"
before heading for the Tower of London. Thankfully I don't like modern art
much, so I didn't feel rushed by going through the sections of the museum we
saw in 20 minutes.

Off we went to the Tower of London. We got there at 2:50pm but they'd
already closed claiming it to be 3pm. We were not happy but still walked
around the whole thing to get a few pictures before heading for Saint Paul's
Cathedral. I really had my heart set on seeing the view from the top of the
dome so we skipped the displays at the bottom and gave only a cursory view
to the inside of the museum in order to make it up all 500-and-something
stairs to the very top where we used up the rest of our film.

On the ground again we set off in search of a photo lab that was still open.
Everything was closing early because it was NYE. Found one in a Boots not
far from Holborn Tube stop then went wandering in search of food and beer.
So many places were closed that by the time we'd found a place we barely had
time to finish a pint before heading back to the photolab to collect our
pictures. Back at the pub we ordered some food and looked over our pictures
before heading back to the hostel to get ready for New Year's Eve.

We were at The Dome by 10pm. It's a fairly big two-level club that was
playing mostly metal (think Slipknot, Deftones, Metallica, etc) on the lower
level and alt-rock (think Green Day, Offspring, Strokes, Muse, etc) on the
upper level. It was still pretty empty but filled up quickly. The crowd was
about 19-21 years old. The place stayed open well in to the morning and
actually started serving a free breakfast at 5:30am. We made it back to the
hostel at a bit past 7am, showered, packed and were at the Tube stop by
8:30am. Took the Gatwick Express back to the airport and flew home.

Richard


  #2  
Old January 14th, 2004, 10:39 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

In article , lid (Richard) wrote:

15 pounds later we were back at the hostel. I
think
we got taken for a ride - both figuratively and literally. Any opinions?


Yes, but it's pretty much par for the course with late-night cabs if you
don't have a very good idea of an appropriate fare to start with -- and
the confidence to argue the point.

At least you didn't make the most common London newbie's transport
mistake: taking a Tube from Leicester Square to Covent Garden!

Note to Americans and Canadians: Don't bother trying to tip when you
walk up
to a bar and buy a drink here. It takes too long to explain to the
barman
why it is that you're giving him more money than he's charging you for
the
drinks.


The protocol if you want to "tip" is to offer to buy the bar person a
drink. They may politely decline (in some places they're not allowed to
accept, in other cases they just don't feel like a drink), they may accept
and have a drink (typically a cheaper one than yours), or they may say
they'll "put it in for later", in which case they may actually drink it
later or keep the money.

However, it's not by any stretch of the imagination compulsory or
even expected, and in a busy club where the bar person may not ever see
you again there's not much advantage to be gained by doing it, so few
people do. By contrast, in an unfamiliar pub it may give you the edge in
getting more attentive service (while in a pub where you're already a
regular customer, one or more of the bar staff may well be edging
across the border from service to personal friendship anyway).

Good to hear you had what sounds like a great trip BTW.
  #3  
Old January 14th, 2004, 11:44 PM
congokid
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Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

In message , Richard writes

explored the area before opting to peruse a Dali exhibit next to the
Millennium Wheel. That was a mistake. Not to say that the exhibit wasn't
good but there was nowhere to sit in the museum, so after being up all
night, the museum drained us of the rest of hour energy and fresh air didn't
revive us


I always find shuffling round museums, exhibitions and the like really
tiring, much worse than walking for miles at a normal pace.

few pints of Guinness while being
entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the
whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one
another.


Could have been me. Oh, wait - I'm Irish. Phew. And not so elderly, yet.

Once we'd explored the area, we settled on a club on Haymarket called Tiger
Tiger. Cost 10 pounds to get in and bottles of Beck's were 3.50 IIRC but it
was worth it.


It seems to be standard policy now for pubs and bars in the West End to
charge entry after a certain time, especially at weekends. However, I
was drinking Becks for 3.00UKP a bottle in Soho way back in 1992, so I
suppose 3.50's not bad.

decided to take a cab. 15 pounds later we were back at the hostel. I think
we got taken for a ride - both figuratively and literally. Any opinions?


I'd expect that distance to cost that much in heavy traffic during the
day, but not on relatively empty roads at night. I think black cabs tend
to charge double after midnight. If it was a minicab (which looks like a
privately owned car), you need to ask how much before you get in (of
course, a tourist won't always know how much is enough).

Got up at around noon, completely missing the hostel's breakfast and headed
to the tube, stopping at a restaurant called Garfunkel's that was serving an
all-day traditional English breakfast. Not bad at all.


Before you come next time, have a look at:
http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/
so you can avoid going into places like Garfunkels.

doormen would tell us
straight out that we wouldn't be admitted unless we came with women, which
was a bit of a shock. I'm sure doormen use that method of deciding which
groups to let in the whole world over, but I've never heard one admit it to
people in line.


It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has
happened to me as well in Covent Garden.

Got up at around noon and headed for Hyde Park and walked across it to check
out Speaker's Corner.


Very overrated, but at least you can go off and enjoy the rest of the
park once you've had enough.

there was a huge union jack being projected
onto the Palace from a projector some distance back from the palace. At
times falling snow would be super-imposed on the union jack. It looked
really neat but unfortunately the pictures I took didn't come out well.


That was part of a project organised, I think, by Bob Geldof to
illuminate some of London's landmarks. Marble Arch was one of the other
buildings that got projected on.

That search took us to a place called Chowki. Which, if memory serves me
correctly was on a street called Denman, near Piccadilly Circus.


I can recommend the New Piccadilly Cafe on the same street. Food's not
great, but it's a real slice of the '50s in the middle of town. A
'formica palace', as the Classic Cafes website puts it.

--
congokid
Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google
http://congokid.com
  #4  
Old January 15th, 2004, 12:43 AM
Richard
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Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

"congokid" wrote in message
...

I'd expect that distance to cost that much in heavy traffic during the
day, but not on relatively empty roads at night. I think black cabs tend
to charge double after midnight. If it was a minicab (which looks like a
privately owned car), you need to ask how much before you get in (of
course, a tourist won't always know how much is enough).


It was the double charge after midnight that got us, then. We left the club
around 2:30am and walked to Victoria Station. I doubt we found the most
direct route, either. The cab was one of the standard black ones. I'd seen
the privately owned ones, too. Only I tend to ignore people who approach me
to offer taxi services wherever I am. Write it off to too much time spent in
Mexico, I suppose.

It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has
happened to me as well in Covent Garden.


Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something
spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in
hopes of getting them to come out. I suppose I could always wait for some
girls to come by the line and offer to buy them drinks if they get us in...

Richard


  #5  
Old January 15th, 2004, 02:30 PM
B Vaughan
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Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:44:00 +0000, congokid
wrote:

In message , Richard writes


few pints of Guinness while being
entertained by an drunken elderly Englishman who was dancing around the
whole place insisting that all the couples present profess their love to one
another.


Could have been me. Oh, wait - I'm Irish. Phew. And not so elderly, yet.


The drink has put ten years on you, Congo.
-----------
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup
  #6  
Old January 31st, 2004, 12:51 AM
Jesper Lauridsen
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Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:43:13 -0500, "Richard" wrote:

It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has
happened to me as well in Covent Garden.


Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something
spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in
hopes of getting them to come out.


Not a problem. Every public telephone will have plenty of numbers of women
that you can call.

  #7  
Old February 1st, 2004, 05:08 PM
congokid
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default London Trip Report

In message , Jesper
Lauridsen writes
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:43:13 -0500, "Richard" wrote:

It's common for pub bouncers to refuse to admit groups of blokes. Has
happened to me as well in Covent Garden.


Really? That does suck for male tourists trying to do something
spur-of-the-moment as we don't have the option of phoning female friends in
hopes of getting them to come out.


Not a problem. Every public telephone will have plenty of numbers of women
that you can call.


Now I think about it, there *was* a woman in our group that got refused
entry to the Salisbury on St Martin's Lane. Too many blokes I presume.

--
congokid
Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google
http://congokid.com
 




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