Tracy:
first off, tell me how many days/weeks you have for your London trip. if we know how long you have to play with, I can make some suggestions for essential places to visit, and which side tours you could make that are within easy access of London and make essential day trips or overnighters from London.
The thing to remember is that London is THE HUB for transportation in the whole of the UK, everything radiates out from there. So, you can take trips to other major cities and to the coast just by taking a train from one of the major train stations in London (Charring Cross for the South, St. Pancras and King's Cross for the North, etc.)
I asked my husband tonight which places in central London he would recommend to a tourist/visitor from the US and this is what we came up with.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament along the Embankment (the two sides of the Thames are called the Embankment), North side. On the other side of the Thames, along the South Bank you have the new London Eye which is an absolute must because from up there you will get pone of the best views over London, stretching along the river in both directions. The South bank is also the site of the major theatre/concert hall complex called The South Bank, featuring the Royal Festival Hall, for classical music, and the National Theatre where major productions start their life before heading to Broadway. If you take a look online at what is playing at the Old Vic, you may get the chance to see Kevin Spacey act, for which you could count yourself eternally lucky. Spacey has invested heavily in the Old Vic, close to Waterloo Station on the South of the Thames, and he helps put on major productions of Tenessee Williams and major playwrights, European and American. Check it out and book in advance!
You will want to do a walking tour from the South bank across the river, head up to Trafalgar Square from Charring Cross Station, perhaps go to The National Gallery (contains Impressionist works, including huge Monet lilies canvas, and stacks of other stuff from all major periods of art) at T Square, and the National Portrait gallery, opened by Prince Charles some years ago. From Trafalgar you can walk on through to Picadilly Circus and take in the crowds, the bustling night scene, the famous statue of Eros, some major department stores, then walk back up through and past the Trocadero, amusement centre, through to Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a great place to just hang out and soak up some atmosphere, both by day and by night. CLustered here are loads of restaurants, many with outdoor seating, European cafe style, and by day, there is a market, some very nice stores with fabulous clothes and shoes offerings that will make you drool, and also mime artists, street performers, etc. You can walk from here to Leicester Square which offers the biggest cinema complexes in Central London. When a new film hits the UK, it goes here first.
If you are into history, if you want a concept of The United Kingdom beyond the 21st century, please head further east on the Tube (our friendly name for the London Underground) and go see the Tower of London, where major monarchs and political figures over the centuries were imprisoned and beheaded. Charming! But this is history and you can just imagine the crows flying overhead and swooping down to peck at the heads stuck out on spikes as a warning to political opponents of Elizabeth I. I took my kids to the Tower a couple of years back, and I loved it! So did they. Very close by, just outside the nearest Tube station are the remains of an original Roman wall.........
I would also recommend heading West, outside of Central London, to see Hampton Court, home of King Henry VIII. I believe there is a maze there also, and I again took my kids there when we last visited home. It is along the river.
Speaking of the river, west of London, Teddington and Richmond areas, it is all very posh and many rich folks have houses that abut the river Thames itself. Beautiful in Spring and Summer. You can get access to the river and maybe do some boating, punting, but one of the nice things is to take a train out there on a sunny day, and find a great riverside pub and have lunch. Try a ploughmans!
I cannot remember where it is, somewhere along the West end of the Thames I think, but you should go see the Cutty Sark, an original and well preserved 16th Century shipping vessel, the likes of which helped sink the Spanish Armada! If you take the Tube out to the East of London, you will reach Greenwich, the site of Greenwich Mean Time, and there are important observatories and maritime buildings/museums there, in addition to a huge and really nice park to wander around in with a picnic lunch. I used to go there with an old boyfriend of mine back when I was 16! Sigh......
In North London, which I do not know so well, you could go to Highgate Cemetery, where some important historical figures are buried, Karl Marx, and I believe, Oscar Wilde. Highgate Cemetery is featured as the central location in Audrey Niffeneger's new novel, released this year. She's the author who wrote The Time Traveller's Wife.
You could go along to Kensington, by the Circus and District line on the Tube, see I even remember which Tube line it is on!, and see some of the major department stores a lot of people come expressly to London to shop at and to say "I've been there!" Have you ever watched Absolutely Fabulous? Patsy is always talking about going to do a spot of shopping and having lunch at Harvey Nicks? Well, you could do the same at have lunch at Harvey Nichols, or the famous Harrods......
There is a famous waxworks museum called Madame Tussauds and a Planetarium in Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes. A lot of people like this kind of thing, I personally don't, but it's an option.
As far as day trips are concerned, take a train from King's Cross and go to Cambridge for the day. I did my undergrad degree there, as did my husband, and it is historically and architecturally simply wonderful. We went to Christ's College, right in the centre, so pop your head in and walk through first court and all the way back to third court. Maybe, if it's open, go see the Master's garden. The colleges at Cambridge date from 15th century, if not earlier. You can also walk along the riverbank, find a pub for lunch, see some students rowing, Cambridge is famous for it. If you head along past Trinity college, past Clare's college, along to King's and walk through it, you will come upon the Backs. The Backs is where the river flows along and through the back of the previously mentioned colleges. You can rent a punt and go punting for an hour or two, with a picnic on a fine day......
You cold take a quick taxi ride along from Cambridge to Grantchester, or do it as a lovely riverside walk, and visit the home of Rupert Brooke, famous poet killed in the First World War. There are tea rooms in Grantchester and it's all very pretty and civilized!
Sounds like you should probably overnight in Cambridge, just to see it all.
You can take a train to Oxford, heading out of the West of London. I don't know Oxford very well, them being rivals and all! But again, fabulous college city, larger than Cambridge and not quite so easily covered and navigated, but historically and architecturally important. It is where all the Colin Dexter Inspector Morse stories and TV programmes are situated. Check this out!
Well, that's enough for now. I have to head to bed. I'll check back with you tomorrow, see if you have any questions!
Clare
