London Things to Do Tips by rwlittle

We took a great walking tour in the evening covering the killing fields of Jack the Ripper, given by the foremost authority on thesubject. The price was pretty cheap, and the talk was very entertaining. I've included a photo taken of me at one of the stops on the tour. For more info, check out their website.

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Directions: We met at the tube station near the Tower of London.
Website: http://www.walks.com/

How can you come to London without seeing the Changing of the Guard? If you wish to see the ceremony inside the Palace courtyard itself, you may want to show up a couple of hours early, and then just sit tight. The crowds gather early and take up the good spaces.

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Address: The Mall, SW1
Directions: Green Park tube

Westminster Abbey is one of those places you expect to visit when you go to London for the first time. Here's a couple of things you may not expect:

1. They don't like you taking photographs inside.

2. Apparently English church tradition is to bury folks under slabs in the floor of the church itself. So, as you walk through the Abbey, you're constantly walking over people's graves. This didn't bother me (I suppose it might bother some), but it was unexpected.

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Phone: 0 20 7654 4900
Address: Deans Yard, SW1
Directions: St James's Park tube
Website: http://www.westminster-abbey.org

Trafalgar Square is yet another one of those places in London which visitors are supposed to see. Here's there's a statue commemorating Lord Nelson and his victory. You'll also find swarms of pigeons here. Little kids ran into the crowds of pigeons to send them flying up into the air.

The photo I'm enclosing also shows something which might be useful for Canadians in trouble. Canada House, the embassy I believe, is right here in the square, and can be seen in the photo, marked by the Canadian flag.

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Address: Trafalgar Square, WC2
Directions: Charing Cross or Leicester Square tubes

If the weather is good, having a relaxing lunch out on the grass in Hyde Park might be the thing to do. The photograph shows one part of Hyde Park, with boaters pontooning out on the Serpentine. It's a long walk from there towards Kensignton Palace; you'll run into lounge chairs and a flock of swans as you go. In early May, the grass and the gardens were lush and green.

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Address: Park Lane, Bayswater Road, Knightsbridge
Directions: Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Lancaster Gate tubes
Website: http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/hyde.htm

We arrived a little early in the year to see a live show, but the theater offers tours and a museum, and we took the tour and took photos (surprise, surprise). If you are looking forward to seeing a play at the Globe, two things to keep in mind:

1. The theater is not fully roofed, deliberately mimicing the original theater. If it rains while the play is showing, you could get wet.

2. Make sure that you check ahead to verify that plays will be showing when you're in town. Check out their website.

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Address: 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT
Directions: It's next to the Tate Modern. Mansion House and Southwark appear to be the closest tube stations.
Website: http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/

Things to do when at the Tower:

1. Don't bother those guards with the sub-machine guns, those are real guns.

2. Check out those Crown Jewels. Realize that there's no hope that you could break the glass and make it past those guards with any loot.

3. Don't bother the ravens. As I understand it, those birds are rather dangerous. So long as they're at the Tower, England is not supposed to fall, so if you bother them and you get hurt, you may not get sympathy from the authorities.

4. Check out all of the individual towers. I recommend checking out the White Tower.

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Phone: 0 20 7709 0765
Address: Tower Hill, EC3
Directions: Tower Hill tube
Website: http://www.armouries.org.uk/tower/

We took the tube downtown, stepped outside and felt a little lost. Probably didn't help that we got very little sleep on the flight, and were jet lagged. We're trying to figure out how to get to see the Parliament Buildings, when I looked up and saw Big Ben! "That way", I said.

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Address: Parliament Square, SW1
Directions: Westminster tube
Website: http://www.parliament.uk

This statue of Richard Lionheart is next to the Parliament Buildings, near Westminster Abbey.

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Address: Parliament Square, SW1
Directions: Westminster tube
Website: http://www.parliament.uk

The Admiralty Arch is next to Trafalgar Square, and signals the start of the Mall (the road leading to Buckingham Palace). I think the statue in the right of the photo is of Captain George Vancouver, who "discovered" what later became Vancouver, my home town.

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Address: Trafalgar Square, WC2
Directions: Charing Cross or Leicester Square tubes