Monday, March 14, 2011

Off to London!



We're leaving for London today (yay!), but just for a few days. I have scheduled some Italy blogposts to go up this week, so do check in while I'm away.

As far as London is concerned . . . I'll mainly be doing AMAZING BOOK THINGS that I can't wait to share (eeep!), and meeting my wonderful UK publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, in person, but we also have a little bit of time to explore, so what do suggest? If you had, say, a full day + a half day + a quarter day, and you hadn't been to London in 22 YEARS, and had a toddler in tow) what would YOU do?

I guess I should have asked sooner, as we're leaving in a few hours, but if you have some MUSTS, please comment: I'll check in!

Cheerio!

11 comments:

Connie Onnie said...

If I was going to London for a couple days I would probably go back to The Tate Modern, relax in Green Park, see a show or two & go see Westminster.

Stephanie Perkins said...

*sniff sniff* Trying not to think about how Jarrod and I are supposed to be with you guys.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL time! :)

Anonymous said...

I vote for the British Museum! It's free! And they've got the Rosetta Stone and a great Egyptian collection.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Also, if Clementine likes dinosaurs, the Natural History Museum! It's free too!
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Backpacks and tote bags are allowed in the museums. I thought that they would make us store our bags in a locker, but after a cursory check that we did not have anything dangerous, they let us right in!

I second the vote for walking around Big Ben and Westminster. The London Eye ferris wheel is in that vicinity, but the ride is half and hour long and goes kind of slowly, so I do not really recommend the London Eye for Clementine.

If you eat meat, then for fun you can try Square Pie, located in the Food Hall in the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street.
http://www.selfridges.com/

If you're going to Oxford Street, then just down the road from Selfridges is a Thorntons chocolate shop. You are going to London just in time for giant Easter eggs!
http://www.thorntons.co.uk

If you're looking for fish & chips, try The Gloucester Arms pub. You can walk to it from the Natural History Museum, but it might be a bit of a long walk.
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/pubsandbars/the-gloucester-arms-info-32339.html

I also like the Food Hall at Harrods.
http://www.harrods.com/

If you can find a Patisserie Paul location near you, I HIGHLY recommend it!
http://www.paul-uk.com

Oops, most of my recommendations were of food!

Cheers and enjoy London and I hope you manage to take some photos there!

C. Cackley said...

Kensington Gardens. There's a playground, lots of room to run and ducks on the Round Pond. And the statue of Peter Pan by the Serpentine. Have fun!

Natalie Zaman said...

I would make sure I stopped in at: ChoccyWoccyDooDah to get a marshmallow tower, The Victoria and Albert to look at the clothing displays, and then to Vivienne Westwood to squeeze into a corset dress. And see a show--The Woman in Black is FAN-tas-TIC. I believe it's at the Fortune Theater...

Anonymous said...

I would head to Hamstead Heath and Kenwood House, lots of space to roam and absorb old London, even a tour of Highgate Cemetry while there.

If more central, I would try the little Postman's Park near St Pauls and absolutely have a cup of tea in the Arts and Crafts movement's original department store Liberty of London - lovely and perfect and inspiring.

Anonymous said...

ooo and the Portrait Gallery - the best ever gallery in the cosmos

Ina said...

Looks like you have a lot of suggestions already, but I'll add mine just in case. I lived in London for a few years, and it remains to this day my favorite city in the world.

Visit Battersea Park (just south across the river from Chelsea) where they have an adorable little zoo, paddle boats on the lake and a beautiful golden pagoda by the river. Super low key, but a great thing to do with kids, and also way off the beaten track (translation: not a lot of tourists, if any).

From there, I'd get on a double decker bus (top, up front, of course!) and head toward Kensington/Knightsbridge. I'd recommend both the Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert museum (both in the same area, and good for kids).

Kensington has lots of good restaurants, too, if you check the sidestreets. Also, stop by a bookstore and check out some wonderful picture books by Oliver Jeffers - perfect for Clementine's age.

After that, you could stroll north through Hyde Park and stop in to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens.

Hope you have a wonderful trip! Can't wait to see the beautiful photos you will undoubtedly return with :)

Ina said...

Hi Laini, I would definitively visit the National Gallery, (maybe just for a quick browse if Clementine is feeling crabby) and then have an English afternoon tea in the Gallery too (lovely and old fashioned!) That’s what I always to when I’m there. Also there is a small bookshop called “Persephone Books” (http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/ ) they reprints neglected classics by C20th (mostly women) writers and the little shop has a wonderful atmosphere! Enjoy!

Samual said...

really nice blog. People say that jetlags are greater when traveling eastward than westward. One of the first things that you can do to try to help prevent jetlag is to make sure that you are well rested before your flight.

Jet lag Symptoms

Amber said...

Tower. I don't know WHY it haunts me so much, but I can never get it out of my mind.

:)

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