London - What to eat, where to go (beyond the obvious) and how to get there

mere_immortal

Hello yous. For my girlfriends birthday at the beginning of December I'm taking her down to London (we live in Preston) to watch Wicked, go on a Jack the Ripper tour and visit the WB Harry Potter studios. I'm planning to take her to Camden market on the Friday or Saturday, but I'm looking for other stuff to visit or places to eat for the other days.

Things she likes: roller derby, tudor/victorian history, arts and crafts things, vintage stuff, comics and general nerdy stuff, baking. Anything is good though really if it's interesting.

Also we're not staying in the city but in Watford as we're driving down. Was planning on getting the train in for the three days as it looks like it's only about 15 mins to the centre, so would an oyster card cover this along with the tube journeys we would need to get around?

ceres

The Sherlock Holmes Museum!

mere_immortal

ceres wrote: »

The Sherlock Holmes Museum!

Oooh that's a good suggestion!

CelestialBadger

I really like just exploring the very old parts of the city, and walking along the riverbank.

The Victoria & Albert museum is a lesser-known museum with obvious appeal to fans of the Victorian era. It's all about design, so a person who likes arts and crafts would enjoy it.

Technicality

There is an RAF museum in North London. Lots of WW2 aeroplanes and things, and it is both free and on the train line between Watford and London. Worth a look if that sort of thing interests you.

Hyde park is lovely to walk around, and has a large rollerskate community who hang out there and organise group skates through the city. It also has an art gallery in the middle of it (the serpentine gallery).

I think one of the favourite things I did whilst living in London was attend the evensong at St Pauls. I'm not religious, but love music and the acoustics in there are even more amazing than the decoration. It is also free if you attend a service, but very expensive if you just want to look around.

Camden is busy during the week (like most town centres are at weekends) and really really crowded at the weekends, so if you like weaving through seas of people Saturday is better and if not Friday is the way to go.

hsu

I'll second the Friday Night Skate the meets up at Hyde Park (http://www.lfns.co.uk - the photo below is from 2013). It's a great way to tour the city, although it'll probably be too cold to skate outdoors in December. Next, I'd recommend the Globe Theatre (http://www.shakespearesglobe.com), a recreation of Shakespeare's original theatre - all theatres should be designed as well as the Globe. Additionally, afternoon tea (or any other meal or even just for drinks) at Sketch (http://sketch.london), for the awesome decor - every room has a different, unique theme, including a 1970's sci fi egg pod water closets. Finally, I really enjoyed myself at the Tiroler Hut (http://www.tirolerhut.co.uk/home.html), an Austrian restaurant with live music - I had so much fun, that I went back a few more times (which is rare for me).

Jam Warrior

Take time to just wander down the South Bank and do free arty stuff. There's always something going on.

mere_immortal

Loving all these suggestions dudes!

SatanIsMyMotor

London is my favorite sight seeing city. It's fantastic for checking out some stuff, popping into a pub for a couple of pints, and then continuing on your way. I saw a lot of London and drank a lot of beer. Drink beer.

Shadowhope

I don't know how able you and your girlfriend are, but a long walk in London is the absolute best way to see the city in my opinion. Whether you look up good walking routes on the Internet, pick a few (dozen) sights that you want to see and walk between them, or just pick a start point and wander aimlessly through the City of London, along the Thames, the Strand, Westminster, St. James/Green/Hyde Parks - it's all fantastic.

djmitchella

Seconding the V&A, which is also a minute's walk from the Science Museum and the Natural History museum. Also seconding walking around -- most of the center is much more walkable than a Tube map implies.

Something we did this summer that was surprisingly nice (and a good way to take things slightly more slowly for a little bit) was a canal tour; http://www.jasons.co.uk/, you see bits of London you're very unlikely to see otherwise, and it gets you to/from Camden market if you're already planning on going there.