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Help Me Fill 8 hours in London
Six
Caches Tweets in the mainframe cyberhexRegistered User regular
Caches Tweets in the mainframe cyberhexRegistered User regular
In a few days I'll be traveling to the UK for work, and I've got about a 9 hour layover in London on Saturday. I get in to Heathrow around 9am, and then fly out to Edinburgh (also from Heathrow) at 6 that night. I fly back to London on Monday and then back to the US on Tuesday, but my time is pretty well booked up aside from the few hours I have free on Sunday. I want to plan on being back to Heathrow by 5 or 5:30, which gives me basically from 9-5 on Sunday to do as I please.
How best to spend this time, I wonder?
How best to spend this time, I wonder?
can you feel the struggle within?
Six on
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Just go.
Flight's actually at 6:30, and I'm planning on being back there by 5. If I end up a few minutes past that I'll be fine, and worst case there's a later flight to EDI I can take.
From London Paddington you can get on the Underground. I guess, what sorts of things interest you?
Shopping?
Historical Buildings?
"Touristy" stuff?
For Shopping, there's Covent Garden and Camden Markets.
Historical stuff, I'd recommend the Tower of London. I could kill 3 hours in there. St. Pauls is also worth a visit.
Touristy Stuff, the London Eye is pricey, but gives you a good idea of the lay of the land. From there you can walk to the Queen's place, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Square, Parliament Buildings, Westminster Abbey, etc..
You have to check in more than an hour and a half in advance on long haul flights usually. You'll want to check that.
He's just going to Edinburgh, apparently.
Will it be faster to get into the city via train or cab?
And yes, my flight out that night is just up to Edinburgh. I don't fly back to the states until Tuesday evening.
I think what I'm really after is a destination from which to do a little shopping and be able to wander a bit without trying to see too much.
If you're looking to wander around, probably keeping to the area around the parliament buildings/trafalgar square/piccadilly circus is your best bet.
Back when I was living in the UK, I usually took my visitors from Canada on a walking tour in that area..
Piccadilly line tube => cheap but slow
Heathrow express sounds like exactly what you want. Paddington is at the edge of all the interesting central stuff. I quite like walking around that area, so if it was me I'd walk through hyde park to Oxford Circus or Buckingham palace, wander to covent garden area, and then down to the river and along that.
If you want to spend more time inside places rather than exploring, get the tube to the things you want to see.
The london eye is supposed to be pretty good for a view of the city, but you can also see it nicely from hampstead heath (Though that's a bit off the beaten track).
Camden is also a bit out of the way, but pretty awesome if you like browsing for knick knacks, or ordering a pint in a music shop.
I'd be a bit wary of the tube being half closed - it's all being upgraded so the service tends to be a bit flaky at weekends.
If you do go, definitely have a look at the Sunflower Seeds exhibit (kinda hard to miss) and watch the short video that goes along with it. I thought it was pretty amazing.
For food I'd recommend Bodeans BBQ. http://www.bodeansbbq.com/ I am a fan of their pulled pork sandwiches.
If you fancy a swift ale, the Ye Old Cheshire Cheese is worth a visit - apparently London's oldest pub. It's a bit touristy, but a cool building.
Enjoy London! -- incidentally, I think Edinburgh is a great place to visit. Chances are you might enjoy it more than London!
Thanks for the heads up about the tube - knowing there might be problems on a Sunday means I doubt I'll stray too far from Paddington so I don't run any risk of not getting back to Heathrow in time.
Thanks for the food recommendations, too
Paddington is a nice enough area, but there is not a huge amount to do around the station. You could walk down to Hyde Park (lovely in Spring), then walk along to Oxford St, or through the Park to Buckingham Palace then along Piccadilly Place to Piccadilly Circus - there are some nice shops/museums in that area.
Like most major museums in the city, it's free. Moreover, it has some of the most incredible archeological attractions in Europe. You can lost there for days, never mind hours. But, this may not be your thing. I strongly recommend the Natural History Museum to see some of the best dinosaur fossils on display anywhere in the world.
The neighborhood immediately surrounding the museum features any number of shops worth a browse as well as some good dining.
Honestly, you can get anywhere worth going in that city inside of 45 minutes hopping the tube.