Who can ever truly know this city? Perhaps if one is born and reared here, spends one's private and professional life here, explores its history, and indulges one's fancy on its many cultural venues--maybe, given all that, it is possible to begin to know London. For the rest of us, the best we can hope for is to grab hold of and appreciate small corners of this marvelous city.
Himself and Yours Truly have dropped in on London several times now over a good many years, and each time we visit, London provides us with a new streets to explore, new shops to patronize, new restaurants and pubs to quell our hunger and quench our thirst, and new adventures to add to our personal London lore. Our souvenirs include memorable encounters with Londoners and with other interlopers like ourselves, tacky mementos of infinite design and availability, and hours and hours of pure and unmitigated pleasure.
One key to enjoying and appreciating London is to recognize that it is actually a collection of distinct communities--villages and towns collapsed somewhat unwillingly into a grand metropolis that seems always in a state of flux. Hence, today's visitors might go to Bloomsbury for glimpses of the upscale counterculture of the early 20th century or the British Museum, to Knightsbridge for shopping at Harvey Nichols or Harrods, to Notting Hill for the market stalls on Portobello Street, or to the East End for lessons on how immigrants and the working classes pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and by virtue of their own middle-class aspirations.
For the monument minded, London offers everything, from segments of Londinium's Roman Wall to the Tower of London to the Houses of Parliament. For those seeking art and culture, there are galleries and museums galore--not to mention one of the world's most famous and thriving theater districts. For those who love parks, there are big parks, small parks, parks with fountains and ponds and the art of the footpath with its turnings--not to mention parks with black swans and benches for people watching. For those interested in the conviviality of the locals, there are pubs and restaurants to suit every taste and pocketbook. And for those on a quest for royalty, there are palaces, pageantry, and (if one is very patient and very lucky) the fleeting glimpse of a royal personage.
For Himself and Yours Truly, there are bits and bobs of all these attractions, plus bookshops on Charing Cross Road, the taste of pastries and pasties offered by local shops, and the excitement of discovery just around the next corner.
•••Creating an Agenda•••
For any visit to London, choose the objectives of your visit carefully, but be sure to leave opportunities for a bit of spontaneity. For initial visits to this treasure trove of the human experience, go for the obvious--and remember that standard tourist attractions become standard because they offer a high level of satisfaction in return for time invested. As with other great cities, however, the offerings are so numerous that it's wise to cull out you favorites ahead of time.
For Himself and Yours Truly, our first trip through London left us with only a late afternoon and an evening to explore London. From our hotel near Heathrow, we took the Tube into the central city, then hired a cab for a frenzied tour of major sights. Our cabbie worked hard to give us a decent window tour, and he earned the exorbitant fee he charged, not to mention a good tip--it was worth every pence! Later trips were more organized, as we took good advantage of guidebooks and left time for rambling through neighborhoods and popping into shops. Still, in terms of pure excitement, that first cabbie tour might well have been our single best London experience!
•••Accommodations•••
Accommodations are plentiful, if generally expensive. If your inherited wealth or grand success in the corporate sector allows, London is home to some of the grandest of Europe's grand hotels--the Ritz, for example. Chain hotels (from Thistle to Marriott to Holiday Inn) and modestly priced independent establishments are also available. In general, hotels further removed from the central city or in less fashionable districts tend to be less expensive.
As with the rest of Britain, bed-and-breakfast and guesthouse lodgings offer a budget-minded alternative to hotels. Although B&Bs are a bit scarcer in London, a determined tourist armed with Internet access can find a suitable accommodation. Pay attention to Tourist Board and similar ratings for B&Bs, as these truly are indicators of value for money. Once again, the closer one stays to the city center, the higher the rate is likely to be. For those willing to commute into the city from the outlying suburbs, true bargains are possible.
For budgets that are tighter still, hostels are an option. Hostel beds range from the about £15 to £35 per night, though this usually entails sharing rooms with perfect strangers.
For visitors more inclined toward the comforts of home, self-catering apartments are available and can often be had for a nightly rate that is less than that of most hotels. In this case, the catch is generally a requirement for a 7-night minimum stay. Staying in an apartment is hands-down the best way for a family to visit London, as it allows family members more "personal" space, and it makes meal preparation an option.
•••Getting Around•••
When staying in London, by all means, use public transportation--and whenever possible, walk. Walking in this ancient city can be an absolute joy, and all visitors should include time in their itineraries for leisurely ambulatory sightseeing. In general, public transportation by cab is expensive but comfortable, whereas travel by bus is sometimes cumbersome but always scenic. Travel by tube is convenient and efficient, but it tends to be a tad sterile. Juggling these options against their likely outcomes works effectively for those with ambitious schedules.
For those so inclined, sightseeing buses offer hop-on, hop-off convenience for a single daily fee, at times including some routes with evening hours or a Thames River cruise. Tour buses provide a practical, on-the-spot orientation to the city and its sights, and most offer some sort of guide recitation--either through an actual living-and-speaking human being or through tapes and earphones.
Transportation by means of a personal automobile is not an option except for the skillful or the foolhardy. There are no traffic jams quite like those in London. One-way streets, congestion, and poor signage can make driving a nightmare, with even the buses sometimes held to a standstill. For Americans, add driving on "the wrong side of the road" and you have a ample incentive to stick to public transport. In addition, these days drivers of vehicles not registered to a London neighborhood will find themselves smacked with a hefty daily commuters' tax.
•••Getting There•••
Most international visitors traveling to London arrive by plane, though the train is also an option, especially for travelers from the Continent. Heathrow, just west of the city, and Gatwick, to the south, are the principal airports. Stansted, north of London, is mostly for travel within the UK, though it also facilitates international travel. From any of these airports, lodgings in London can be accessed by cab, airport shuttle, or public transportation in a variety of forms. A taxi from Heathrow to central London will run about £30--though I've always managed that by bus myself. From experience, I can that a taxi from Gatwick to central London will run about £80--ouch.
Train service between London and the Continent generally pass through Waterloo Station, where as trains within the UK may arrive or depart from one of several other stations--including King's Cross, which is now carefully marked for Platform 9¾.
•••Make London Your Own•••
For those of us who live far from London and will get there relatively few times over a lifetime, it's well to remember that despite the distance, London is one of those cities that belongs to everyone. This is particularly true for Americans.
London mirrors both our emigrant soul and our immigrant dreams. It is the literal capital of our principal cultural universe and our political heritage. London is familiar in the way your parents' hometown is familiar. It beacons with the promise to reveal truths that are already half known.
For all that she is and all that we are, London is a city to make one's own-remembering always that in doing so, it is often necessary to subordinate one's personal will to her rules.
•••Web Sites•••
London attractions: http://na.visitlondon.com/city_guide/attractions/ http://www.a-london-guide.co.uk/ http://www.londoncitytourist.com/ http://www.londontown.com/
very helpful
very helpful
