Author Topic: Visiting London England, any suggestions?  (Read 45937 times)

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Offline LightagesTopic starter

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #25 on: July 11, 2014, 09:58:11 pm »
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Nobody wants to together to bend an elbow somewhere?

As far as saying "London, England", it is an old habit as in my old province Ontario in Canada there is a London also. So if we wanted to not be mistaken we needed to say "London, England". So it isn't only Americans........

YEs, I cannt believe it myself that I am flying to London to see a concert, but by invitation I can hardly say no!
 

Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #26 on: July 11, 2014, 10:39:57 pm »
YEs, I cannt believe it myself that I am flying to London to see a concert, but by invitation I can hardly say no!
I once went to Canada for a gig.
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Offline apelly

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #27 on: July 11, 2014, 11:56:27 pm »
YEs, I cannt believe it myself that I am flying to London to see a concert, but by invitation I can hardly say no!
You realise we need some of the back-story here, right?
 

Offline LightagesTopic starter

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #28 on: July 12, 2014, 12:45:56 am »
OK. I am a semi professional astronomer and have been involved in astronomy my whole life. This is one of the reasons I moved to Chile, for the clear skies, darkness and the southern milky way. I was originally here in 2009 doing video for Discovery Channel and did episodes on the ALMA project, the VLT at Paranal, and how a French astronomer was running public astronomy tours here in San Pedro de Atacama. I was also staying in his lodges and fell in love with this place. The French astronomer helped me move here and purchased land beside him. He discovered and co-discovered over 3000 asteroids during his career with the European Southern Observatory. The discoverer has the opportunity to nominate a name for his asteroids.

Last year were talking about the asteroids he named and he had named some Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, The Rolling Stones, etc. I knew he was a fan of Kate Bush's music so I asked him if he would name one after her. He asked me to write the citation and he submitted it. Asteroid 27052 is now known as 27052/Katebush. I sent a message to Kate Bush telling her about her namesake and she was so touched that she insisted we come see her concert and visit with her. So this is probably my one chance to see her live, and to meet her.

It would seem silly to go all the way there and not try and have a wee dram or a pint with some fellow EEVBloggers and see some other things in the area, so I asked. I guess not many people on here from London who would like sit and have a chat.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2014, 02:17:22 am by Lightages »
 

Offline IanB

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #29 on: July 12, 2014, 02:08:29 am »
I guess not many people on here from London who would like sit and have a chat.

I certainly would, but it's not very likely that I'll be in London at the time of your visit. Which is a shame, but there we go.
 

Offline aroby

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #30 on: July 12, 2014, 02:17:06 am »
I sent a message to Kate Bush telling her about here namesake and she was so touched she insisted we come see her concert and visit with her. So this is probably my one chance to see her live, and to meet her.

Cool story!  Have a great time
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #31 on: July 12, 2014, 02:23:51 am »
YEs, I cannt believe it myself that I am flying to London to see a concert, but by invitation I can hardly say no!
I once went to Canada for a gig.

I could make a very (old) Australian joke about that making me feel "Sulky".,but only old Aussies would get it.! ;D
 

Offline zapta

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #32 on: July 12, 2014, 03:19:26 am »
I used to spend days in this bookstore when visiting London. This was before Amazon though.

http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Stores/Detail.aspx?storeid=1011
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #33 on: July 12, 2014, 06:35:57 am »
I used to spend days in this bookstore when visiting London. This was before Amazon though.

http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Stores/Detail.aspx?storeid=1011

Ah, in Charing Cross Road. If I remember correctly this is at the end of the already mentioned Tottenham Court Road.

Tottenham Court was full of wonderful computer and electronic stores. And then you just continued to walk to Charing Cross to find the books about them and about hundreds of thousands other obscure subjects. No idea if it is still worth visiting Charing Cross.

Go and visit HMS Belfast (Big warship floating on the Thames).

If you are in to that stuff, there are also the other parts of the Imperial War Museum in London. Like the War Room bunker, and the main museum.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2014, 06:37:41 am by Bored@Work »
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Offline zapta

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #34 on: July 12, 2014, 06:47:49 am »
Don't refer to it as "London, England" either or you will get funny looks. Only Americans do that, the rest of the just says "London" or "Dubai" and expects people to know a bit of geography.

He he, Mojo Chan, you really can't give up on US bashing but I understand your envy.
 

Offline deephaven

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #35 on: July 12, 2014, 06:49:52 am »
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Nobody wants to together to bend an elbow somewhere?

As far as saying "London, England", it is an old habit as in my old province Ontario in Canada there is a London also. So if we wanted to not be mistaken we needed to say "London, England". So it isn't only Americans........

YEs, I cannt believe it myself that I am flying to London to see a concert, but by invitation I can hardly say no!

I'd be up for meeting you somewhere. I don't live in London, but I'm only an hour's train ride away so it would be easy to make a trip up there.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #36 on: July 12, 2014, 10:06:59 am »
I once went to Canada for a gig.

As in a concert? All that way  :o
Who was it?
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #37 on: July 12, 2014, 10:08:54 am »
Are you only going to London for the two weeks.
So much to see in England, would be a shame to spend all two weeks in London?
 

Offline abaxas

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #38 on: July 12, 2014, 10:23:30 am »
One thing lots of tourists forget is the borders/ Northumberland 'castle belt'. Also, if you enjoy a night out, there is nothing quite like Newcastle.

/geordie mode off.

 

Offline electronics man

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #39 on: July 12, 2014, 10:49:58 am »
Are you only going to London for the two weeks.
So much to see in England, would be a shame to spend all two weeks in London?

when are you comming to london to see us?
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Offline KJDS

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #40 on: July 12, 2014, 11:04:16 am »
One thing lots of tourists forget is the borders/ Northumberland 'castle belt'. Also, if you enjoy a night out, there is nothing quite like Newcastle.

/geordie mode off.

A night out in the Biig market, nothing finer than being vomited over by drunken, barely clothed, women whilst their boyfriends try and pick a fight with you. England has many attractions, and if you have a thing for the above then fine, however I suspect that very few would put it high on their list of things to do.

A list of things to do:-
Visit a few of the museums. Have a wander round the slightly less touristy bits of London, see the Bank of England, Lincolns Inn Fields etc and enjoy the architecture and history.
Visit one of the great houses, Chatsworth etc.
Visit Oxford or Cambridge
Eat at a back street curry house in Bradford, Luton or Southall. These are very variable so find some up to date local knowledge.
Eat at a Michelin starred restaurant at least once.
If you like the outdoors, get to the Peak or Lake district for a few days.

but whatever you do, unless you enjoy being vomited on by barely dressed drunken women as their boyfriends try and pick a fight, I'd avoid Newcastle city center on a weekend night.

Offline nctnico

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #41 on: July 12, 2014, 11:20:07 am »
He he, Mojo Chan, you really can't give up on US bashing but I understand your envy.

Man, you really have it in for me, huh? Maybe you could lay off the ad hominem attacks for a bit, okay?

Seriously, any Americans visiting Europe, you will get funny looks if you start talking about "Paris, France" because it's mildly insulting to us - it implies we don't know where Paris is.
Due to unknown reasons  >:D people who moved to the US didn't invent new names for their villages but used the ones they knew from home. So you have 24 places called Paris in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_%28USA%29

Regarding visiting London: I visited London for the last time about 20 years ago. I recall the Cabinet War Rooms where nice. Another nice place is Covent Garden. When I was there they had the 'spitting image museam' over there. The science museum is huge and definitely interesting -if only the restaurant was better-. For the rest the usual stuff: Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus. I found Rock Circus better than Madame Tussaud's.
BTW the English food isn't as bad as they say it is. You can get a decent meal in a pub for a decent price.

Edit: I forgot the Sherlock Holmes museum. I didn't quite fancy the London Dungeon (also a very limited restaurant -I wonder why-).
« Last Edit: July 12, 2014, 12:05:56 pm by nctnico »
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Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #42 on: July 12, 2014, 11:35:54 am »
I once went to Canada for a gig.

As in a concert? All that way  :o
Who was it?
Well wasn't entirely for the gig , more like the trigger to go on holiday somewhere, and the where being decided by the gig (Holly McNarland), who would likely never tour the UK).
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Offline abaxas

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #43 on: July 12, 2014, 11:40:10 am »
but whatever you do, unless you enjoy being vomited on by barely dressed drunken women as their boyfriends try and pick a fight, I'd avoid Newcastle city center on a weekend night.

There is more to a Newcastle night out than just the Bigg market. It's not all a daily mail stereotype, just like everyone from south of Birmingham isn't called Tarquin.
 

Offline rolycat

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #44 on: July 12, 2014, 11:45:56 am »
For a different take on English stately home visits, Avebury Manor is great fun.

It's a 500-year old manor house which has been carefully restored, but instead of putting everything behind velvet ropes, you are positively encouraged to lie in the four-poster beds, sit on the antique chairs, have a game in the billiard room or play the piano. You need to book well in advance, though.

Avebury is most famous for its ancient stone circles. The main circle is roughly the same age as Stonehenge but much larger - the village is built in and around it and the main road runs right through it.

I believe journey time from London via public transport is about an hour and a half.

P.S.
May be able to make it into London if you do succeed in organizing a meet-up.
 

Offline G0HZU

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #45 on: July 12, 2014, 11:55:51 am »
If you have any interest in football then you could try and get tickets for the Arsenal vs Tottenham game in Sept. But it will be very hard to get tickets for such a passionate and hate filled local derby.

If I ever visit Newcastle the top priority would be to go to a home game against Sunderland!
St James' Park is one of the greatest stadiums in the footballing world for passion and atmosphere.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #46 on: July 12, 2014, 12:19:55 pm »
when are you comming to london to see us?

When I'm in the mood to spend the 60 hours of travel time to get there and back...
Just turned down a trip to Finland, Estonia, and Latvia.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #47 on: July 12, 2014, 12:22:49 pm »
BTW the English food isn't as bad as they say it is. You can get a decent meal in a pub for a decent price.

I found that bacon got saltier the further North you went. What's up with that?  :-//
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #48 on: July 12, 2014, 12:28:53 pm »
Avebury is most famous for its ancient stone circles. The main circle is roughly the same age as Stonehenge but much larger - the village is built in and around it and the main road runs right through it.

I was quite disappointed with Stonehenge. It's so massively touristy and roped off, it really spoils the whole thing.
Best part is driving over the hill on the country road, and bam, there it is.

My rating had nothing to do with my 40 hours of not sleeping and driving straight there after hoping off the plane.
I went back a 2nd time and it was just as bad.

York though is simply awesome, a must for anyone visiting the old dart.
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: Visiting London England, any suggestions?
« Reply #49 on: July 12, 2014, 12:29:45 pm »
A night out in the Biig market, nothing finer than being vomited over by drunken, barely clothed, women whilst their boyfriends try and pick a fight with you. England has many attractions, and if you have a thing for the above then fine, however I suspect that very few would put it high on their list of things to do.

Sounds a bit like Soho in London with nearby Chinatown on a weekend with many tourists. Although last time we did the tourist thing in Soho many of the barely clothed women seemed to be in the business of selling *ehm* personal services. On the other hand, the barely clothed men in some joints didn't seem to be exactly interested in women.

All in all great ripoffs at every corner. And not for those puritan at heart.
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