London

[dr4b]

I am going.  Will be in the UK from Dec 23 to Jan 6.  Working from Google London office over the week of New Year's.  Planning to go up towards Stockton and Edinburgh for the days before that.

Any and all advice is welcomed although I admit I may throw most of it out the door and spend a lot of time watching musicals and going to castles and hopefully riding some of the train lines I've built while playing British Rails in the past.

I am sorry I feel weird about making a lot of public LJ posts, although I have gone curiously introspective recently.  I blame winter.  It makes everything dark and coated in thoughtful.

Comments

[writeswithyarn.livejournal.com]

Watching musicals and going to castles (especially Hampton Court) is an awesome use of time. I also recommend killing an afternoon in the London Review Bookshop, and getting lunch at one of the Ottolenghi locations. Duck and Waffle is pretty awesome, too, though a bit overpriced (and I do not recommend the ox cheek doughnut).

Edinburgh is lovely, but very cold. Try to avoid the Royal Mile; New Town is nicer and less crowded. I'll try to remember the name of the good coffee shop; Henderson's is a nice veggie restaurant with good value.

If your travels take you to the northwest at all, you are welcome to drop a line (Chester is on the London-Holyhead train route; it's not usually on the London-Liverpool route, but it's just as easy to switch trains here as at Warrington or Crewe, and it's not terribly far from Manchester, either); we have guests in the 27th-29th, but can always squeeze another person round the table.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

If you arrive in good time at Heathrow and don't have luggage problems, while you're down there, I'd give serious consideration to visiting Terminal 5 to try the Heathrow Pod self-guided tour. It's a mode of transport all of its own, Morgantown and Masdar City aside, and while it doesn't quite have the train nature, I have a strong suspicion that it may rather enchant you. (Alternatively, you could visit it on your way out of the country.)

Last year, Northern Rail had a really good offer of unlimited travel on their part of the train network for £10/day on December 27-30. I'm keeping an eye out to see whether they're going to repeat it this year. Lots of pretty options available if they do, though only about 7 hours of daylight, if that, to enjoy them in. If Northern don't, there are always Day Ranger (etc.) tickets as options.

[februaryfour]

LONDON. ♥ Broadway shows if you like that sort of thing. Indian food (for some reason it's FANTASTIC in London, lord knows). Train riding sounds like fun too!

[pergamond.livejournal.com]

Broadway might be a bit of a hike. I'd recommend the West End (^.~)

Indian food IS great in the UK. Indian-Brits are our largest ethnic minority. Try Brick Lane in London.

[februaryfour]

*groans* You'd think I would know to tell the two apart. Yes, I did mean West End. *sheepish*