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  • London trip

    Heading to London the end of October. We have a long list of sights to see. Just one thing we are lacking...

    Pubs!

    What is your favorite pub, menu item and brew?

    If anyone wants to join The Wife & I for a pint, PM me.

    One other thing we are looking into is a day trip, via train, to someplace outside of London. What is a cute town/village that would be fun to walk around and site see, that is about a two hour train ride from London?
    Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
    Save the Ales!
    Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

  • #2
    Make sure you partake of:

    Haggis,black pudding,jellied eels,tripe.



    Outside of London, Windsor is very upmarket with lots of nice stores,castle,Legoland.
    The other way is Essex and that way chavs in stilettos lie. South is Surrey and Home Counties suburbia. If you want a nice village, some in the South Downs are rather pleasant. North is Harry Potter studios and Milton Keynes if grid-pattern towns and concrete cows are your thing.

    Don't forget-England is small. A two hour train ride on a high speed train and you can get to Birmingham or Bristol.
    The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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    • #3
      Quoth Kit-Ginevra View Post
      Make sure you partake of:

      Haggis,black pudding,jellied eels,tripe.
      The first 2 I like if they're with something rather than being the main event (plus Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish so you won't get an authentic one in London). The other 2 are very much an acquired taste, and IMHO not worth acquiring!

      A traditional meal in London's East End is pie with liquor and mushy peas; no, that's not booze-liquor, it's a parsley sauce. Best eaten in a "greasy spoon" cafe for the full East End experience.

      Another good place to eat is Camden Market; there used to be (I haven't been there in about 15 years so it might be gone) a mezzanine level over the more internal parts of the market that had some wonderful food stalls.

      SoHo used to have some wonderful independent restaurants, but it was getting very touristy when I was last there so I don't know if any of them still exist. Anyone been there lately?

      If you're looking for a day out from London, get the Bedford-Brighton line to Brighton. This is a popular sea-side resort, and the Lanes have many lovely little independent shops. Don't forget to get fish and chips (fish in a batter (often a beer batter) deep fried, with thick chunky french fries covered in vinegar and salt), and have a go on the rides on Brighton Pier!
      "It is traditional when asking for help or advice to listen to the answers you receive" - RealUnimportant

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      • #4
        The google search you are looking for is: day trips within 2 hours of London

        I'd suggest Brighton, because as mentione, or Portsmouth for the various NAv things, HMS Victory, Mar Rose, Submarine Museum to start.
        ludo ergo sum

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        • #5
          When I made the original post, I had one concern. Kit.

          Just kidding.

          I am familiar with Haggis (I am Scottish). I will save that for when I get to Scotland.
          In the States, Black Pudding is called Blood Sausage.
          I have had eel before, but not jellied.
          I have also had tripe.

          Brighton sounds like a good suggestion.

          I also realized that Google was doing me wrong. When I used it to find out how long it would take to get places by train, it was showing me bad schedules. It told me three hours to Brighton. I looked up the train schedules and saw I could get there in well under two hours.
          Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
          Save the Ales!
          Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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          • #6
            Hey you have nothing to worry about from me!
            The lovely Ginny on the other hand...
            The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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            • #7
              Pubs are a bit hard to recommend because I haven't lived there for a few years.

              Ask the staff where you are staying. They will be able to direct you to the best in the surrounding area. There are so many pubs in London that your liver would hate you trying to drink at all of them.

              The Porterhouse Irish Bar - 27 Maiden Lane. https://www.porterhouse.london/bar-areas/ (They have one in Dublin that became my favourite pub.) It is one street from Covent Garden Market. It has really cool brass pipes throughout the building. It's a bit of a 'meet market' on a Saturday night, but it's good for lunch or dinner. Across the lane and a few doors down is The Maple Leaf. It's a Canadian pub that gets pretty packed with home sick visa holders.

              If you have a choice between a local pub or a pub called 'Walkabout', choose the local. Walkabouts are full of drunk Aussies and Kiwis that are in London with work visas. We get drunk and loud and drunk. It won't be pretty.

              Here is a list of some of my favourite places:
              Camden Market - All the cool stuff from independent artists and counter culture amazing clothes and accessories. It was undergoing refurb a few years ago, but the 2nd hand market should be open again by now. (If you have issues with stairs, go to Mornington Crescent Station and walk up the street. Camden Market is only 5 mins away. Camden Town station gets crazy.)
              When at the market eat at Poppie's Fish and Chips https://poppiesfishandchips.co.uk So good, so so good. It's a 1940's style dinner with traditional English fish and chips.

              Covent Garden Market - similar but more tourist friendly. Popular with buskers.

              London Transport Museum - (next to Covent Garden Market) shows how the tube became the tube and moves millions of people around London. Was really cool. They also have a few trains, buses, etc from different times.

              Hyde Park/Green Park - October is during autumn. That means lots of leaves to kick up into the air and have fun with. Why, yes, I am a kid at heart. Oh, and squirrels. But that might not be a novelty like it was for this Aussie.

              If you like history, jump on this website: https://www.iwm.org.uk It has all the different war museums listed with their booking info, etc. HMS Belfast is pretty cool. Churchill's war rooms are apparently really good too, but I didn't get to them due to closures and bomb threats.

              Most museums and galleries are free. Thank Queen Victoria for that. They will have signs asking for donations, so feel free to donate a few pounds. Some will have exhibits that are ticket/pay only, but most are open to the public.

              I hope my little list helps. I'll be back there in Feb/March next year and I can't wait.
              A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read. - Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

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              • #8
                Google Albertopolis for some intersting things. It includes the collection of museums in the South Kensington area, and Roal Albert Hall.

                If you go to HMS Belfast fo to Borough Market for foods.
                ludo ergo sum

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                • #9
                  Some of the best food we had in the UK was at the top of the National Portrait Gallery! Great views, too.

                  I enjoyed my trip out to the RAF Museum. I wish I'd had a few more hours there. But then again, I'm an aircraft nerd. (Maybe an "anorak"?)
                  “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                  One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                  The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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                  • #10
                    The Wife and I are both aviation buffs. WWII aviation especially (Dad flew Liberators in the CBI). Would like to see the RAF Museum and hopefully hit a couple of WWII memorials to pay our respects.
                    Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
                    Save the Ales!
                    Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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                    • #11
                      *sign* New job was supposed to have me there almost 2 months. Looks like it's falling though. Might still happen, I really hope. I got Rome and Paris check marked so I wanted the hat trick.
                      AkaiKitsune
                      Sarcasm dear, sarcasm. I’m well aware that dealing with civilians in any capacity will skin your faith in humanity alive, then pickle anything that remains so as to watch it shrivel up into an immortal husk thus reminding you of how dead inside you now are.

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