The Traveling Emusers
So it occurs to me (and it occurs to me because I have a question of my own) that there are emusers who live, or have lived, in a wide variety of places all over the world, and that there are other emusers who may, from time to time, travel to some of these places, and so the residents, or former residents, may be able to offer useful, or at least interesting, travel advice to those who are traveling.
So go.
So go.
Comments
She will be in London for about 1.5 to 2 days (and a hotel recommendation there might be useful,) then she's meeting her sister ad family, who are coming over from Germany, and they are going to go to Brighton, then Portsmouth, then Bath and the surrounding area, and they had mentioned the possibility of visiting Wales. Then they go to Dover, where they will take a ferry back to the Continent.
My wife is a huge English literature fan, she loves Jane Austen, although she would like it be known that she prefers the Bront
But as Greg says, do not underestimate how long it takes to get around. Trains are pretty good running along the main north-south arteries, but if you want to go east-west it gets messier, and if you want to go anywhere that is not a major city expect trains to be less frequent and not to run every day. Driving is slower than in the US - more congested roads and more roads that are not highways, do not have multiple lanes, and do not go in a straight line to their destination. So it can take a while to traverse what might not look like a large distance on the map. If Wales is a stretch West, then how about Oxford - look round the old colleges; it's kind of between bath and London.
Bath is lovely - the baths themselves are well worth a visit, I think, if history is of interest; among all the Roman ruins I've visited that's the place where I most vividly felt "hey, Romans stood right here and saw what I'm looking at".
In London, the British Museum is free and filled with wonders, again if history is of interest (the Rosetta stone, Egyptian mummies, Assyrian statuary, etc.). We actually visited Buckingham Palace for the first time ever while visiting England a couple of years back, and it's an impressive tour when they have it open to the public as long as you can stomach the opulence. We ate at an amazing (I think) Malaysian restaurant in a little side street - I might be able to figure out where that was; we found it by walking :-).
London - assuming Heathrow is the airport being used, it is best to get a hotel somewhere near the Piccadily Line, so I suggest trying an area like Knightsbridge, Kensington or Bloonsbury (Russell Square station) Use the tube rather than the Heathrow Express from Heathrow as that is expensive. Buy one day travel cards for underground and buses. For the second day, she'll probably need just Zone 1 and 2. This is considerably cheaper than individual tickets and much more useful as it means only queuing once - tickets are not always available on buses anyway. A good website to look for hotels is Laterooms.com. Tfl.gov.uk is the place to look for transport in London.
Most of the major art galleries are free for their normal exhibitions - National Gallery upto C19th, Tate for UK art mainly C19th and 20th, Tate Modern for Contemporary Art. The National could take all day, but they do have a leaflet that takes you round some of the highlights of the collection. The Victoria and Albert (V and A) Museum, also free is good on costume, artefacts etc, the British Museum, as GP mentioned is a major historical museum. There are a number of Churches worth visiting - St Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, where William and Kate married, plus lots of other smaller churches. If that interests her I can give you other suggestions. Buckingham Palace is most unlikely to be open then. I like the Tower of London. Somthing I enjoy doing is walking along the south bank of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge - it takes about one to one and a half hours plus visiting time. It passes the London Eye, good on a clear day, The National Theatre complex, Southwark Cathedral, Tate Modern, the reconstructed Globe Theatre. Also close by to it is Borough Market - a great food market. If she'd like to see decent theatre I suggest the National Theatre - 3 auditoria, but booking in advance is essential for many productions. See nationaltheatre.org.uk.
There are one or two smaller galleries I like - The Courtauld Gallery and Wallace Collection spring to mind, but these do charge. The Wallace has a great restaurant. There are many many places to eat at all kinds of prices.
Brighton - The Royal Pavillion is a must. The Lanes is a small distinct shopping area. I assuming they will be travelling in to Portsmouth by car. I'd suggest Beachy Head, a cliff top near Eastbourne. She might also want to visit Battle Abbey, the site of the Battle of Hastings, unsurprisingly just outside Hastings. Chichester and its cathedral are wll worth a visit. A couple of National Trust houses close to the journey that I like are Petworth ans Uppark - see Nationaltrust.org.uk. Opening may be a problem as most do not reopen until about 17th March. Their restaurants are a great place to go for afternoon tea.
Portsmouth - a port city that I have only really been to on the way to catch ferries, but does have the Mary Rose - a Tudor ship and a couple of other ships open. Winchester is quite close - well worth visiting the Cathedral there
To be continued!!
don't worry, your wife will be binge drinking too. after all, this is england we're talking about.
clink.
Wink.
Blink.
Slink.
But anyway, I will not be bingeing for 11 days, because I will be primary caregiver for a 5 year old, a 2 year old, a dog and an ancient bony cat. Any alcohol at all after a day like that will send me quickly off to sleep. I'll be bingeing on caffeine just to try to keep up.
I've often wondered if a person could stay alive while drinking only beer. I know for sure that a person could probably not last long on only bourbon, but at least they would be likely to be germ free.
drink.
have we met somewhere before?
for example, my response to your response was all about setting up a new sort of twist on rogering prodigal sons. only in this case i'm a bit more like smerdyakov, the bastard son.
for those of you who enjoy a good round of fritzing the bastard/returning bastard, the game is on! and its title is "how to shake 68's credibility!"
clink.
An old station wagon crawls around like a lizard without legs.
Skink.
I live in DC, feel free to ping me if someone's travels have them passing through.
@amclark - i'm flummoxed.
i did grab time with quacky last time and i know he would always be willing to host a shindig of emu message board grandeur. but i would add anytime you can bbq in a park with a great crowd is ideal.