So I am leaving for London in a little more than four months. I was just accepted into summer school at London School of Economics (my dream!) to study Finance, and I'll be living in the city for almost three weeks this August. As my dearest friend Eli keeps reminding me, it's time to start thinking of things to do and see when I'm not in class at LSE!
Of course, I have to see the usual tourist stuff. Though I usually try to keep as far away from overcrowded tourist attractions as possible, how could I possibly say that I lived in London for three weeks but never saw Buckingham Palace or Big Ben? Those are just must-dos.
Here are a few tourist-y destinations:
Buckingham Palace: where I can press my pathetic little face up against the gates and dream of being a real-life princess in a real-life palace with a real-life prince.... or, perhaps even better, dream of finding a pants-less Benedict Cumberbatch wrapped in a sheet and drinking tea...
Downing Street: equally fascinating to me but probably not as visually impressive...
Hyde Park: of course. This park is larger than the entire Principality of Monaco. Quintessentially British. I don't really have a choice. Couldn't miss it if I tried.
King's Cross Station: mostly because of Harry Potter
Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, Palace of Westminster, Houses of Parliament: I guess I can't really 'go to' Big Ben, it's kind of just something to see... These are all pretty obvious tourist stops, at least to just pass by and get that traditional view of the Thames!
Now we get to the fun stuff...
I'll be living a block or two away from Soho and I plan to spend a significant amount of time there! London's fashion and entertainment district, and previously its prostitution district. Since the 1950's Soho has been the centre of beatnik, rock, and pop culture in London. The Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, and Jimi Hendrix have all recorded there! It's home to London's main gay village and lots of shops and bars and clubs.
Ministry of Sound: probably London's most famous, iconic nightclub and ranked by some in the top five in the world. Apparently a must-go for nightlife in London. Also Fabric ('body-sonic' dance floor where bass comes through the floor. enough said. however, I'm not sure about the unisex toilets) and Pacha (Ibiza-based club with a stained glass ceiling and notoriously glamourous crowd).
The Eagle and Child: my nerdiness is coming out but I would be so happy if I could visit the Eagle and Child. This is the four-hundred-year-old pub that the Inklings (JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis!) met at to read and discuss their unfinished manuscripts!!!!! This has been a dream for years, ever since my dad encouraged Eli and I to form our own Inklings club when we were about fifteen....
The owner of my favourite local restaurant, a German native who went to school and lived in London for ten years, told me that I MUST go to high tea at The Dorchester. This gorgeous five-star hotel serves world-famous (it had better be, at £41 a person) afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones, and cakes. The hotel is absolutely stunning inside.
I still remember my grandmother mentioning Harrod's when I was very young, in particular for their tea. This is London's equivalent of Macy's, and though I've been to many department stores in my life, I don't want to miss out on this one.
Tiffany & Co. on Bond Street. I just want to visit Bond Street (though I won't be able to buy a single thing) and see this absolutely gorgeous, iconic black building (since I've already been to the one in New York!).
Restaurants: Rules (London's oldest restaurant, as classic British as it gets), The Dalaunay (continental cuisine), Le Gavroche (best French), Maison Bertaux (French cafe in Soho)...
Other to-do's: ride in a black cab and on a double-decker bus; find a public call box that even remotely resembles the TARDIS and completely lose it geeking out on the sidewalk; use the Tube and a loo and a lift (which I'm pretty sure I will); and do all those other stupid things that tourists think are fascinating in the UK.
