Doing London things you've never done

[Elpenor]

I keep meaning to go to the Docklands museum when stopping in London but as it’s typically an hours journey from where I’m staying I never seem to have the time.

 

[Numbers]

I keep meaning to go to the Docklands museum when stopping in London but as it’s typically an hours journey from where I’m staying I never seem to have the time.

Where I’ve lived for the past 20 years I can walk there in about 20 mins, yet have never been

 

[Epona]

I keep meaning to go to the Docklands museum when stopping in London but as it’s typically an hours journey from where I’m staying I never seem to have the time.

Where I’ve lived for the past 20 years I can walk there in about 20 mins, yet have never been

I'd be up for organising another urb outing there next year, if either/both of you would be up for going there and having a bit of a get together.
We're a friendly bunch.

 

[philosophical]

London is my home town and for good or ill I love it.
I am now very old, but with that comes the possession that I would save in a fire, my Freedom Pass.
I can wake up and go anywhere for free, I can’t really explain how good that feels.
I am local to Greenwich Park (half hour walk, five minutes on the bus), and am confident there isn’t a better formal park to be found in the whole metropolis.
I have never seen the Mousetrap, but am pretty confident I have been to every other Theatre in London bar the Sam Wanamaker playhouse at the Globe, but I intend to put that right by scoring tickets for the forthcoming Three Sisters production.
Lived in Tottenham for four years when I was a student, but otherwise I regard north of the river as virtually Scotland and anywhere with a SW, or W postcode as virtually Wales. In London people seem to have different driving habits in the various quartiles as it were, and most definitely different London accents according to district.
If you have only ever been to the Tate Modern, can I recommend the Tate Britain which I have recently rediscovered as a gem, and years ago I thought the Victoria and Albert museum was mind numbingly boring, but now think of it as one of the best there is.
One place I really ought to have visited by now given my location is the Dulwich Picture Gallery but I have never been there.
As I say for good or ill London is my city and I love it.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

When I lived and worked/studied in London, I was quite scornful of those open top tour buses as something just for tourists, not for people who actually lived there, so they were off limits to me, because I was living there, I wasn't a tourist...

...and then a Scottish friend came down to visit (who I knew from Manchester), and while he was familiar with London, and therefore similarly scornful of tour buses, it was his friend's first visit to London.

Given that it was her first visit, we went on an open top tour bus and it was actually really good, we really enjoyed it. I can't remember all the places it went, but I vaguely remember an informative and entertaining tour guide giving the spiel and it being interesting to hear snippets of historical facts about people and places.

But the best bit, which was accidental and not on the itinerary, and which I'd highly recommend trying to get right was the timing, by which I mean it had started north of the river and it was one of those circular routes, which at some point went south of the river, and we'd started at some point in the afternoon, which meant that, iirc, by the time the bus was driving towards Tower Bridge from left to right and then over the bridge back to north of the river, all the street lights on both banks were on and the bridge was also lit up, and it all looked quite pretty.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to try to time it deliberately like that, it was happenstance, but I very much liked it and would recommend trying to time it like that.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I haven't been to Buckingham Palace, have no desire to go. Haven't seen The Mousetrap either , not arsed about that either . Never been to Madam Toussards either , again , not arsed about that either.

Me neither. I don't see the point of paying good money to see some wax models. I just don't get it.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I haven’t spotted Boris cycling and called him a wanker.

Now he’s a multimillionaire I guess he’s going to be chauffeur driven.

I know the woman who did that! Legend.

Correction: iirc, he was on foot and she was cycling past?

 

[Epona]

London is my home town and for good or ill I love it.
I am now very old, but with that comes the possession that I would save in a fire, my Freedom Pass.
I can wake up and go anywhere for free, I can’t really explain how good that feels.
I am local to Greenwich Park (half hour walk, five minutes on the bus), and am confident there isn’t a better formal park to be found in the whole metropolis.
I have never seen the Mousetrap, but am pretty confident I have been to every other Theatre in London bar the Sam Wanamaker playhouse at the Globe, but I intend to put that right by scoring tickets for the forthcoming Three Sisters production.
Lived in Tottenham for four years when I was a student, but otherwise I regard north of the river as virtually Scotland and anywhere with a SW, or W postcode as virtually Wales. In London people seem to have different driving habits in the various quartiles as it were, and most definitely different London accents according to district.
If you have only ever been to the Tate Modern, can I recommend the Tate Britain which I have recently rediscovered as a gem, and years ago I thought the Victoria and Albert museum was mind numbingly boring, but now think of it as one of the best there is.
One place I really ought to have visited by now given my location is the Dulwich Picture Gallery but I have never been there.
As I say for good or ill London is my city and I love it.

I'm an immigrant to London, from Surrey, but after 20+ years yes it is my city.
I can't wait for my freedom pass, I'll be all over the shop once I've got that

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I am now very old, but with that comes the possession that I would save in a fire, my Freedom Pass.

i'm sure there is a process for replacing one that's lost, stolen or damaged

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

It's worth at least one attendance. No big fan of crowds, but the vibe is awesome.

I've been to Notting Hill Carnival once. One of the friends I was with bought some super strong weed from a random bloke that gave him a whitey. I'm five foot nothing and my mate's 6'. It was like when a tree is felled and just keels over. He was next to me in the crowd, turned white and started falling in my direction, so I struggled to keep him up off the floor while yelling at our other (male, taller, stronger) mates who were on the other side of him to help me! Argh! We ended up spending ages hanging out outside a St John's Ambulance while he was inside being checked over and then recovering. Fun times. The crowds were too much for me, I didn't return.

 

[Silas Loom]

I know the woman who did that! Legend.

Correction: iirc, he was on foot and she was cycling past?

If fewer than a hundred people have done this I will eat a rented pedal cycle.

 

[hash tag]

Buckingham Palace for me is difficult to avoid as it is on the way to Victoria to either catch a train or a bus when coming back from Piccadilly, Leicester sq areas.

 

[Epona]

i'm sure there is a process for replacing one that's lost, stolen or damaged

Well at least when the system hasn't been hacked it's theoretically possible

 

[Boo Radley75]

Had a day around the heart of the docklands, on Friday, which was a first for me. Went to the Docklands museum, great pub in the old ledger building, next door (even if it was a spoons), got to stand at the bottom of Canary Wharf, found a lovely rooftop garden and, a first for my daughter, sat at the front on the DLR.