London info

flapperphilosopher

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The British Museum is still free to get into (probably the only thing in London that is).

Actually all the nationally-owned museums are-- The National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Museum of London, the exhibitions at the British Museum... it gets really hard to pay for museums anywhere else after you've seen so many showstoppers for free!! There's also some wonderfully quirky smaller (free) museums such as the Wellcome Collection (sort of based on the interactions between medicine/medical related stuff and society and/or art, and including items like Napoleon's toothbrush) and the Hunterian Museum (the museum of surgery... lots of weird stuff in jars). I'd reccomend getting a travel book or two (I like Time Out London the best for the "insider" view--almost all of it is also on their website) and reading about the sights from the eyes of your characters, picking out what specifically they would like to see. London seriously has stuff for everyone, and if you just flock to the same tourist sites as everyone else because you feel you should, you're passing up the chance for a more meaningful personal experience. I'd say pick the sights based on your characters-- maybe they are the kinds of people who feel obligated to see the major tourist sights, but it might also be a chance to show off interesting nuances of character. One of my best friends only had 8 or so hours in London her first time, on a layover--the one thing she picked to do was the Victoria and Albert Museum (the museum of decorative arts), because of her strong interest in design. I personally have been to London at least ten times, and only visited the British Museum once, while going to the V & A, the Natural History Museum, and the National Gallery on almost every trip. I've never been on the London Eye. If you can personalize your characters' experience of London, even a little, you can draw even more story meaning from their couple days there.

Also, I don't know if anyone noted the parks.... there are several big, very nice parks in Central London, notably Hyde Park and Regent's Park. Actual Londoners use these parks all the time too, going for runs, walking dogs, walking kids, playing cricket. They are lovely places to just sit and chill in a busy city, and really some of my fondest memories of London are just sitting or walking in the park.
 
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waylander

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What time of year are your characters visiting?
It doesn't usually snow much in London - but everything stops when it does - mostly rains more. You can get some days when it never gets above 0C all day but only a few days a year.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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@ Myrealana - I wasn't doing a direct comparison; I think it's more the fact that Denver's public transport turns up on time (in my admittedly limited experience), is clean and is cheap - and that I'd actually consider using it is an endorsement in itself as I loathe public transport with a passion and love my car! :D Saying that, the service to Golden isn't that frequent so I learnt to park all day - for free! - (Yes, English people, you heard me correctly - all day FREE parking!!!) at Sheridan and light rail it into the city from there. I appreciate these are incentives to encourage people to use public transport and when you're on holiday/vacation time isn't quite so precious (can't think of a better word), but it was nice to not have to drive everywhere. Saying that, I did some networking last summer and, if the position I'm after becomes available and I'm successful, based on its random location in the suburbs and where I'd want to live there's no way I'd be doing the two bus thing - the car would be weaving twice daily along Colfax (W&E) whilst I reattach my London driving head. ;)

I'm not particularly a fan of London as I don't like big dirty cities (same goes for Paris) - smaller, cleaner, more polite places like Zurich, Munich and Copenhagen are more my thing. In the US I really liked Albuquerque and Salt Lake City, besides Denver, as they weren't heaving tourist traps and all the locals I talked to were extremely friendly and helpful.

Anyway, here's some more useful - maybe? - London stuff...

The Tube can be a bit iffy at night, especially if there's been a footie match. I remember encountering a load of Millwall fans (in the 90s) who'd just smashed up a carriage. Most fans just want to sing or drown their sorrows, depending on the outcome for their team, but you get the occasional nutter - and at any time of day.

Free toilets - Marks & Spencer's and Debenham's are usually clean. By law, any shop which sells food or drink has to provide a loo - it's easier to anonymously visit the facilities in a big shop which has a cafe, rather than in a smaller eaterie. M&S do a half-decent mocha and the apple turnovers are yummy, btw.

Anything more than half an inch of snow in the winter and the whole place grinds to a halt. Faint mocking laughter can sometimes be heard if the wind is blowing over from Canada, louder if it's blowing down from Scotland.

Very few people actually eat a ploughman's lunch - it's something aimed at tourists. If you want a decent chippy, you've got to go up north (as in four hours drive north - haha!).

As for not wanting to drive in the Big Smoke - my dad forced me to drive right across the city centre pretty much as soon as I'd passed my driving test. I had to pry my fingers off the wheel at the other side of town - although thankfully he drove back! Made Croydon look civilised.

I'll keep thinking...
 
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Los Pollos Hermanos

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@ Waylander - great minds think alike! I started my last post a couple of hours earlier, got distracted, got hungry, got distracted again and finally came back to discover you'd beaten me to it about the snow. :D
 
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Orianna2000

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Tourist books help! As does Google maps. I learned a lot from those two sources that I was able to apply to my second novel, which is partly set in London. When my husband took me to the UK for our 10th anniversary, I found there wasn't much I needed to change. Just a few details about London-Heathrow.

Also, find yourself a British beta-reader. There are a lot of small details that you might overlook, but a beta-reader who's from London will catch and correct them for you.
 

ScienceFictionMommy

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As for the road crossing lights palaver, if it's heaving with pedestrians near a crossing (wherever it may be) and the light starts flashing amber, I usually give it a couple of seconds before setting off as you invariably get someone legging it across.

Good to know I wouldn't have been hit by you!

Wow, as a Denverite, I'm the one who's gobsmacked that you could even compare our public transportation to London's.

I was floored by the amazing system in London. Hop on the tube and I could get anywhere I needed to be. Night busses that actually run all night. Cabs that know where they're going. It was amazing.

This surprised me too. The light rail is nice if your starting and ending points happen to be near it (like my old home and work) but it's usefulness is quite limited otherwise. Even some of the major landmarks in downtown (like the baseball stadium) aren't very close. We recently went to a game, and the walk from the station was excruciatingly long when towing three-and-five-year-olds along.

I honestly didn't pay much attention to the transit prices in London. I was visiting, I needed a pass for a week, so that's what I got. I did love that there were tube stops within a few blocks of pretty much anywhere you wanted to go. Getting around was quite easy.

Saying that, the service to Golden isn't that frequent so I learnt to park all day - for free! - (Yes, English people, you heard me correctly - all day FREE parking!!!) at Sheridan and light rail it into the city from there.

Free parking only works if you're going into the city. And since I stopped riding it regularly, I think the lot I used to use sometimes charges, it's supposedly based on where you live (and how that enforce that, I have no idea as I'm not using it often enough.)

A good chunk of the US-based part of my story is set in and around Denver, so I've had to make two research visits. I don't think I've got enough info and my memory is patchy, so I might have to go back next year - haha! That'll be a chore... ;)

If you have any specific questions before that, shoot me a PM and I'll let you know whether I know the answer!
 

PeteMC

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A few more random factoids which occurred to me:


The Thames is tidal, noticeably so.

When the tide is out, there are broad mudflats along the banks around Embankment and Tower Bridge.

At low tide, you can sometimes see groups of people "beachcombing" with metal detectors in front of the Tower of London and around Tower Bridge. You need a special license to do this, and it's a heavily guarded privilege.

Aldgate tube station really is built on a medieval plague pit - this is actually not an urban myth, although a lot of people think it is.

There is (or was, anyway) a replica Doctor Who Tardis outside Earl's Court station. I have no idea why.

Every tube station in central London has a different mosaic pattern in the tiles on the wall of the platforms. This was originally so passengers who couldn't read knew where they were.

The tube is really not very wheelchair-friendly, to the extent that the stations that actually are accessible are marked as such on the tube maps. It's not as many as you'd think.
 

PeteMC

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Oh, and Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park is usually good for a laugh - this is a place where any random nut can get up and hold forth to the general public about anything and everything.

Oddly this is roughly where the Tyburn gallows used to be when there were still public executions.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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Sorry for the delayed reply, I've been out and about for the past few days.

My sources tell me it's roasty toasty hot in the Big Smoke at the moment.

@ ScienceFictionMommy:
Cheers for the offer - I'm going to be doing the Final Big Edit soon and will be posting on here about a few random things!

Hold on to your hats, good people of AW... ;)
 

Helix

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The temperature was something that surprised me last time I was in London. I didn't remember the city as being so hot and humid in July. It was quite unpleasant on some days.
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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That's the problem over here - people grumble about the heat when we actually get some, when it's the humidity that's the issue. Whilst it's nowhere near Louisiana* percentages, once the temperature gets to high 20s/low 80s the usually tolerable humidity kicks in to leave you feeling a bit... urgh! - especially if you have to work or rush around in it. Coupled with London being dirty, smelly and busy, it ain't pleasant.

* I was in Lafayette last summer - my clothes were stuck to me and sweat was tricking down my legs. I felt disgusting by 10am!!! It was only 5C/9F hotter in Las Vegas, but the low humidity made it so much more pleasant.

Based on my limited knowledge of Australia (which is mostly from watching Neighbours - haha!), I assume whilst Queensland is hot, it's dry heat. Or does it get more humid near the ocean?
 
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mirandashell

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I lived in the Canary Isles for nearly a year and the temp was up around 100 degrees all summer. But it was much more bearable because it was a dry heat. Being in a humid city with the fumes is just hell.
 

Bolero

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And it stays hot at night and there isn't a breeze. If you have your window open you can hear the city.

Air conditioning is still pretty rare in private homes in the UK.

All of which is irrelevant to the OP character's day trip. :)

Incidentally, mentioning tidal Thames and that - there are every so often drunk (usually drunk) twits who try to swim across the Thames. Doesn't usually end very well......
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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At the moment I would sell a kidney to have AC in my bedroom - it's like a bloody oven and I live four hours north of London!

As for swimming the Thames, anyone who even considers getting into that filthy water must be nuts. My friend in the Met Police told me it gets dredged every so often and the stuff brought up makes the mind boggle. There's usually a few shopping trolleys and a couple of dead bodies, by all accounts. Nice...
 

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Yup, I'm two hours East of London and it's been unbearable here too for the last couple of weeks. As you say, it's the humidity not the actual heat that's the problem - the only time I'm comfortable is in the car with Jaguar's wonderful "nuclear winter" AC!
 

Forbidden Snowflake

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Before I moved here I always made fun of my gf for complaining about the heat, when the numbers were ridiculously low. BUT... having moved here and having experienced experienced the humidity, I do understand the complaining. And there's no air.... so it doesn't cool down at night and my bedroom is annoyingly hot. And gah!
 

Los Pollos Hermanos

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It was 21C/70F today - we were all grumbling that it's gone too cold now.

Are we ever satisfied with the weather in this country?!?! ;)
 

Trebor1415

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I agree you should buy a tourist guide for general info.

Some "flavor" things I remember from my semester I spent there in '97.

The curbs downtown are painted with "Look Right" for pedestrians crossing the street.

There *used* to be public phone boxes and they would be filled with scores of little flyers for prostitutes. I remember making a call and a guy walked up, opened the door, slapped a bunch up, closed the door and walked away. I don't know if that's still a thing though as I don't even know if they still have public phone boxes. (Although I'm pretty sure there are still prostitutes...)

You can get really good Middle Eastern food downtown as well. Lot of shops in out of the ways places with signage in Arabic and English.