Coming to London in EDIT April!

[TASmith]

I'm going on a school trip with a bunch of students from Slovakia, and a few other teachers. Here's the itinerary:

April 15th, Greenwich - National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Royal Observatory, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral.

5PM Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum (optional), Piccadily Circus, Soho

March 16th, Trafalgar Square, Wellington Arch, Hyde Park, Notting Hill, Windsor Castle, Eton

3PM - choice of: British Museum or Museum of Science, London Eye (optional), Covent Garden

March 17th, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Whitehall, Downing Street, Oxford Street

After that, we're going to Paris and then back home. I have no idea what everyone's schedule is like, but if anyone wants to meet up at the National Gallery and look at some art, that'd be great! Also, just looking at this itinerary, any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Black Spot]

That is sure a packed itinerary. Getting to Windsor & Eton for a short time will take a fair chunk of travelling time. Getting across London always does. You might have to choose which bits are the most important. You can spend hours in some of those places. Use Journey Planner to work out the times. The buses have the next stop on a digital display inside, which makes not missing your stop a lot easier if you don't know your way around.

The 9th is a Friday and I might take a day off work.

[Velocity Kendall]

Covent Garden is lame.
British Museum is amazing.
Oxford Street is a terrible place, Tussauds is expensive and not that good. Picadilly is interesting for 5 minutes but really its just a road junction, Downing Street is a gate you can look through, again good for 5 minutes.
National Gallery fucking amazing you should spend an afternoon there.
Isnt Windsor in Berkshire or somewhere? Miles away from central London..
Soho's good fun of an evening, lots of bars and places to eat.
Science Museum Id skip, and go to the National History museum instead.

[MikeMakesMonkeys]

Whitehall is the road that connects Big Ben/Parliament with Trafalgar Square (site of the National Gallery). Halfway down is Downing Street (nothing to see) and Horse Guard's Parade (Changing of the Guard every day at 11am - worth a look). If you walk through Horse Guard's Parade you can walk through St. James' Park to Buckingham Palace - which is really pretty with some great views and a few unexpected birds.

Wellington Arch, keep going past the palace - it's not far. Hyde Park is just beyond that, but I thought St. James' park was much more interesting that Hyde Park, which is just... big and dull. Notting Hill is just houses for tossers, Oxford Street - don't bother. Trafalgar Square, Soho, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus are all right next to each other - literally 5 minutes walk between them.

I assume you're getting a bus out to Windsor and that (They are well out of London) - I've never been, but I'd like to

IMHO - Condense the general stuff down to a long morning and get out to Tate Britain (Pimlico on the light-blue line). Although if you're at St. Paul's anyway, there's a cool footbridge across the river to Tate Modern, which I don't rate as highly, but the Turbine Hall Installations are always worth a look

The Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Victoria & Albert are literally right next to each other and all brilliant days out.... But the British Museum is equally awesome though.

March 7th, Greenwich - National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Royal Observatory,

Oh and be sure to pop into Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre (you'll walk past it) and play with my model buildings!

[Velocity Kendall]

"Oh and be sure to pop into Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre (you'll walk past it) and play with my model buildings!"

Hey Ive seen those! Sweet work!

[TASmith]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Keep 'em coming! How big is the science museum? Bear in mind I'm just another passenger on what will be a rushed bus tour, and I have minimal influence on where we go. It'd also be hard to get away from the students, because they're my charges. At least they should all be older and more mature. I hope to God we don't get any idiots, but I don't think so. All the students I know about are responsible.

[MikeMakesMonkeys]

Fair play then - it'll be fun anyway London's a great city to visit (going back down there myself for a couple of days off later this week actually )

All the big museums are massive - you could easily do a full day in each of them.

Google the V&A though - it's across the road from the Science Museum and calls itself "The world’s greatest museum of art and design"

[TASmith]

Is there any illustration museum there?

[Crane]

There is the tate modern, always a laugh, somethimes theres even art made out of food that you're allowed to eat, best, most juicyest orange i've ever had!

[Black Spot]

If the kids want to see shops take them down the Kings Road. That should open some eyes. Harrods is always fun as not every thing is expensive, but they're next to stuff that is.

[Velocity Kendall]

Hamleys!!

[TASmith]

UPDATE

Students decided to switch the date to April. We'll be leaving Slovakia on the 13th. I updated the dates up in the first post, but I'm not quite certain about them. I think it's right.

[MikeMakesMonkeys]

I went to the V&A last week... I still don't know how to describe it. One moment you're looking at Turner paintings, the next you're in a room full of Chinese china, then you've got Raphael, some classical sculpture, some architectural models, some ironmongery, a giant rug, Spanish carvings, FUCK ME! What?! Is that Trajan's Column?! :X

Recommended

[Black Spot]

If they want shopping try Harrods (love that they have stuff under a fiver next to something that costs £3000) or even Kings Road for a bit of a laugh at how much people are prepared to pay for stuff.

April's probably better as it won't be as cold but might be a bit wet.

[TASmith]

Ah yes! I'll pack an umbrella or two.

[AvP]

If you really love dinosaurs and bones then do the Natural history. If you love sculpture and statues from around the world then the British Museum, also has some ancient arms and armour, masks and costumes. Personally the British Museum is much better in my opinion.

Do the National gallery then don't forget to pop around the side to the often forgotten National portrait gallery, its ace!

I’d skip Tussards it’s an expensive tourist trap gets crowded so tough to sketch in. I’d go for the Wallace collection, a huge amount of arms and armour from around the world with some of the rarest swords and armour in the country! On top of that it also has a great collection of paintings and artworks including those by Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Hals (The Laughing Cavalier), Velàzquez, Poussin (A Dance to the Music of Time), Canaletto, Gainsborough and Lawrence. I try and hit the Wallace whenever I am in London and never get tired of it.

http://www.wallacecollection.org/

Hope this helps?

[TASmith]

Update: So the trip's next week!

I'll be in London between Tuesday-Friday. I'm not sure which day of the schedule I'll be at the London Gallery, but I'll update tomorrow when I look at the schedule.

[Black Spot]

Damn it. I had last week off and my desk is piled high. Hope you have a great time.

[TASmith]

Damn, I'm sorry too. Here's the schedule, if you can get a bit of time off.

Friday is when we do many of the big sites in London. Starting at 7:30:

Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Whitehall, Downing St., and Oxford St.

At 9PM we leave London and head back to Paris and then Slovakia.

[AvP]

If you’re going to the National Gallery then you must go to the National Portrait Gallery as well. It’s just around the corner from the main Gallery. There is an exhibition of Lucian Freud Portraits on until May. I doubt such a group of paintings will be together for quite some time after this!

[TASmith]

I'll be leading students, I'll see if we can swing by there. They might be art'd out by then.

One question. We'll be staying at a hotel in Barking. I just google mapped it and didn't see much to do. But I did find quite a bit of riot photos. So, how safe is it to walk there at night?