While you’re in the war rooms take time to read some of the letters between Churchill and Roosevel
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The Churchill War Rooms were one of the highlights of our last trip to London in 2018. We also loved the Greenwich Observatory which we had never visited on previous trips.
We will be in London in a couple of weeks and are planning to go to Bletchley Park this time as we have not been. Also going to visit the old Battersea Power Station which has been redone into shops and restaurants.
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The Greenwich observatory is great, especially the story of Harrison’s clocks. Read Longitude before visiting and you’ll appreciate it more:
https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X
You can get the river boat to Greenwich. Also it is fun to go through the Victorian foot tunnel under the Thames.
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We got last minute tix to Les Miz on our first trip to London eons ago. The seats were at the tippy top of the theater (theatre). Attendents laughed at us and kept pointing “UP!” as we searched for our seats. So hot! We hung our legs over the empty seats in front of us because otherwise you’d hit your knees. You needed stadium binoculars to see the stage. I think I was the only one who didn’t fall asleep–the music was mesmerizing and I loved every minute.
We went to a play every night and kept paying for better and better seats as we went along. Well worth it!
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I read Longitude when it first came out and really enjoyed it. Will have to get myself to Greenwich one of these days!
My daughter and I stayed at the Premier Inn London Southwark (Bankside) a few years ago when she was doing an art program in that neighborhood. The hotel itself is very basic, but it is attached to a pub where Shakespeare supposedly wrote some of his plays (about two minutes from the Globe). The hotel breakfast is served in the pub every morning, and it was a fun place to stay, although I doubt it’s what the OP is looking for. In that same neighborhood, I do strongly recommend a visit to Borough Market. Later in that same trip, we stayed across the river at the Cheval Three Quays, an apartment hotel that overlooks the Tower of London and London Bridge. Really spectacular if someone wants to stay in that part of the city - we enjoyed visiting the Tower and also enjoyed watching the bridge open and close from our living room window. In a more central location, we stayed last year at a pub hotel called The Mitre in Greenwich and really enjoyed it. It’s close to the Cutty Sark, the Greenwich Observatory (lots of fun) and many restaurants, including some overlooking the Thames. Of course, there are lots of great places to stay in London and that is not really what the OP is asking here, but we haven’t found London to be the easiest place to get around, either by tube or taxi - it takes time, so we tend to pick an area and organize our trips fairly locally. One way to see a lot in one go would be a Thames river cruise. I agree with those who have recommended the Churchill War Rooms.
I think that sounds charming! We don’t mind basic hotels (you should have seen our room in Yokohama, there was three feet on one side of the bed and a counter. Suitcases ended up under the bed.) However, in the end since it was only a few days we ended up deciding to splurge and stay where my parents used to stay when we passed through London, or took R&R. We’ll be staying with my son and the Hadrian’s Wall portion of the trip is not to pricey either.
The pub itself is just a two minute walk from the Globe, facing the Thames, so you might want to take a look if you are in the neighborhood. It’s just a pub, but a pub with history! We also visited Hadrian’s Wall a few years ago - my son is a history buff. It was pouring rain that day, but my husband and my son insisted that just added to the atmosphere. I was not too sure myself.
We’re going to spend 10 days walking the wall. I’m prepared for cold and miserable weather, but I’m really hoping we get lucky!
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Post and let us know about your walk. Doing that trail has been on my bucket list and I’ve love to hear a first-hand account.
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Will do!
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