Romantic things to do in london ?

plenderj

Any thoughts on some really romantic things to do in london?
Will be over there with a girl in early september... so far we're going to a museum that's showing some stuff she likes, then lunch, and then to the royal albert hall for some other sorta music she likes.

Any thoughts ?

Sarky

Find a pair of bums and make them fight for a bottle of lighter fluid.

Or go for a good Chinese dinner. Waga Mama's (sp?) is excellent.

commuterised

Originally posted by Sarky
Find a pair of bums and make them fight for a bottle of lighter fluid.

Or go for a good Chinese dinner. Waga Mama's (sp?) is excellent.

Is waggamama not Japanese?

Tazz T

A walk along embankment, if the weather's good. Mind you, I'd avoid certain parts of it at night.

plenderj

Last time we went across the bridge at the houses of parliament - the one between the houses of partliament and london's eye.
And we looked at london lit up at night. Very beautiful I must say!

The Sweeper

If you're going to see the British Museum in Bloomsbury then I'd recommend you stop at the Spaghetti House on Sicilian Avenue for lunch (great pasta, good atmosphere, have a glass of wine each and eat olives until your main course arrives), which is five minutes walk from the British Museum, then take a wander up to Russell Square Gardens and sit outside the coffee bar there and have a cappucino and watch the tiny wee fountain in the centre of the square (sort of Merrion-square-ish but a lot smaller) - again five minutes walk.

When you're done with your coffee and gazing into each others eyes there, catch a bus from Bloomsbury Way up to Oxford Street (or walk - about 15 mins from Russell Square) and offer to buy her a wee trinket from somewhere like Debenhams. (Spangly necklace from accessories concession at DBs to go with her favourite jumper: £10. Brownie points: priceless.)

Then from Oxford Street go south into Soho - just for the spectacle of it - here you can indulge in some outdoor-drinking of an evening (or some indoor drinking and some curious entertainment).

To round it off, you could look at catching a show around Shaftesbury Avenue/Leicester Square area, but tickets can be pricey.

Everything I've mentioned here is in leisurely walking distance, or a short bus hop. The worst thing I think you can do in London is decide you're going to have a go on the London eye, then a picnic in Hyde Park, then see the British Museum, then catch a show. Mainly because you're run bloody ragged by the end of it.

plenderj

Jaysus thanks for all that majd. I'll go through that tomorrow morning with a few maps and start plannin'

dahamsta

Can't really think of anything romantic, but if you're anywhere near the Tate Modern you should go and have a wander around, it's really excellent. And I hate art.

The Tower of London is a bit, uh, British, but it's quite interesting if you don't linger -- race around in an hour or so and it's quite enjoyable.

adam

dod

Aah, London in early September, go to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Wish I was there myself. Early September you'll get to see Don Giovanni by Mozart, a glorious comic opera which even non-opera fans will love. Alternatively they are also doing Madama Butterfly in September. Details here: http://www.royalopera.org

Tickets are epensive enough, the affordable ones tend to be right up the back of the gods and you need binoculars to see the stage, so if you're thinking of going, you'll need to spend some pretty decent cash. The English National Opera tends to be more affordable, but the Coliseum is closed until January for refurbishment. They are doing some good opera in the Barbican though. In September another Mozart, Cosi Fan Tutte and Massenets Thais. The benefit of the ENO is that its all in English and seats are much less expensive than the Royal Opera.

Just something a little different for you to consider.

UbahOne

Have sex in the back of a bus...wow what a romantic thing to do. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

*Im joking, dont even try to do it unless your girl is a hoe.

growler

the london eye is a good romantic adventure , especially if you get an empty pod (some chance)

and is easy to pop to the london aquarium from there

another thing you may wish to check out is a nice posh dinner , not to disparage Spagetti House but you could do a lot more to impress , have a look at www.toptable.co.uk for some ideas and prices.

you could always take her to a football game !

sceptre

Originally posted by dahamsta
Can't really think of anything romantic, but if you're anywhere near the Tate Modern you should go and have a wander around, it's really excellent. And I hate art.

As long as you don't overdo it. I took someone around the Tate and Tate Modern in one extended morning (tube trip in between). The regular Tate was enough to be honest - most people are happy looking at a few Turners for an hour. Moving on to the Tate Modern I could tell attention was beginning to wane (so was mine). Great building though.

The Tower of London is a bit, uh, British, but it's quite interesting if you don't linger -- race around in an hour or so and it's quite enjoyable.

Well-worth going for a quick looksee. Builds nicely into a "visit the tate modern and take a walk around" kind of afternoon. Take a nice leisurely walk from the Tate Modern across the wobbly bridge, have the briefest look at the outside of St Pauls, passing the Monument along the way back to the river. Then it's quite a nice short walk down to the Tower. Throw stones at the evil ravens in an attempt to topple the monarchy, skip the Crown jewels unless the queue is really short. Actually, skip it anyway - having a quick look at the Domesday Book is more exciting in any case. Tower Bridge is nearby too.

Then take the tube (Circle or District) back to Embankment. Or walk if the weather's nice - you don't get to pass anything more exciting than the Oxo building & Cleopatra's Needle but it's a nice walk. At Embankment, take the short walk (less than 100m) to Trafalgar Square. Choices are endless from here. Very convenient for a walk through Admiralty Arch down the Mall to see Buckingham Palace. Or by taking the exit to the left of the Mall off Trafalgar Sq you can toddle down Whitehall and see Downing Street. Walking past Downing Street you're in House of Parliament faux-gothic land with Westminster Abbey (nice square) just around the corner. Picadilly & Leicester Sq are quite close in the other direction. Signs to get there are crap though.

Don't even think about going to see Marble Arch. Made that mistake myself. There's nothing else there.



The more "romantic" option is probably to do the stuff just east of the City - the Tower, Tower Bridge, perhaps even take a wee boat tour, Tate Modern All within walking distance of each other. Or even take a trip down to greenwich and hop over the meridian, though the thrill of that wanes after a while.

The "see other touristy things option" is all around Trafalgar Square - Buckingham palace, Downing St, Houses of Parliament & taking the longer walk to the old tate and wondering what that unmarked heavily fortified building on Millbank is along the way (not MI5, that's the odd-looking thing on the other side on the Albert embankment)

The Sweeper

Pah - I stand by the Spaghetti House as a lunchtime venue:

http://www.spaghetti-house.co.uk/


London's a big dirty busy loud city like a lot of other big dirty busy loud cities. I've found that sequestering myself away in the less frequented areas during the day to be far preferable to elbowing the tourists out of the way to try and see the sights.

How many days you going for though? If more than one, why don't you have one calm side-road sorta day and one tourist day? If you're going for three days that's idea - a day for culture, (museums, historical dohickeys etc.) a day for the funky stuff (london eye, milennium bridge) and a day for the side streets (Soho here you come...)

dahamsta

Originally posted by sceptre
As long as you don't overdo it. I took someone around the Tate and Tate Modern in one extended morning (tube trip in between). The regular Tate was enough to be honest - most people are happy looking at a few Turners for an hour. Moving on to the Tate Modern I could tell attention was beginning to wane (so was mine). Great building though.

Very cool. Wouldn't be bothered me arse with the reg'lar Tate. Weird stuff rocks, paintings of horses do nothing for me.

adam

sceptre

Originally posted by dahamsta
Weird stuff rocks

Did they have that movie of the nude dancing guy when you were there then? Bouncy bouncy, I couldn't stop laughing.

Actually, speaking of weird, the Saatchi collection exhiibit is now based at the old GLC building next to Westminster bridge - right next to the London Eye. You can take a quick look at the MI6 "secret door" on the end of the bridge as featured in the last Bond movie on your way as well (when they go down to the tube station in the movie). Knock on the door - it really annoys the folks within as it's actually an office:D. Lots of weird stuff at the gallery. It wasn't there last time I was over but it looked pretty interesting on the beeb4 documentary I watched about it.

The Myra Hindley portrait is seriously freaky. A selection of the exhibit got evicted from a New York gallery. Plenty of normal stuff there too.

irishgeo

The london eye is very good and has a romantic side to it. Go late in the evening as its you can see london light up.

WhiteWashMan

OMFG!!


how can anyone talk about spending a few days in london and not mention going to see a show?!
you have got to get some tickets and go and see les mis, or phantom of the opera, or cats or something.
and then a moonlight storll across the thames, re-enacting the spiting scene from titanic (ok, that was just me )
there are some cool parks as well, like hyde park and st james park.
oh, and you have to go to chelsea of course, and a look at kensington wouldnt go amiss.
go and visit knightsbridge and visit some of the big stores there, all of which escape me right now, no they dont! harvey nicks!
and the other one, erm....
harrods
knew id get it

not really romantic, but its a good laugh, and lets face it, you if you are going to be huggy huggy kissy kissy all weekend, its going to be a few days to remember. you dont need to spread rose petals all the way down the kings road and ride a horse drawn carriage (although, you will get big kudos, and possibly a blow job for it)

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
you have got to get some tickets and go and see les mis, or phantom of the opera, or cats or something.

I'd agree with this, but if it was me rather than all that crap I'd just go on a filthy pub crawl, starting from Leicester Square, working through Soho, Covent Garden etc. until the two of you are utterly locked, then back to the hotel. Where you can get even more locked. That's how to see London! IMO

embee

The wagamama restaurant on South King Street in Dublin is really lovely....

But back to London.

Theres LOADS to do there. If youre having a long weekend (Friday Saturday Sunday, Fly back Monday evening) its dead simple.

Firstly, you should book a nice hotel room. From five star treatment (The Sanderson, The Hilton, Claridges, The Dorchester) to more middle of the range places, theres loads to suit. I recommend staying in any of the hotels in Sussex Gardens, W2 (paddington). Its really lovely around there, and really central too. Its just a stones throw away from Paddington station which is REALLY handy for Heathrow (you can even check your bags in there at the train station!). The tube and bus are all around you, and its near to Hyde Park.

Shopping - Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty of London, Bond Street, Sloane Square, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street..... there are LOADS of places to go

You should go to London Zoo in Regents Park too!!!

The London Eye is great too, and it is possible to book a more expensive pod where you are greeted with champagne and canapes!!!

Theatreland - In leicester Square, there are LOADS of ticket booths selling tickets for all of the big shows on in the West End.

Madame Tussauds is well worth a visit, as is the Natural History Museum, and the V&A.

Theres the obligatory sight seeing too - Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace...... (yawn)

Its also really easy to get to some really lovely towns in the Home Counties by train.... its a look at rural England (which by the way is really really lovely)

God,..... ive only gone and made myself nostalgic.....

kayos

My favourite things to do around london in romantic terms are

a) Tube out to Hamstead Heath and walk down to Camden making sure you walk up Primrose Hill as you get a view of all of London and if the weather is fine it really is lovely up there. Lets put it this way I would do this walk anytime be it with a gf or not its really nice. Once you come down from primrose hill there are a few nice pubs my personnal favorite is the Architect the food is lovely (if you manage to get a seat for dinner) and you never know who you will meet in there.

b) One time for Valentines I booked a table for lunch (on the 3rd of January it was booked out for dinner and that was the last lunch table) in J Sheekey and then a show (Les Mis) in the evening. Now I will say this I never thought I would like Les Mis as much as I did, it was wonderful. It was a great day and I would do it again in the morning.

c) Go to hamleys go to the second floor and go make her a Teddy as she likes it and put your own voice on the squeeze the paw thingy. Although these days you can do this in Dublin as well so it might not be as special....but still a good one if she likes teddys and hey you get to wander around 6 stories of toys, toys and more toys. Did I mention toys?

d) Get a take out lunch and head to Hyde park find a nice seat and watch the world go by. This is always good on a Sunday morning if your heading back early enough Sunday afternoon.

e) Dinner in Busaba on Wardorf st is a must in my books...

These is loads to do in London and you should be well able to find something to suit your tastes.