Comments on: Greetings From London

By: Miami limousine

Miami limousine — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:10:42 +0000

Try contiki.com, busabout.com.

By: John Moore

John Moore — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:54:48 +0000

I suspect your son will be over jet lag far sooner than you will, if my own experience provides a guide. When I was a teenager, jet lag was just not a problem. I served in Navy Air and flew all over the place, plus pulling midnight watches, etc. It never fazed me.

Last time I went to Europe (many years older) it took a week before I felt halfway decent. I fell asleep in a business meeting at the horrible hour of 8AM (heck, I’d fall asleep in one at home if it started that early.

Have a good trip. Watch out for British street crime – the rate is now much higher than almost any US city.

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:42:06 +0000

Have a good trip. The London tips you provided after your last visit were useful on my subsequent trip there in 2007.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:42:50 +0000

Have a wonderful time in England ….. I hope you get to see many places that you have never seen before – and enjoy the heat wave!! Bristol, where I was born is the home of the Clifton Suspension Bridge ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Suspension_Bridge) built or maybe I should say designed by Brunel and is a marvel to see. You can also visit the boat that Brunel built which is amazing, the “SS Great Britain” ( http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/Home.aspx“.

By: Will H.

Will H. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:44:18 +0000

My favorite restaurant in London was McDonald, at least the one I went to the most, although I did find a good steak house near Piccadilly Circus. Also, as an ardent supporter of mass transit make sure you ride the tubes.

My last trip to London 9/2005 I ended up in a Florence Nightingale Ward in St Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital with a kidney stone. It was an experience that I don’t want to repeat. A look at national health care from the inside. The ward had 20 beds all filled, no phone, no tv, the bed was flat with no adjustments. The nurses was nice and there was no paperwork, the only good things outside of the meds.

When they discharged me there was no riding in a wheelchair to the curb, they just said you can go. Since I came in an ambulance, I had no idea where I was at or even how to get out of the hospital. So I walked up to a woman that looks like she was leaving, asked if she was (yes) and could I follow her to get out of the hospital. Once on the street hailed a cab and had his take back to my hotel.

Called the travel agent, changed my flight to leave as soon a possible, got the hotel, packed and off to the airport. The kidney stone hadn’t passed but had dropped into the bladder, so no more pain but I was heading to the good old US of A as fast as I could. If I was going back to a hospital it was going to be a more modern one, in particular Overlook hospital in Summit NJ.

By: Addie

Addie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:55:13 +0000

I went to summer school in Cambridge and it was a great experience. Have your son rent a bike ASAP as it’s the best way to get around the city, but make sure it is always locked up (I’ve had friends bikes stolen).

I hope your son has a great time. Check out this wiki for more info on what to do.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cambridge_(England)

By: Franco

Franco — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:48:08 +0000

Please be careful crossing streets, we wouldn’t want you to get hit by a car approaching on the “wrong” side of the road.

By: Fred . . .

Fred . . . — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:28:53 +0000

One of my favorite stops in London is the Imperial War Museum.

By: Robert Dammers

Robert Dammers — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:57:56 +0000

Welcome to London! Telecommuting means I don’t actually go into the office much any more, but I still nominally work in London. Westminster Cathedral was a favourite place to visit on Wednesday afternoon walks when I was at university in London (Imperial). Did you read the part of the history referring to the foundations? They were very strapped for cash during the construction (the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England following Catholic Emancipation was very recent, and they had few wealthy families to provide support), and the Byzantine style design was adopted, partly, because they could re-use the foundations of the debtor’s prison that had stood there before!

I hope you have a wonderful stay with your son, and that he enjoys his summer school very much.

By: Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:46:20 +0000

Strange: until a couple of weeks ago (just finished a contract in London and am now back in Portugal)that was my stamping grounds. Would have been able to take you into the Commons etc, for I was working for a political party and thus had a pass.

Worth noting (I’m sure you know but readers may not) that Westminster Cathedral is the Catholic one. Thus built in Victorian times as prior to (1837 I think) that not legal to build Catholic churches.

Strongly recommend a walk in St James’ Park (10 minutes walk away from where those photos were taken). Innumerable spy films have the goodies (and sometimes the baddies) conversing by the duck pond there.