A day in London

donkeymusic

donkeymusic

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Carlo
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Morning,

Next week i am accompanying my wife to a meeting in London, givnig me the full day to roam around with the camera, cant wait to be hoenst, normally i take the camera and feel like i am holding up our sightseeing shopping trips so this time, i am FREE.

Anyway, i was looking at booking a tour bus so that i hop on and off at different landmarks, however i wasnt quite expecting them to cost £24, i could use the tube but with the bus you are taken to the landmark and no messing.

Can anyone recommend a a good tour bus for London?

thanks
 
The tour buses are the best ways of seeing the major sights quickly, and have the advantage of allowing you to hop on and hop off.

The other regular buses aren't really cut out for it, and end up going to a lot of places you won't want to see. The heritage routes, 9 (Kensington to Aldwych) and 15 (Tower Hill to Trafalgar Square), are perhaps the better ones as they travel through some of the more prominent tourist sites and are the old classic Routemaster buses. However, they obviously don't come with a running commentary so you'll have to know what you're looking at and where you are.

The tour companies are much of a muchness. I've never noticed any real difference between the Big London Bus company or City Tours. Don't forget that you can get a great many deals when you travel to London by train (have a look at National Rail's 2 for 1 website) and often when you combine attractions on one ticket. I particularly recommend the London Duck tour - it's a tad expensive, but a unique experience to drive around London and then float down the Thames!

Hope that helps.
 
wow thanks for the quick and informative replay i will look into your suggestions.

Still not sure which areas i want to cover, but with a day of freedom want to try and get as much in as possible without getting comfy in the Nags head in Covent Garden and havng no photos to show for my day.
 
Most are the the same. they all operate a "hop on /off" ticket.
You do not need to book. You just jump on at any point.
so depending on where you will be ,might mean you have to buy a travel card ticket to get to one of the pic up points.
 
donkeymusic said:
wow thanks for the quick and informative replay i will look into your suggestions.

Still not sure which areas i want to cover, but with a day of freedom want to try and get as much in as possible without getting comfy in the Nags head in Covent Garden and havng no photos to show for my day.
Click to expand...

You do know the "Nag " has a reputation .....:lol:
 
denial......



!!!

well other than badly kept beer and poor food .It is known as a "pic up" place for men of a certain life style.
 
what is great at the moment is the huge "Elephant " display around london. fantastic painted Elephants at good locations.
I was photographing them last sunday and it was so good to see the way kids reacted to the different designs


do a google for more
 
London luke said:
denial......



!!!

well other than badly kept beer and poor food .It is known as a "pic up" place for men of a certain life style.
Click to expand...

Never had any issues with lager or wine in there, and the on time we ate in their it was okay and that was being compared to meals in The Ivy.

Now a pick up place, was never aware of that but will be checking that next week, oh not to pick up just to see if that appears to be happening.
 
London luke said:
what is great at the moment is the huge "Elephant " display around london. fantastic painted Elephants at good locations.
I was photographing them last sunday and it was so good to see the way kids reacted to the different designs


do a google for more
Click to expand...

cool, thanks for that idea, just had a look and hope to find some of them around
 
Hi. I work in central London, there are loads of places to visit, but if you just have a day, you'll have to pick a couple of areas to concentrate on otherwise you'll spend most of your time on public transport! At busy times you can just be sitting on a bus going absolutely nowhere. Quicker to get to one place and do some walking. It depends on what your interests are, but for instance:

Royal Courts of Justice
Lincolns Inn

South Bank
Eye
Tate Modern
St Pauls

Covent Garden
Trafalgar Square
Parliament

just as an example. The elephant parade (download the route map) is a temporary curiosity worth investigating. I've shot loads just on my journey into work.

For getting around, either buy a travel card or get an oyster card. You have to buy your ticket before getting on a bus now, so having an oyster card loaded with a few quid will save your pfaffing around for loose change and missing the bus! Have a look at the Transport for London website for details of how to get around.

The Punch and Judy at Covent Garden has a roof terrace overlooking the piazza, may be 'nicer' than the Nag.

Have fun.
 
Back to the question!

What about following the river?
e.g. boat from Westminster to Greenwich/Thames Barrier and or walking along the South Bank with detours across the 'wibbly wobbly' to St. Paul's and the City or into Tate Modern - lots of sighs and opportunities for candid people!

Enjoy - I live here and don't spend enough time on the doorstep,
 
An awful lot of the London landmarks are very close together - it's known as the square mile for good reason. Travelcard to get you in the right vicinity by tube then Shanks' pony. There's far more than you'll be able to get to in a day.
 
Personally I love the southbank. Usually we cross the river by Charing Cross and walk down to London Bridge/Borough Market.

Plenty to see and photograph.
 
Byker28i said:
Personally I love the southbank. Usually we cross the river by Charing Cross and walk down to London Bridge/Borough Market.

Plenty to see and photograph.
Click to expand...

Most of Borough Market is a bit of a building site, with lots of it out of use. There's Southwark Cathedral and Shakespeare's Globe on the route to the Tate Modern, though. Its a good walk down to City Hall and Tower Bridge.
I think the OP needs to choose which bits to fit in during a day!
 
Whilst the tour buses are good, you may end up feeling a bit rushed if you were to try and stop and do everything! I'd pick the places you really want to go, and plan to spend a nice bit of time at each.... Slow down, take it all in and enjoy - you'll get loads more that way. After 15 years of visiting / working in London, there's still lots I want to see.

As others have mentioned, walking from place to place is really nice too!
 
Photo Plod said:
I particularly recommend the London Duck tour - it's a tad expensive, but a unique experience to drive around London and then float down the Thames!
Click to expand...
Seconded! It's not superideal for photography but huge fun and the guide we had put a lot of effort into it.

Also highly recommend the South Bank walk.. I live in the St. Katharine Docks and do it almost daily (cross Tower Bridge.. City Hall.. Hay's Galleria.. Golden Hinde.. Borough Market.. Tate Moden.. Millenium Bridge.. St. Paul's.) - maybe you don't get all of London into one day but you can take your time.
 
onomatopoeia said:
An awful lot of the London landmarks are very close together - it's known as the square mile for good reason.
Click to expand...

Being Pedantic Plod, the "Square Mile" particularly refers to the City of London. While there's plenty to see in the City (St Paul's Cathedral, Bank of England, Smithfield Market, etc), I find the better attractions are elsewhere - though St Paul's is a bit of a must.

That said, if architecture is your thing, there are few better places than the City, and it houses some of the oldest and most unique buildings in London, and it really is all very close together.

One of my favourite things to do are the organised walks arranged over at http://www.walks.com - they take in some fantastic sights, sometimes little-known even to Londoners (hence I enjoy them too!), and are very reasonably priced. Their Jack the Ripper walk remains the original and best.
 
Had my freedom in London on Wednesday, had great weather and opted to walk everywhere, feet were exhausted yesterday. However manahged to take loads of photos from Parlimet to Millenium Wheel to Buckingham Palace capturing the Elephant exhibition where possible.

Managed to hundreds of shots which i hope to go through today and fingers crossed a couple of keepers.

The one i did struggle with and noticed when importing the photos was the bright light, after a few early shots i decided to add an ND filter to try and help with the sunlight but at times a lot of the shots look as if they have a transaprent white layer added if that makes sense and wasnt sure how do get around this. Any ideas how i can get around this for future days out in the sun?

Will post the keepers at some point today.

Cheers
 
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