I am going to London in 2 weeks and would love some stuff to do that is not run of the mill any suggestions?

Question

I am going to visit family who are from London and have already done the Tower of London, Dungeons, Buckingham Palace, London eye etc.....

Answer 1

A startling gallery that is usually overlooked is The Wallace Collection, in Manchester Square just one block east of Baker Street along Oxford Street going north, ie if you are on Oxford Street at the junction with Baker Street (where the big Marks & Spencer is situated) if you walk east (towards Bond Street Station) and take the next left a very short road leads immediately into Manchester Square. The Wallace Collection is across the square at 1 oclock. It has eveything from collections of ancient weapons to The Laughing Cavalier. Few people know about it, not even the Tourist Board!

Answer 2

As someone else said, it depends on what you like to do.

What about Borough Market? You can spend a great lazy morning there shopping for delicious goodies and then have a picnic in one of London's beautiful parks.

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

http://www.royalparks.org.uk/

Kew Gardens is a great family day out:

http://www.kew.org/

London Aquarium: http://www.londonaquarium.co.uk/

Check out VisitLondon and ViewLondon for some ideas and to see what's on.

http://www.visitlondon.com/

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/

Answer 3

im not sure what you like but when i went to london what  i enjoyed most was going to camden town its basically a huge market with interesting trinkets that you probably wont see in the states its also easy to get there just take the tube ^_^

Answer 4

Would be helpful to answerers if you added a bit about yourself especially your interests, likes, dislikes.

Cheers

Answer 5

maybe you could go out of london to margate beach or canterbury in general great place to shop or  go to dover castle. or you could take a boat down the thames or visit a museum.

Answer 6

Some of my favourite, less well-known places include: The Foundling Museum  40 Brunswick Square, which celebrates the story of London's first home for abandoned children; the Cabinet War Rooms, just off Whitehall in King Charles Street - this is the underground complex of rooms in which the cabinet met during WW2 - it's absolutely fascinating; and there's the British Library, next door to St Pancras station.  But you may be surprised at how few of the major attractions your hosts will have seen - and even if they have seen them, they surely won't see every new exhibition at the major museums, will they?  For example, have they seen the Hadrian exhibition at the British Museum (have they even seen the new Great Hall)?  And have they seen the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery in the V&A which displays thousands of pieces of priceless jewels?  I lived in London for ten years in the 1960s and, despite living only a ten minute walk away from St Paul's Cathedral, I only visited it just before I moved away!  London is still my absolutely favourite city.  Johnson was right when he said that when a man is tired of London he's tired of life!

Answer 7

Greenwich is a really great village that you can get to on the DLR.  It has a beautiful park with a sweeping view of London.  Also, Hampstead Heath is lovely right now.  

Regent's Canal is also really nice for walking.

Answer 8

hampton court

marble hill house (my fav)

chiswick

dicken's house

"that big house on notting hill where they filmed sense and sensibility" Name?

the king's stone cyning stone in kingston upon thames

syon house/kew

a walk/ shopping in richmond and kingston upon thames

interesting tiny museums both  in leatherhead and kingston upon thames

museum of london

interesting tiny museum in cheam near where nonsuch palace used to be

a lengthy walk from kingston to hampton court through the deer park (entrance by the bridge across from the whitehart hotel)

windsor castle

there is a national trust house across the river from marble hill house. ferry will take you across. this is where they fimed all the river scenes in "Shakespeare in Love"

day trip to hatfield, tunbridge, hever, canterbury, southampton. there is a neat medieval merchants home in southampton.

can you tell i used to live in kingston?

i would suggest getting an english heritage book and looking for the more obscure sites.

edited to add: ditto for cabinet war rooms

a day trip to dover. the norman castle has been maintained all these years and is still functional. the caves underneath are interesting. they were used for world war 2

edited to add: i used to enjoy a day trip to lewes.  ann of cleve's home is there, castle, flowers everywhere.

pevensey, portchester (need a car), hastings/battle abbey