Best advice I can give to people visiting without anything specific in mind. Just walk along the Thames. Assuming walking is comfortable for you of course. It's mostly flat (steps here and there) so it's pretty easy going even if you're not too great on your feet for long periods. You'll find all sorts along the way and plenty of distractions and "oh I've seen that in x" moments.
If you want a quieter Thames walk, where you feel serene and surrounded by beautiful views, houses and gardens, as well as incredible historic pubs, then the north bank from Chiswick towards Westminster is great.
Yeah if I ever duel citizenship with the uk, I’ll never understand why y’all use way too much brick; because if you ever got a big earthquake like ones that happen her in the states more often… especially in my state. Those bricks will hurt you more than wood, not that i want anyone to get hurt; but that’s potentially what will happen if you did have those more often.
@@TheFonzieCommunity Spoken like a true American. Given the literal reasoning why we don't build with wood anymore and your responce is 'I'll never understand' and then give a reason as to why Americans use wood and a pro for it, ignoring the fact that the UK gets minimal earthquakes.. And when we do.. there's minimal damage. I wonder why. My advice to you for the future would be, stop thinking like an American and start thinking like a human, you might be able to understand pretty simple concepts like 'Houses made of wood burn easily, therefore, to reduce that risk and learning from past fires, we won't use wood'.
09:30 It looks fake because it is fake - it is a 1 to 1 reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre was situated about 530 feet (160m) away and some 400 feet (120m) back from the river
As someone who grew up in London, somewhere that I love taking people, and wasn’t mentioned in your tour, is Grenwich! Probably my favourite place in London, it’s a beautiful ground to wonder around in.
You are a ray of sunshine Evan. You met every negative comment with a laugh and the promise of finding something more interesting. Well done to you 👏🏴❣️
There's another youtube channel I follow who is an actual London tourist guide (J. Draper) and she did a video on this about three months ago. It was called "The Ultimate London Tour: How To See The Absolute Most In One Day" Basically, her suggested itinerary was:- St Paul's cathedral Tower of London Tower Bridge HMS Belfast Hays Galleria Borough Market Golden Hind Parliament Square (for Big Ben and that red phone box that all tourists seem to what to take a selfie with) Westminster Abbey St James' Park Buckingham Palace Trafalgar Square Chinatown Leicester Square Covent Garden You don't even need 24 hours - you can do it in about ten hours.
I'm gonna counter that Buckingham Palace is worth going to if you get there for Changing of the Guard. BUT is much more worth going to in the summertime when you can go inside into the State Rooms.
Tourists, including Evan in this. None realise that the face of the Buckingham Palace is actually the back. The nicer part faces into the Royal gardens. Where the garden parties are held each year.
Yes! It's like IRL Where's Wally, with the addition of learning something new. The 'official' blue plaques are all in London, put up by English Heritage. Other cities/regions copied English Heritage and started doing their own plaques, often blue but not always and each place has their own rules about what is/isn't worthy of a plaque. Except...all that was true until just a few months ago. Last year it was announced that the official English Heritage blue plaque scheme will be expanded out of London to the the rest of the country and submissions are going to be open to the public this summer.
I appreciated Jerina and Waltteri honesty, they weren't afraid to say how they felt. However, I do hope that overall they enjoyed their day. A great job Evan of showing off your adoptive city, even though the weather was stereotypically British!
I know the weather was crap but I think they could have made a bit more effort to appreciate what London has to offer especially with the charismatic Evan as a tour guide, and he really pulled out of all the stops .
I think they would have liked the Buckingham palace if they actually went inside, it is beautiful. You also have to be interested in the history rather than just aesthetics, but it helps if you grew up watching the royal family. I think it's easier to appreciate London if you live not too far as you can go and experience the places, exhibitions, events rather than just see the outside.
I think everyone goes to London to see it once. Most people never return. It's honestly not that great of a tourist destination unless you really like history and old stuff. And most people don't go travelling for those reasons. The architecture isn't even nice to look at. Looks like someone copy pasted the same buildings all over the place mostly.
I know that I don't know any of London's hidden gems (even as a Brit) so thank you for the heads up on the Barbican estate. I knew of the arts centre, but not about the architecture or the gardens. Please can we have more of the hidden stuff?
"Big Ben" is a nickname variously for the bell, the clock, and the tower. It's not the formal name of any of them - the formal name of the bell is "the great bell". You're spreading misinformation that Big Ben is only the bell.
As an almost fifty year old from the UK, who has only ever lived in the UK. Throughout my life almost every person from the UK I have ever encountered has called the whole thing Big Ben. It may not be technically right but it is what is colloquially known as.
if you told most people in the UK you’ve visited the Elizabeth tower they’d have no idea what you were taking about so what’s the point of being pedantic when no one understands you. Language changes over time and I’d rather use it to communicate clearly than confuse people ……
I haven't watched the video yet, but it is amazing how much you can see in a short time. A friend came over from Spain for a long weekend a few years ago. He had never been before, so I booked a trip on the London Eye, a river trip, and a tourist bus trip. As a result, we saw virtually every major attraction in about 12 hours. The next day, I took him walking from the Houses of Parliament to Covent Garden via Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. He may not have been inside any of the attractions, but I made sure that he had a good idea of what London had to offer.
I think this is certainly a good way of at least seeing the basics on a short trip and then you can work out what you want to see in detail. In Glasgow I found the bus really useful for then knowing how far apart different things actually were (or weren't), which wasn't as noticeable on any sort of map.
The wood on the Globe Theatre isn't *all* that old. It's a reconstruction of the theatre that was around in Shakespeare's day. Construction started in the early 1990s.
Yes, however, according to our Globe tour guide some years ago, the oak posts, beams, et cetera were growing during Shakespeare's life. They were just saplings at the time but their lifetime overlapped, however little, with Shakespeare's.
The Royal mews which are located just down the street from Buckingham palace were a highlight from my visit to London, and better than the palace 😂 love me some horses and carriages!!
I'm Basque currently living in Edinburgh, and I've visited London hundreds of times, I love it. Around 5-6 years ago we happened to find Neal's Yard by accident, we had a glass of wine and we ventured to try a pizza slice at Homeslice... what an absolute joy. It quickly became our go-to spot for a quick bite or even dinner! And a couple of years later, we were walking towards Neil's Yard, and we spotter the 7 dials Market! I just want to say that I'm glad you share the same joy for this little spots, and that now I feel more "Londoner" than just a visitor every time I'm there thanks to your endorsement by validating my fav spots hahaha Cheers Evan!
I have been to all of the places you got to. But then I was born there and spent 30 years, on and off, wandering around. Sometimes in the rain. The Royal Persons didn't like Buck Place, so don't bother. Somerset House could replace it. Lots of stuff there; the courtyard used to be a car park for the tax authorities. They have been evicted.
The fact that you didn't go into even one museum made me FURIOUS. But I love London's museums, it's my favourite thing about living here. Edit: Okay, so, I definitely think a tier list of London's museums would be epic. Here are the ones I think are unmissable: The Natural History Museum V&A The Science Museum Tate Britain Tate Modern The John Soane Museum The Hunterian Museum (for goths) The Wellcome Collection National Maritime Museum Charlton House Museum of London Docklands Tower of London The British Library Cutty Sark Visitors Center The Design Museum Down House
There's a lot you could do but I wonder if you should? A lot of American tourists seem to treat travel as a checklist to be ticked off rather than an experience to be enjoyed. Now I want to move to Finland if their houses look like Buckingham Palace
I met an American a couple of weeks ago who did Istanbul in a few hours - so agree that many tourists just want to 'checklist the sights' and do not really engage with the culture/history.
That's such a good point! Is it better to get a selfie at 12 different places, or really visit three? Cramming everything in doesn't let you explore and find the beautiful moments... but on the other hand if you go to just three places and two of them are disappointing, you've missed out on a bunch of opportunities! Buckingham Palace is only worth it for a small minority of people tbh. It's not a beautiful palace, but if you're a history nut or really love architecture, you'll appreciate it. St James Park is lovely though, walk through the park, see the birds, glance at the palace on your way!
@@BellePullman The best experience I've had is just living in a place for a short time. I find most touristy things boring anyway, I've lived in London my whole life and never seen Buckingham Palace, or most museums, going to the equivalent places in Rome or Paris aren't going to interest me even though you're "supposed" to see them
@@sie4431 Unlike you I enjoy architecture, museums and churches, however I am like you in that I find the best way to enjoy a different country is 'to live there'. Even if you can only holiday for a couple of weeks I find it more interesting to just 'be there and people watch' than go chasing 'sights'.
I was curious to see how you'd achieve showing them London in a day. Sightseeing London isn't as fun as expereicing London but within 24 hours you don't have time to actually do the things you see, so I think you did a great job, especially with the wet weather potentially dampening the day !
My favourites for visitors were: Columbia Road flower Market. Italian breakfast fom a wee cafe near there. A wander along the embankment. Highgate cemetery. Kensington Gardens. China town for a meal at Lee Ho Fooks( closed).Probably lots I've forgotten since the 90's. You did well.
Have you explored Walthamstow yet? The breweries, god's own junkyard, walthamstow village (eat17), Lloyd park, william morris museum, and the gorgeous rows of Warner housing. Oh and of course the Wetlands. If you havent been I'd highly recommend exploring the whole area :) and you could make a video about it
Jerina and Waltteri were in line with Queen Elizabeth II, she just called it the office preferring Windsor Castle. King Charles III also lives further along the Mail, but they do fly the Royal Slandered at both place's. When he is in the City of Westminster. To be honest fist and chips are a U.K. thing. A London thing is Pie and Mash. Which you could have got just south of Tower Bridge at M. Manze Tower Bridge Road.
I would love a "visiting London for a weekend", where it is more chill paced but still interesting things, perhaps with focus on local craftsmen or what is is called when you produce different kinds of "art" like pottery, sculptures and paintings
I suspect that the amount of brick in London acts as a cultural reminder of the clay that it is built on. I draw parallels with the way Aberdeen is of and on Granite, Edinburg is of and On White Limestone and Jerusalem is of and on yellow sandstone.
If the length of time you look at something isn't overly important and neither is the distance you view it from, the best way to see as much of London as possible in as short a time as possible is to get a flight that lands at City Airport. About half of this just reminded me of various commutes I've had at various jobs around central London.
Spend the day at Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square especially if you've got kids with you. Ok so you won't see much of "London,"but you'll have a lovely relaxing time,picnic on the grass😢,the kids can run about and play, there's The Lightroom and The Canal Museum is a short walk away,and over the bridge Camley st nature reserve. Just chill out and relax and save "seeing the sights" for when you've got several days.
I went to London earlier this year I arrived at around 10pm on a friday and left 9pm on the sunday so pm had 2 days in the city and below is a list of all the most famous or significant places that i saw and visited: The Emirates Stadium Tottenham Stadium Kings Cross Station Westminster Houses of Parliament Elizabeth tower Eye of London And all the stuff in that general area which is loads Buckingham Palace The china town London Olympic stadium Tower of London Tower Bridge The shard Stamford Bridge Craven Cottage Natural history museum Science Museum The british museum And probably more I dont remember (Yes I am a bit of a football fan) Edit: Apparently i walked 45 kms in the 2 days
Hi 👋 Evan have you ever been to the South of London? There some amazing parks there and river walks. Try Richmond Park and Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common amazing places to walk and the south of the Thames from Putney. Also the place for the Ocbridge and Cambridge yearly boat race.🎉
I've been doing a lot of this recently with family who are visiting us from abroad. We literally went up to Sky Garden yesterday - you can book but they also allow walk-ins, so we just showed up and they let us straight in. A short queue-shuffle inside to get through the security bit, but only took 5 minutes or so before we got up there!
My trips to london always involved queuing at the tkts place in leicester square as soon as it opened for cheap theatre tickets, then you could go to china town too, there is the m&m store there which is a little silly and over capitalistic but its something to do. Im not even sure if the tkts place is till there now. There also used to be a little independent cinema near there so thats nice, its not necessarily massively touristy things to do but nice things to do as a brit spending times in london i think.
decimate verb To kill one man chosen by lot out of every ten in a legion or other military group. To reduce anything by one in ten, or ten percent. To exact a tithe, or tax of 10 percent. A specific Roman military practice of punishment (an army punishing its own soldiers), and only in this specific context (not a general-purpose "reduce by 10%"). The practice was that if a unit had exhibited cowardice or insubordination, one-tenth of the unit would be chosen at random, and clubbed to death by the other nine-tenths. You can read a five-page description of decimation in this book. Anyway, this sense carries over from Latin, and is attested in English since at least 1600.
A friend of mine lived in India for a decade or so, and said the best Indian food by far is to be had... outside of India. You just don't get many high quality ingredients in India, and hygiene is typically precarious.
Only other thing I probably would have changed is the borough market for lunch which admittedly in the rain you are quite limited on somewhere to sit. I am glad you included barbican through, also one of my favourite places and I lived around the corner for nearly 2 years without realising what it actually was.
I've yet to visit the Sky Garden to indulge in my own Guy de Maupassant behaviour. but it's on my To Do list. For context, the short story writer Guy de Maupassant, a staunch opponent of la Tour d'Eiffel, famously said “inside the restaurant (in the base of the Eiffel Tower) was one of the few places where I could sit and not actually see the Tower!” As I think the Walkie Talkie is an eyesore, the Sky Garden should provide great views of London without seeing the eyesore. Perhaps I'll tick that off my list in September., when next we visit London.
Short answer, NO! God knows I tried! First time 40 years ago. You should pick beforhand want you really want to see and then look into if it's even possible to make it in one day!. Never underestimate the traffic in London!
We had ten days in London so we spent 7 of them doing all kinds of stuff but then 3 we did themed days. One day was a music theme so we went around doing all things music I started out the day early (so as to annoy as few commuters as possible) visiting Abbey road and since it has a live feed I paid for someone's tea and they screenshot my journey across and back and they emailed them to me. It was great fun. They thought it was so funny they had me do the same. Then I found and set up my own whole London underground punk, queen Beatles etc touristy day and had the biggest blast ever. It was amazing. One of us was really into museums so we had one free museum day and we hit as many free museums as possible that we hadn't been to yet. Theme days are a blast. You should challenge yourself to one and see what you can find that you haven't seen before
I used to walk from work at the south side of Tower bridge to Leicester square to catch the night bus all the time when I lived in London. No wonder I was in such a good shape back then, lol.
Well done Evan, you covered a lot of ground in all senses. I think you should train to be a blue badge guide ... it would make for some great content and afterwards you could offer a guided tour for TH-cam nobility 😀👍
Yer Buckingham Palace is overrated unless you take the internal tour. Although not in London, Windsor Castle is much better. It's less busy tourist-wise, and you can go inside the grounds and see the Guards and the Changing of the Guard right up close, which you can't do at Buckingham Palace.
Aww this video made me want to visit London again. I went in October for five days and my favourite areas were probably Seven Dials, Covent Garden, and Kings Road. Sadly i did not go to see the Barbican, which looks cool.
9:52 you should have taken them to the foundations of the Rose under the globe. 5 minutes to see, but genuine foundations of the theatre before the globe. Burnt down originally. (Of course!). Really enjoy your content. Canadian expat. Been here 13 years. Do this whiplash tour with friends and family a lot! X
I don't think the clock is Great Tom. The name seems to have been used for many bells such as at Christ Church Oxford, Lincoln Cathedral and St Paul's. Also for Big Ben's predecessor at Westminster. Why always 'Tom' ? Dunno - maybe onomatapoeic ? TOMMMMMMM !
Should visit St Dunstan's In the East near the Tower of London, it is an oasis of calm in the heart of the city! Just a park with a ruined church but so nice to sit in for a rest whilst walking around London!
Evan, even after all the time you've spent in the UK, you still don't understand the full English Breakfast. It's not supposed to be prepared by a chef, but by an untrained cook, and not made from the best ingredients, but from whatever was cheap at the wholesaler, and it is imperative that it's obvious from the grease and mysterious black bits on the egg that no care went into its preparation. It's not served with a nice coffee with a leaf artistically sculpted in the foam, but with either a a mug of stewed tea or instant coffee. If you were showing friends New York, would you take them to a restaurant for a hot dog, or to a street vendor?
What does bug me a little is the museums being free for tourists. Everywhere I’ve been abroad, the tourist pays for museum entry. That would be a good source of income to fund the arts, sciences etc. just a nominal fee
If you're in Chiswick you're better off going to Richmond Park, Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens than going to Central London IMHO. As a Zone 3 boy, Zone 1 is overrated.
I'd suggest going on a hop on hop off London bus tour, it has a commentary and goes to all the major sites... I think it's a great way to see any city in a short amount of time. I once was in Boston MA for just a day on a rainy Sunday & took a tour... yes it was very touristy, but it gave me an idea of the place, and meant I made sure to go back on another trip stateside. Another suggestion would be to take a trip on the river, either to Kew or to Greenwich - a completely different perspective of the city..
Best advice I can give to people visiting without anything specific in mind. Just walk along the Thames. Assuming walking is comfortable for you of course. It's mostly flat (steps here and there) so it's pretty easy going even if you're not too great on your feet for long periods. You'll find all sorts along the way and plenty of distractions and "oh I've seen that in x" moments.
Yes, and there's a "Thames path" directly alongside much of it, often on both sides of the river. Look up where the Thames path goes.
If you start in the west, it tends to go down hill too.
A walk along Regents Canal is also a good option as is strolling through and around Greenwich.
I enjoy a walk along the south bank
If you want a quieter Thames walk, where you feel serene and surrounded by beautiful views, houses and gardens, as well as incredible historic pubs, then the north bank from Chiswick towards Westminster is great.
Everything is bricks following the Great Fire of London in 1666 - they weren't allowed to build with wood after that!
And are made from the naturally occuring clay and silt available in London and throughout the Thames Estuary region
Yeah if I ever duel citizenship with the uk, I’ll never understand why y’all use way too much brick; because if you ever got a big earthquake like ones that happen her in the states more often… especially in my state. Those bricks will hurt you more than wood, not that i want anyone to get hurt; but that’s potentially what will happen if you did have those more often.
@@TheFonzieCommunity the UK isn't seismically active though. We aren't anywhere near a subduction zone that would cause that.
@@TheFonzieCommunity Spoken like a true American.
Given the literal reasoning why we don't build with wood anymore and your responce is 'I'll never understand' and then give a reason as to why Americans use wood and a pro for it, ignoring the fact that the UK gets minimal earthquakes.. And when we do.. there's minimal damage.
I wonder why.
My advice to you for the future would be, stop thinking like an American and start thinking like a human, you might be able to understand pretty simple concepts like 'Houses made of wood burn easily, therefore, to reduce that risk and learning from past fires, we won't use wood'.
09:30 It looks fake because it is fake - it is a 1 to 1 reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre was situated about 530 feet (160m) away and some 400 feet (120m) back from the river
As someone who grew up in London, somewhere that I love taking people, and wasn’t mentioned in your tour, is Grenwich! Probably my favourite place in London, it’s a beautiful ground to wonder around in.
You are a ray of sunshine Evan. You met every negative comment with a laugh and the promise of finding something more interesting. Well done to you 👏🏴❣️
There's another youtube channel I follow who is an actual London tourist guide (J. Draper) and she did a video on this about three months ago. It was called "The Ultimate London Tour: How To See The Absolute Most In One Day"
Basically, her suggested itinerary was:-
St Paul's cathedral
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
HMS Belfast
Hays Galleria
Borough Market
Golden Hind
Parliament Square (for Big Ben and that red phone box that all tourists seem to what to take a selfie with)
Westminster Abbey
St James' Park
Buckingham Palace
Trafalgar Square
Chinatown
Leicester Square
Covent Garden
You don't even need 24 hours - you can do it in about ten hours.
Thanks for posting this. I follow J Draper too, and you are right.
The fact it's pissing it down is just 👌🏼for that London aesthetic you chose the best day 🇬🇧🇺🇸
I'm gonna counter that Buckingham Palace is worth going to if you get there for Changing of the Guard. BUT is much more worth going to in the summertime when you can go inside into the State Rooms.
Tourists, including Evan in this. None realise that the face of the Buckingham Palace is actually the back. The nicer part faces into the Royal gardens. Where the garden parties are held each year.
I think many go for the guards in funny hats - there are better & less crowded places to see them.
The Royal Family also don't like Buckingham Palace, they much prefer Windsor Castle or Sandringham.
@@bugaboo-bricksdidn't they prefer that one in Scotland
the blue plaques are a national thing. i always miss them when i do touristy stuff abroad
Yes! It's like IRL Where's Wally, with the addition of learning something new. The 'official' blue plaques are all in London, put up by English Heritage. Other cities/regions copied English Heritage and started doing their own plaques, often blue but not always and each place has their own rules about what is/isn't worthy of a plaque. Except...all that was true until just a few months ago. Last year it was announced that the official English Heritage blue plaque scheme will be expanded out of London to the the rest of the country and submissions are going to be open to the public this summer.
We have blue plaques on places of historical significance in Australia too - I stopped to read one this week
I appreciated Jerina and Waltteri honesty, they weren't afraid to say how they felt. However, I do hope that overall they enjoyed their day. A great job Evan of showing off your adoptive city, even though the weather was stereotypically British!
I know the weather was crap but I think they could have made a bit more effort to appreciate what London has to offer especially with the charismatic Evan as a tour guide, and he really pulled out of all the stops .
I think they would have liked the Buckingham palace if they actually went inside, it is beautiful. You also have to be interested in the history rather than just aesthetics, but it helps if you grew up watching the royal family. I think it's easier to appreciate London if you live not too far as you can go and experience the places, exhibitions, events rather than just see the outside.
I think everyone goes to London to see it once. Most people never return. It's honestly not that great of a tourist destination unless you really like history and old stuff. And most people don't go travelling for those reasons. The architecture isn't even nice to look at. Looks like someone copy pasted the same buildings all over the place mostly.
I know that I don't know any of London's hidden gems (even as a Brit) so thank you for the heads up on the Barbican estate. I knew of the arts centre, but not about the architecture or the gardens. Please can we have more of the hidden stuff?
So. They DIDN'T get to see BIG BEN because , as you now know Evan, BIG BEN is the BELL inside the ELIZABETH TOWER !
You are technically correct. Which is the best kind of correct.
"Big Ben" is a nickname variously for the bell, the clock, and the tower. It's not the formal name of any of them - the formal name of the bell is "the great bell". You're spreading misinformation that Big Ben is only the bell.
As an almost fifty year old from the UK, who has only ever lived in the UK. Throughout my life almost every person from the UK I have ever encountered has called the whole thing Big Ben. It may not be technically right but it is what is colloquially known as.
@@lynnejamieson2063It's not technically wrong either. "Big Ben" is simply not a technical term. Using informal terminology is not wrong in any way.
if you told most people in the UK you’ve visited the Elizabeth tower they’d have no idea what you were taking about so what’s the point of being pedantic when no one understands you. Language changes over time and I’d rather use it to communicate clearly than confuse people ……
I haven't watched the video yet, but it is amazing how much you can see in a short time. A friend came over from Spain for a long weekend a few years ago. He had never been before, so I booked a trip on the London Eye, a river trip, and a tourist bus trip. As a result, we saw virtually every major attraction in about 12 hours. The next day, I took him walking from the Houses of Parliament to Covent Garden via Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. He may not have been inside any of the attractions, but I made sure that he had a good idea of what London had to offer.
I think this is certainly a good way of at least seeing the basics on a short trip and then you can work out what you want to see in detail. In Glasgow I found the bus really useful for then knowing how far apart different things actually were (or weren't), which wasn't as noticeable on any sort of map.
It looks like you three had a great time ❤ It was evident that quirky humour was a shared trait and I enjoyed watching the bantering you included 😊
The wood on the Globe Theatre isn't *all* that old. It's a reconstruction of the theatre that was around in Shakespeare's day. Construction started in the early 1990s.
The driving force behind getting it built was an American,Sam Wanamaker, a true inspiration, without whom this amazing place might not be here .
Yes, however, according to our Globe tour guide some years ago, the oak posts, beams, et cetera were growing during Shakespeare's life. They were just saplings at the time but their lifetime overlapped, however little, with Shakespeare's.
The Barbican estate was awesome! Exactly my aesthetic.
"looks like a regular house" damn I'm moving to Finland if that's what the houses are like 😅
My fav tour to take friends was Stonehenge, Woodhenge (look it up), Bath, and Avebury. Makes a nice day
The Royal mews which are located just down the street from Buckingham palace were a highlight from my visit to London, and better than the palace 😂 love me some horses and carriages!!
I'm Basque currently living in Edinburgh, and I've visited London hundreds of times, I love it.
Around 5-6 years ago we happened to find Neal's Yard by accident, we had a glass of wine and we ventured to try a pizza slice at Homeslice... what an absolute joy. It quickly became our go-to spot for a quick bite or even dinner!
And a couple of years later, we were walking towards Neil's Yard, and we spotter the 7 dials Market!
I just want to say that I'm glad you share the same joy for this little spots, and that now I feel more "Londoner" than just a visitor every time I'm there thanks to your endorsement by validating my fav spots hahaha
Cheers Evan!
9:19 Very astute tourists. The Globe is entirely fake - a 1990s reproduction of the original theatre in a similar position in London.
I have been to all of the places you got to. But then I was born there and spent 30 years, on and off, wandering around. Sometimes in the rain.
The Royal Persons didn't like Buck Place, so don't bother.
Somerset House could replace it. Lots of stuff there; the courtyard used to be a car park for the tax authorities. They have been evicted.
The fact that you didn't go into even one museum made me FURIOUS. But I love London's museums, it's my favourite thing about living here.
Edit: Okay, so, I definitely think a tier list of London's museums would be epic. Here are the ones I think are unmissable:
The Natural History Museum
V&A
The Science Museum
Tate Britain
Tate Modern
The John Soane Museum
The Hunterian Museum (for goths)
The Wellcome Collection
National Maritime Museum
Charlton House
Museum of London Docklands
Tower of London
The British Library
Cutty Sark Visitors Center
The Design Museum
Down House
Time constraint.
This is super useful, as I'm coming to London this weekend!
To me, the "Walkie Talkie" looks like an electric shaver.
That's the Strata SE1 at Elephant & Castle surely?
There's a lot you could do but I wonder if you should? A lot of American tourists seem to treat travel as a checklist to be ticked off rather than an experience to be enjoyed.
Now I want to move to Finland if their houses look like Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace is pretty boring, it's actual function is as a central London base and offices.
I met an American a couple of weeks ago who did Istanbul in a few hours - so agree that many tourists just want to 'checklist the sights' and do not really engage with the culture/history.
That's such a good point! Is it better to get a selfie at 12 different places, or really visit three? Cramming everything in doesn't let you explore and find the beautiful moments... but on the other hand if you go to just three places and two of them are disappointing, you've missed out on a bunch of opportunities!
Buckingham Palace is only worth it for a small minority of people tbh. It's not a beautiful palace, but if you're a history nut or really love architecture, you'll appreciate it. St James Park is lovely though, walk through the park, see the birds, glance at the palace on your way!
@@BellePullman The best experience I've had is just living in a place for a short time. I find most touristy things boring anyway, I've lived in London my whole life and never seen Buckingham Palace, or most museums, going to the equivalent places in Rome or Paris aren't going to interest me even though you're "supposed" to see them
@@sie4431 Unlike you I enjoy architecture, museums and churches, however I am like you in that I find the best way to enjoy a different country is 'to live there'. Even if you can only holiday for a couple of weeks I find it more interesting to just 'be there and people watch' than go chasing 'sights'.
As soon as you mentioned you went to Forbidden Planet I became 10x more excited lmao love that shop
Always go there when I go to London.
1:42 have you ever been to a village? Chiswick is about as far from village vibes as you can get 🤣
I love these types of videos. I hit pause and mark locations on my Google maps as I watch.
When it is open to the public I'd recommend a tour of Buckingham Palace.
I was curious to see how you'd achieve showing them London in a day. Sightseeing London isn't as fun as expereicing London but within 24 hours you don't have time to actually do the things you see, so I think you did a great job, especially with the wet weather potentially dampening the day !
My favourites for visitors were: Columbia Road flower Market. Italian breakfast fom a wee cafe near there. A wander along the embankment. Highgate cemetery. Kensington Gardens. China town for a meal at Lee Ho Fooks( closed).Probably lots I've forgotten since the 90's. You did well.
Theoretically, one can walk from North Ockendon to Heathrow T5 in only a matter of 14 hours without doing anything pointless, like stopping.
Have you explored Walthamstow yet? The breweries, god's own junkyard, walthamstow village (eat17), Lloyd park, william morris museum, and the gorgeous rows of Warner housing. Oh and of course the Wetlands. If you havent been I'd highly recommend exploring the whole area :) and you could make a video about it
I went to college across from the Barbican and have also worked close by but I've never heard about the Conservatory there. I must visit sometime
Got back from London less than a week ago. Now I wish I saw that conservatory!
As an Indian who lives in UK now, to be honest Dishoom is pretty good actually.
Jerina and Waltteri were in line with Queen Elizabeth II, she just called it the office preferring Windsor Castle. King Charles III also lives further along the Mail, but they do fly the Royal Slandered at both place's. When he is in the City of Westminster. To be honest fist and chips are a U.K. thing. A London thing is Pie and Mash. Which you could have got just south of Tower Bridge at M. Manze Tower Bridge Road.
Didn't they prefer Balmoral
I would love a "visiting London for a weekend", where it is more chill paced but still interesting things, perhaps with focus on local craftsmen or what is is called when you produce different kinds of "art" like pottery, sculptures and paintings
It made me laugh when they said there weren’t any pubs there when you were stood just outside of a pub I used to work at in hays galleria lol
I suspect that the amount of brick in London acts as a cultural reminder of the clay that it is built on. I draw parallels with the way Aberdeen is of and on Granite, Edinburg is of and On White Limestone and Jerusalem is of and on yellow sandstone.
Finnish cities seem to be mostly made of concrete though not in the style of the Barbican.
If the length of time you look at something isn't overly important and neither is the distance you view it from, the best way to see as much of London as possible in as short a time as possible is to get a flight that lands at City Airport. About half of this just reminded me of various commutes I've had at various jobs around central London.
This was such an atmospheric video!!
Really liked your tour!
Not Big Ben's deadname 😂
Hahaaa, they were really underwhelmed. 😁
The Globe is a reconstruction built in 1997. It is not the original one, so the wood cannot be that old.
I'm planning travelling to London by the end of the summer, so this was really nice to get a feel of what to see!
Spend the day at Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square especially if you've got kids with you. Ok so you won't see much of "London,"but you'll have a lovely relaxing time,picnic on the grass😢,the kids can run about and play, there's The Lightroom and The Canal Museum is a short walk away,and over the bridge Camley st nature reserve. Just chill out and relax and save "seeing the sights" for when you've got several days.
I went to London earlier this year I arrived at around 10pm on a friday and left 9pm on the sunday so pm had 2 days in the city and below is a list of all the most famous or significant places that i saw and visited:
The Emirates Stadium
Tottenham Stadium
Kings Cross Station
Westminster
Houses of Parliament
Elizabeth tower
Eye of London
And all the stuff in that general area which is loads
Buckingham Palace
The china town
London Olympic stadium
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
The shard
Stamford Bridge
Craven Cottage
Natural history museum
Science Museum
The british museum
And probably more I dont remember
(Yes I am a bit of a football fan)
Edit: Apparently i walked 45 kms in the 2 days
Hi 👋 Evan have you ever been to the South of London? There some amazing parks there and river walks. Try Richmond Park and Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common amazing places to walk and the south of the Thames from Putney. Also the place for the Ocbridge and Cambridge yearly boat race.🎉
I've been doing a lot of this recently with family who are visiting us from abroad. We literally went up to Sky Garden yesterday - you can book but they also allow walk-ins, so we just showed up and they let us straight in. A short queue-shuffle inside to get through the security bit, but only took 5 minutes or so before we got up there!
There are a few city farms dotted about, including one in Vauxhall and one in Wimbledon.
And one near Evan's flat, on the Isle of Dogs, at Mudchute.
every time you upload, i love you the same amount
My trips to london always involved queuing at the tkts place in leicester square as soon as it opened for cheap theatre tickets, then you could go to china town too, there is the m&m store there which is a little silly and over capitalistic but its something to do. Im not even sure if the tkts place is till there now. There also used to be a little independent cinema near there so thats nice, its not necessarily massively touristy things to do but nice things to do as a brit spending times in london i think.
This was such a fun video!! nice to see seven dials market! i don't go there very often!
As a Finn I'd recommend if you go to Chiswick, London go to Fuller's Brewery.
I didn't know about the hidden Barbican conservatory, thanks! Great video as always
Thanks for this! We're in London for a day and a half before a cruise in July.
decimate
verb
To kill one man chosen by lot out of every ten in a legion or other military group.
To reduce anything by one in ten, or ten percent.
To exact a tithe, or tax of 10 percent.
A specific Roman military practice of punishment (an army punishing its own soldiers), and only in this specific context (not a general-purpose "reduce by 10%"). The practice was that if a unit had exhibited cowardice or insubordination, one-tenth of the unit would be chosen at random, and clubbed to death by the other nine-tenths. You can read a five-page description of decimation in this book. Anyway, this sense carries over from Latin, and is attested in English since at least 1600.
A friend of mine lived in India for a decade or so, and said the best Indian food by far is to be had... outside of India. You just don't get many high quality ingredients in India, and hygiene is typically precarious.
You could do a day of the different parks, Regents, Richmond etc. Or a little more out there, the older Cinema buildings and Theatres.
I agree with them about Dishoom, even without living in Goa for 2 months.
Probably see everything in London in about 9 minutes with a plane, glide suit and a parachute
Only other thing I probably would have changed is the borough market for lunch which admittedly in the rain you are quite limited on somewhere to sit. I am glad you included barbican through, also one of my favourite places and I lived around the corner for nearly 2 years without realising what it actually was.
I've yet to visit the Sky Garden to indulge in my own Guy de Maupassant behaviour. but it's on my To Do list. For context, the short story writer Guy de Maupassant, a staunch opponent of la Tour d'Eiffel, famously said “inside the restaurant (in the base of the Eiffel Tower) was one of the few places where I could sit and not actually see the Tower!” As I think the Walkie Talkie is an eyesore, the Sky Garden should provide great views of London without seeing the eyesore. Perhaps I'll tick that off my list in September., when next we visit London.
Did they get to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace cause that’s pretty cool
It's bloody boring
Then again I was "lucky" enough to be one of the school children invited to sit to watch it inside the gates aged 9.
Barbican has appeared on my to visit list next time, thanks.
Short answer, NO! God knows I tried! First time 40 years ago.
You should pick beforhand want you really want to see and then look into if it's even possible to make it in one day!. Never underestimate the traffic in London!
Would love to see more tour ideas! Will get there one day!
Wow, Evan, I was sure my traveling days were past, but all that talk about free museums has started me wondering... thank you!
Thanks for this. Now am home sick.
Barbican I've never heard of - Will have to check it out
Really 😮
We had ten days in London so we spent 7 of them doing all kinds of stuff but then 3 we did themed days. One day was a music theme so we went around doing all things music I started out the day early (so as to annoy as few commuters as possible) visiting Abbey road and since it has a live feed I paid for someone's tea and they screenshot my journey across and back and they emailed them to me. It was great fun. They thought it was so funny they had me do the same. Then I found and set up my own whole London underground punk, queen Beatles etc touristy day and had the biggest blast ever. It was amazing. One of us was really into museums so we had one free museum day and we hit as many free museums as possible that we hadn't been to yet. Theme days are a blast. You should challenge yourself to one and see what you can find that you haven't seen before
Reminds me of when I did a self-planned architecture tour in Vienna. It's a great idea!
I used to walk from work at the south side of Tower bridge to Leicester square to catch the night bus all the time when I lived in London. No wonder I was in such a good shape back then, lol.
Well done Evan, you covered a lot of ground in all senses. I think you should train to be a blue badge guide ... it would make for some great content and afterwards you could offer a guided tour for TH-cam nobility 😀👍
Yer Buckingham Palace is overrated unless you take the internal tour. Although not in London, Windsor Castle is much better. It's less busy tourist-wise, and you can go inside the grounds and see the Guards and the Changing of the Guard right up close, which you can't do at Buckingham Palace.
Aww this video made me want to visit London again. I went in October for five days and my favourite areas were probably Seven Dials, Covent Garden, and Kings Road. Sadly i did not go to see the Barbican, which looks cool.
9:52 you should have taken them to the foundations of the Rose under the globe. 5 minutes to see, but genuine foundations of the theatre before the globe. Burnt down originally. (Of course!). Really enjoy your content. Canadian expat. Been here 13 years. Do this whiplash tour with friends and family a lot! X
Elisabeth Tower used to St Georges Tower, the clock is Great Tom and the bell is Big Ben...
I don't think the clock is Great Tom. The name seems to have been used for many bells such as at Christ Church Oxford, Lincoln Cathedral and St Paul's. Also for Big Ben's predecessor at Westminster.
Why always 'Tom' ? Dunno - maybe onomatapoeic ? TOMMMMMMM !
This is kinda handy. I'm going to be visiting in a couple of weeks so it gives me some ideas. :)
Surprised you didn't go to Oxford Circus / Bond Street for the shops (or Disney store).
Should visit St Dunstan's In the East near the Tower of London, it is an oasis of calm in the heart of the city! Just a park with a ruined church but so nice to sit in for a rest whilst walking around London!
Tough crowd! Sheesh!! 🙄
Should have taken them into the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. Temporary exhibitions of Royal Collection treasures. £19 for 1 year pass.
love the editing ♥
Time your visit to Buckingham Palace to coincide with the changing of the guard.
I'd have spent the whole day at Greenwich. Iconic place for being the world 0° ❤❤
It takes a lot to get an emotional response from a Finnish person!
My absolute favorite thing to do in London is to spend hours in Kew Gardens, it's really something. I have to go back soon.
Forbidden Planet was a sci-fi bookshop when I used to go 45 years ago!
For bricks go visit the London Mithraeum.
"Why did you pick this hotel?" "Because the chairs matched my dress!"
My main takeaway from this is that they had 3 paid sit down meals. That’s a lot of food and expensive if standard holiday habits.
Evan, even after all the time you've spent in the UK, you still don't understand the full English Breakfast. It's not supposed to be prepared by a chef, but by an untrained cook, and not made from the best ingredients, but from whatever was cheap at the wholesaler, and it is imperative that it's obvious from the grease and mysterious black bits on the egg that no care went into its preparation. It's not served with a nice coffee with a leaf artistically sculpted in the foam, but with either a a mug of stewed tea or instant coffee. If you were showing friends New York, would you take them to a restaurant for a hot dog, or to a street vendor?
Really!!
What does bug me a little is the museums being free for tourists. Everywhere I’ve been abroad, the tourist pays for museum entry. That would be a good source of income to fund the arts, sciences etc. just a nominal fee
there is a tunnel under the thames which is really old that you can walk through
The Barbican Conservatory wasn’t open when I went to the theatre at the start of last year and that made me sad
If you're in Chiswick you're better off going to Richmond Park, Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens than going to Central London IMHO. As a Zone 3 boy, Zone 1 is overrated.
I'd suggest going on a hop on hop off London bus tour, it has a commentary and goes to all the major sites...
I think it's a great way to see any city in a short amount of time.
I once was in Boston MA for just a day on a rainy Sunday & took a tour... yes it was very touristy, but it gave me an idea of the place, and meant I made sure to go back on another trip stateside.
Another suggestion would be to take a trip on the river, either to Kew or to Greenwich - a completely different perspective of the city..