In message <[log in to unmask]>, Andrew Schriber 
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Seeking suggestions from the 3000 list brain trust.
>
>I will be in London June 30th - July 7th, accompanying my daughter who 
>will be dancing at Leed's Castle on the Fourth.   We will have some 
>free time, every day (besides the Fourth).

It is vitally important to know that Leeds Castle is in Kent, and is 
about 42 miles Southeast of London.

Do not confuse it (or let anyone confuse you) with Leeds in Yorkshire, 
which is about 200 miles Northwest of London, and nice enough, but not 
the place you need to be :-)

>What is a must see and what should we avoid?

I would suggest that you take a 'Big Bus' tour - about $40 per head:

http://www.bigbus.co.uk/?AID=10294285&PID=2044157

This tours round all the major sights, and for those you want to stop 
and look at, you just hop off the bus and hop on the next one along when 
you are done.

Choose from the Red or Blue tours. There is more on the Blue tours, if 
you have the time.

Don't worry that the stop at Big Ben/The Houses of Parliament is 
temporarily out of use. These sights are just across the road from 
Westminster Abbey, which is still on the itinerary there.

Fit in the river trip if you can. We like this so much that we spent 
part of Xmas Day on one, having Xmas dinner served as we travelled - 
though obviously that's a seasonal thing :-)

You must take a trip on the London Eye:

http://www.londoneye.com/

You can of course put together your own itinerary and get round London 
by public transport rather cheaper than that - about $2 per journey if 
you get an Oyster card (see below) - but you have to figure a lot of it 
out for yourselves. So the Big Bus is still a good deal.

The London Underground (the Tube) is very easy to navigate, but you 
don't of course seen where you're going, which is the advantage of 
buses. London buses are very good, but you need to figure out which bus 
number goes where.

Either way, as soon as you get here, invest in an Oyster card for each 
member of your party (£3 each, plus you place some money on them for use 
as fares).

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/2732.aspx

Then you just swipe these in Tube stations or on buses - saves buying 
tickets each time, and costs half to two-thirds of the regular fare. 
Also, if you make a lot of journeys in one day, the cost is capped at 
whatever an all-day ticket would have cost you. It's a win-win 
situation. And you can add more money to them in any shop displaying the 
Oyster sign, not just at stations.

Nothing I'd especially say to avoid, except perhaps for those places in 
Soho that are obviously not very family-friendly anyway :-)

For shopping, London prices aren't all that different from US ones, 
except when they are dearer. Electrical goods generally aren't all that 
compatible anyway.

Your daughter (depending on her age - you didn't specify) might like Top 
Shop, which specialises in near-copies of the latest fashion items, but 
at High Street prices.

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?sto
reId=12556&catalogId=19551

Also good for clothes is our iconic Marks & Spencer; stores everywhere, 
but the big one is at the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street:

http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/node/n/42966030/?extid=ps_ggl_P4PBrand_
marks_and_spencer

I spend most of my days in things from their Blue Harbour smart casual 
range for men, while my wife loves their Per Una range. (Slightly to 
M&S' surprise, this range designed for the younger customer is flying 
off the rails to everyone who wants to look stylish - and Twiggy 
(remember Twiggy?) - as she is today is one of M&S key models.

All the big shops are in Oxford Street. Some of it is a bit tatty, and 
there are touristy shops, but all the serious shops are there too.

Me, I like shopping in the King's Road Chelsea, but you have to see 
Oxford Street first.

>What used/antique book stores are worth a visit?

One of the nice things about London is that although it is so big, all 
the shops of a certain sort tend to cluster together. So the place you 
want is the Charing Cross Road:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_Road

If you have a specialism, ask in just about any shop there, and they'll 
be pleased to tell you which of their fellow shopkeepers has that 
specialism too. There's a good spirit of camaraderie there.

(The entry talks about Diagon Alley, from the Harry Potter books, being 
here. Though personally, I think J K Rowling got the idea from Gee's 
Court, off Oxford Street, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gaps between two 
buildings scarcely big enough for two people to walk into side by side, 
which opens out into St Christopher's Place, a pedestrian haven of very 
exclusive shops. If you are in Oxford Street, see if you can find it :-) 
)

http://www.stchristophersplace.com/maps.html

>On Sunday (July 1st), we are free after Lunch.  We would like to go 
>somewhere or to some event to meet Londoners as opposed to a tourist 
>destination.

Tough - Londoners tend to go to destinations, and do things when they 
get there. (Where would you go to meet New Yorkers, for instance?)

But three suggestions are:

(i) in the London parks, if the weather is nice. I used to go and sit in 
St James' park, and I would often get talking to people there.

(ii) at street markets - but the ones where people go to shop, not the 
tourist traps. And most are morning things, over by lunchtime. But here 
is a selection:

http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/markets.htm

(iii) if you travel by bus, you tend to meet more Londoners, as most 
tourists go by tube.

Happy Travelling!

Roy

-- 
Roy Brown        'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be
Kelmscott Ltd     useful, or believe to be beautiful'  William Morris

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