Morning in London

The British Library is very close to King's Cross, the British Museum is not too far.

You can cross the street to St Pancras Station which has a shopping mall inside. There are restaurants, Marks & Spencer grocery, Starbucks, etc. You can easily spend a couple of hours there.

I agree that the British Library, not very far off, would be one good option.

I've never been to the London Canal Museum, but I am intrigued by it and hope to see it on my next visit in October. It's very close to King's Cross/St. Pancras.

If you're into that sort of thing, the special Henry VIII exhibit at the British Library is very good.

Definitely the British Library. You can spend 2 hours in their historical document display room and see Shakespeare's first folio, the Magna Carta, illuminated manuscripts, first edition books, Beatles lyrics handwritten by John and Paul... the list goes on.

Also, at Kings Cross station, you can see a "replica" of "Platform 9 3/4" from the Harry Potter movies. It's just a brick wall and archway with 9 3/4 at the top and half of a luggage cart sticking out of the wall. I didn't ever think I'd want someone to take a picture of me "pushing" it, but when you're there you get into the excitement and one thing leads to another and now I have that to add to my list of pictures I never thought I'd take (others are of me standing next to a guard on the Royal Mall, and me standing in front of the gates to Buckingham Palace practicing my royal wave). :)

Thanks everyone. These are some great suggestions and will keep me going through the jet lag. You can keep them coming as I don't leave until tomorrow and if I can find WIFI when I'm there I'll be able to check out your further suggestions. Pam

It was an easy ride in this morning on the on the Underground to King's Cross and a two minute walk to the British National Library. I can report that the Henry VIII exhibit is quite good. All sorts of official documents from Henry's reign including a scroll which listed all of his ships! Also, it was great fun to see Alice in Wonderland in Lewis Carroll's handwriting and illustration! The illuminated manuscripts are spectacular. They would make great bookcovers for textbooks on world history or world religion. Thanks for the recommendation.

BTW the National Express has free WIFI. We just left York and caught a small glimpse of the cathedral.

Pam

Local places of interest listed on the St Pancras website

http://www.stpancras.com/going-to-stpancras/local-places-of-interest/

BTW - free WiFi in all parts of the station

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/travel_information/at_the_station/wireless_internet_access/london_St_Pancras_international.jsp

Its my recollection that the British Library also has lockers for storage of your bags... I think it costs a pound coin for deposit but you get it back when you get your things.

Ah, well, didn't know about that so had the very expensive Left Luggage at King's Cross. But it was worth it. I would have fallen asleep in a cafe and likely been robbed blind. This way I got to see some really good exhibits too! (My train has progressed to north of Perth now. The Royal Scotsman was in the station when we pulled in. I checked, it's over 3,300 pounds for a four day excursion, And, if you are single, you'll ante up another 2,000 plus pounds. Makes the 8 pounds per bag look positively economical.

Pam