New London Itinerary--heavy on London Walks Tours

Tracy

From your other posts, I see you are an English teacher. The Literary Pub Tour on Wednesday is a good one. The last time I was in London, I did three or four of the London Walks. Ask your guide about the walkabout discount card since you are planning on doing several. Check out Paris Walks if you haven't already.

I like it. London Walks guided walks are great, you are not taking too many. The Tate Modern is a five minute walk from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. What boat are you taking?

Is the Hoxton Hotel near Old Street tube station? If so, you may find better pubs in another neighborhood. Check out www.fancyapint.com and see all the 5 and 4 pint rated pubs around Holborn tube station, for instance.

It is a shame you have to change hotels, I understand, though. I encourage couples to split up at times. Perhaps one of you could go to Kew while the other goes to Greenwich, or one do the literary pub walk while the other does the Thames pub walk.

If you decide to go to Greenwich on Sunday, you can easily see everything on the London Walks itinerary on your own. Get an early start--the London Walks tour doesn't begin until 10:45--so you can get back to London in time to visit St Martin-in-the-Fields and the National Gallery.

I did many London Walks, and do not regret it. I enjoyed most of them, and did especially enjoy the trip to Greenwich. But, I also loved going to Kew.

I agree with above, Tate Modern is too close to take a boat... it's right there.

Honestly, your trip sounds great. You're hitting highlights, but with some depth. I'm jealous!

It sounds like a great itinerary to me! If this is your first time in London, I personally would do Westminster Abbey instead of the Tate, but I prefer history to modern art.

London Walks are awesome -- I take at least one every time I'm there, and I once did two in one day. I always have a great time and often meet really lovely people to go on with to drinks or dinner. You've reminded me to download the latest flyer and see what's on when I'm there later this year!

thanks everyone! i didn't know that the tate was THAT close to the globe (it is hard to tell distance on a map in a place you've never been!) i've added an edit there, and an edit with more info on day one--westminster abbey was one of my first 'must sees', and i had planned it into that day. we're now thinking of switching the day trip day to friday, but that doesn't really do anything to the schedule (other than delete my london walks foodie walk that i really wanted to do, but we figure it's better to miss that than to miss our trip if anything happens to our flight and we arrive much later than anticipated) we're also leaning more towards kew gardens than greenwich, and by 'we' i mean 'my husband'--i was torn, so he gets to pick. again, thanks SO much for your input!

Looks good to me. You'll get a lot done. The lounge in the Hoxton seems to be a popular local night spot, so you might not want to go searching for a pub. On the other hand, it's modern, noisy, and full of business types, etc.

I don't recall that many attractive pubs near the Hoxton, but, then, I didn't explore the neighborhood. Worse comes to worse, you can always return to a pub you enjoyed earlier.

By the way, the Hoxton is, indeed, near Old Street station. Go out the door, turn left and follow the street as it curves around left for a block or two. Don't be surprised if there's a homeless guy camped at the entrance.

Tracy

Old Street tube station is only a couple of stops on the Northern Line from London Bridge.

Before your play at the Globe you could tube down to London Bridge, visit Borough Market which is a foodie heaven, and then have lunch in the George Inn. This is the last surviving galleried inn in London.

http://www.pubs.commain_sitepub_details.php?pub_id=92#

Chaucer's pilgrims met at a pub in this road, and Charles Dickens lived just opposite.

From here it is only about a 10 minute walk to the Globe.

Cheers
Alan