something to do in London

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[maritiem]

Hi all

Does someone know if there is anything in London which has to do with ships, like a museum or something?


maritiem

[mvsmith]

The Royal Maritime Museum in Greenwich, near the site of the original Greenwich Observatory.
You can take a launch down the Thames. As I recall, it leaves from Victoria Embankment.
Be warned, it can be a rough ride—I got seasick.

[TerryRussell]

Ho Ho....

Yes, there are loads of pleasure cruises. The one you mean, Marty, is opposite the London Eye. From the Eye, just cross over the bridge and turn left. Can't miss it.

There are a number of other services, though.
http://www.thamesclippers.com/

London is full of museums. Houses of Parliament,... 

The Victoria and Albert will have a lot of Nautical stuff from Victorian days.

I'm in London (known as "the Smoke") on Friday. If I have time, I'll collect up some tourist brochures and let you know some places to go for maritime things.

[mvsmith]

Hi Terry,
Things have changed a tad since ’69.
The old observatory/museum is worth visiting. They have a certain mantel clock I have always coveted.
Regards,
Marty

[TerryRussell]

This is England, Sir! Nothing has changed since 1769.

"We are now landing at London Heathrow. You will need to re-set your watches. Please put them back by 300 years."

Do you mean the Old Greenwich Observatory? If so, most of the stuff got moved to Herstmonceaux_Castle.

[maritiem]

The Royal Maritime Museum in Greenwich, near the site of the original Greenwich Observatory.
You can take a launch down the Thames. As I recall, it leaves from Victoria Embankment.
Be warned, it can be a rough ride—I got seasick.

thanks for the tip. I looked it up at google and the royal maritime museum looks great! I think that I will go take a look at there.

maritiem

[maritiem]

but do you know how many kilometres it is from my hotel to national maritime museum?

My hotel adress:  419-437 Hackney Road
London, E2 8PP, United Kingdom   

National maritime museum: National Maritime Museum
Romney Road, Greenwich
London SE10 9NF

maritiem

           

[mvsmith]

Do you mean the Old Greenwich Observatory? If so, most of the stuff got moved to Herstmonceaux_Castle.

I know operations were moved there long ago. Have they also moved the museum—including Harrison’s tick-tocks?
Don’t tell me they ripped up and moved the brass meridian; that could account for the discrepancies in the GPS!
Regards,
Marty

[jim.smith]

Have a look over HMS Belfast.

[CaptainMike1]

10.8 kilometers by road, but have a look at the Belafast on the way as Jim says, on the way back stop at St Katherine's Dock by Tower Bridge, well worth a visit.

[maritiem]

Have a look over HMS Belfast.

Thans for the tip! Is the ship always docked there? I'm going to London 20th may untill 24th may.


maritiem

[CaptainMike1]

Thans for the tip! Is the ship always docked there? I'm going to London 20th may untill 24th may.


maritiem

The Belfast doesn't move, except about every 10 years when they tow her away for a dry dock

[dodweb]

The Belfast is a must-see, but it is a rather large ship with only a few unaccessible areas so plan some time there (I think we spent 4-5 hours last time and that was pretty much running through it).

http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk/



If you want something out of the ordinary, I'd recommend a Duck Tour: http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/
They offer a nice and somewhat atypical tour of London with good humor and interesting trivia... in a slightly different "tour" vehicle. Book some time in advance tho, it was usually quite full the times I was there.

[TerryRussell]

A couple of years ago, my wife and I went on an evening "Ghost tour" around the back streets of London, near Southampton Row. Many of my family roots are in that area (the terms "Bedford", "Southampton", "Tavistock" have special relevance to us, and many of the streets in that area are named after them, as well as "Russell".

Anyway, as we went around, we first of all stumbled on a film shoot in progress. All Victorian dress and people using mobile phones off-set. Very surreal.

Then we went to an area where the guide described how one of the Lords of England had been executed for trying to depose the King. It was said the he would appear to his descendants. My wife stared at me expectantly. He didn't appear, though (he was my many-times great grandfather. I guess the old boy was having a snooze or something).

We had a great time on that tour.

http://www.london-ghost-tour.com/

[llamalord]

I plan to visit all the scenes in London that were used in the filming of the 2005 series Doctor Who!

Then again you could have anticipated that from me couldn't you.

[TerryRussell]

I was in the Smoke today. Went in by train to Victoria Station. Hopped in a taxi. Went past Buckingham Palace. There is a tour around it, these days, if you want to see how the obscenely rich can live. Actually, it is reckoned to be a good experience.

Then went up Park Lane to Marble Arch. Oxford Street starts there (or ends, depending on your point of view). That has trillions of shops. My wife has dragged me into every single one of them several times over since she moved here from the USA.

Went up Edgeware Road and into ChapelStreet to see a client. They have a very tall glass building (14 floors). At the bottom is a life-size bronze statue of a window cleaner, with his ladder over one shoulder. He is staring up at the top of the buidling with his jaw flapping in amazement. Truly funny!

After seeing the client, we went onto the underground. That's the world's oldest system, I think. We crossed from this west side of London over to the east side, near the Tower of London. There are tours within that, so you can see the Crown Jewels etc. Tower Bridge (with the roadway that opens to allow ships past) is nearby (see photos above).

Not too far away is the London Dungeons. There you can spend a gruesome hour or two, marvelling at the inhumanity of people to each other.

Just a tiny taste of some things you can do.

[Sam]

London has a pretty good public transport system, so normally it shouldn't take to long to get to the museum.

Last year I went by bike from the Tower bridge to the maritime museum so it isn't verry far away.

But, I was a little disappointed from the maritime museum, not verry interesting.


What I did like a lot in london was the RAF museum, it is a 30 min ride but it is well worth it.

[maritiem]

London has a pretty good public transport system, so normally it shouldn't take to long to get to the museum.

Last year I went by bike from the Tower bridge to the maritime museum so it isn't verry far away.

But, I was a little disappointed from the maritime museum, not verry interesting.


What I did like a lot in london was the RAF museum, it is a 30 min ride but it is well worth it.

I saw there was a bridge simulator in the national maritime museum? true or false?


maritiem

[CaptainMike1]

I saw there was a bridge simulator in the national maritime museum? true or false?


maritiem

There are several sims there, it is a GREAT Museum Maritiem, you could spend days there, don't take too much notice of what SAM says, hhe obviously prefers planes!

[TerryRussell]

Of course, in the Science Museum (South Kensington, Lodon) for many years they had "Railway Level Crossing Simulator". I'm not sure if it is still there, though.

[CaptainMike1]

They used to have an amazing selection of models that you 'press the button to start' but I guess they have all gone now, that was about 50 years ago!!

[TerryRussell]

And the ones with handles that you turned?

Some of them are still there, and working. All of the others are stored downstairs, somewhere. Many are being lovingly restored by a small team of true craftsmen.

Do you remember the golden ball in the middle of the big round tabletop? (As you tried to touch it, the ball would drop below the surface. It was a simple proximity detector system, but of course, for the day, it was amazing).

They still have a huge number of very accurate scale model ships on display, of course. Well worth a visit.

[CaptainMike1]

Yes, it was always a magic museum, always thought the V&A and the Natural History Museum were very boring by comparison!

[TerryRussell]

I used to cycle up from Walton-on-Thames and spend a Saturday in the Science Museum. But by about 3 p.m.m I would generally walk through the connecting corridor on Floor 2 (I think) and go into the Natural History Museum to wander through the dinosaur bones. Over the years I picked up an interest in some of the geology as well.

But the aircraft and rocketry sections in the Science Museum were always my favourites. My Dad and Grandad were both in teh aircraft business, and my Grandad had worked on one of the planes on display when it was being originally built. He helped with the reconstruction for the Science Museum.

[CaptainMike1]

We were out of bike range, used to go by train from Portsmouth Harbour with my Dad which was always an alarming start as I was parked in a carriage in the middle of the train and then he would get out again and walk up to the front to say hello to the driver, not that he new them!! I was always worried that he would not get back on the train again before it moved. After that it was all OK including lunch at Joe Lyons !!

Happy days