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London trip-report

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pwhodges:
Brick Lane is also the place to get a curry (it's over ten years since I went there of an evening, but I doubt it's changed much).

What May said on tipping (where restaurants only means seated service).

Tate Modern - an amazing building conversion, fine collections and special exhibitions, sometimes even concerts (Nic's played there a couple of times, once playing some strange music that was written by the composer George Antheil in the 1930s as a response to a book of pictures by Max Ernst which was projected as he played - sadly the video is no longer available).

Aimless:
Thanks for the tips! :D

Our search for accommodation has been a little frustrating because we're looking for private rooms for seven consecutive nights and would also like a bathroom to ourselves. However, we think this may be the best alternative we've found so far to a regular hotel: http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/247-London-Studios/London/84154?dateFrom=2014-08-08&dateTo=2014-08-15#facilities

Decent studio apartments with kitchens/kitchenettes but I'd love some info on the location, eg. if the area is summat pleasant in its own right, if it's reasonably close to other places of interest etc. The hotels we've looked at are at least 50% more expensive, which is palatable, and the locations seem all right, but I really like the thought of being able to cook every now and then.

Thanks for the tips on places to eat and please keep 'em coming, esp. places with nice atmosphere, good places for eating unusual dishes, really really traditional dishes or with a nose-to-tail kinda theme =) I only had Duck & Waffle, Flat Iron and "a buncha curry-houses on Brick Lane". I'm hoping to have a nice long list by the time we get there! Brick Lane was one of the best places for food when we were in London many years ago, not only because the food was delicious but also because the service was great esp. in comparison to many other places.

I'm actually a little apprehensive about experiencing once again what I've since come to think of as "London service". We usually tip, but London is one of the few cities we've visited where we frequently felt like we really didn't want to because of poor service and/or surprisingly unpleasant staff. No doubt we were just unlucky but it is a little scary nonetheless :o



Tips about fun markets and the like are really great, the more the better! We'll be hitting a museum or two, and maybe some sort of concert and/or musical or play, but most of the time (weather conditions permitting *fingers crossed*) will be spent roaming around on foot.

Thrillho:
LONDON AUGUST QC MEETUP

THIS IS FUCKING HAPPENING

WHO IS IN? I AM SO IN

(If Aimless is cool with that)

Ben:
Curry houses are usually a fairly safe bet, pick one that looks ok and you probably won't be disappointed. Personally, I don't think the British have a clue about hotel-keeping generally and I usually stay in Holiday Inn or something similar that has a reasonably modern, purpose-built building with en-suite. Welcome Break (now Days Inn ) are the same sort if thing. One good thing about working for oil companies is that the expenses flow fairly freely so if in London I just let HR do the booking with Radisson or similar, or go home on the train because ECML run pretty much 24/7.

Borough Market is interesting, you will probsbly recognise the location because it is much used for "period" location filming . It also has one if the few remaining "early doors" pubs open from 0600-0900 to serve market workers. There used to be quite a few of these around the Strand area when Covent Garden and Billingsgate were working markets but they are long gone. London Bridge or Southwark tube for this one.

Barmymoo:
Service in the UK is definitely different from service in the USA in my experience. There's not quite so much attentiveness (as a result, I often felt quite irritated by how much people hovered in the US!) and maybe more delays. But the flipside is that you absolutely may choose not to tip if you don't feel that the service was good, and their response will be "huh, no tip" rather than "oh shit, how am I going to buy dinner tonight?!".

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