I'm going to the UK in May! Any suggestions on what to do?

[Judge]

Show them the photos of our castles! Who can say no to an awesome castle?? Cardiff actually has one right in the middle of the city centre, because Wales is cool.

Wow...look at this! Very cool...

Cardiff Castle

 

[xudo]

Wow...look at this! Very cool...

Cardiff Castle

Yeah Interesting fact about Cardiff castle: It was used as a bomb shelter during WWII.

 

[Judge]

Yeah Interesting fact about Cardiff castle: It was used as a bomb shelter during WWII.

It's a big deal to many of us Americans. After all, our history doesn't really exist further back than Jamestown. And to the contrary, so much history across the pond.

And to think the only castle I knew of in Wales was Caernarfon Castle. Only because they televised Prince Charles in 1969 when he received his royal learner's permit.

 

[xudo]

It's a big deal to many of us Americans. After all, our history doesn't really exist further back than Jamestown. And to the contrary, so much history across the pond.

And to think the only castle I knew of in Wales was Caernarfon Castle. Only because they televised Prince Charles when he received his royal learner's permit.

I honestly thought that the classic stereotype of Americans who go crazy for castles wasn't real. Until my penpal from California came to visit. She looked like she might cry when she saw Cardiff castle.

 

[Judge]

I honestly thought that the classic stereotype of Americans who go crazy for castles wasn't real. Until my penpal from California came to visit. She looked like she might cry when she saw Cardiff castle.

Oh, it's very real. A twofold dynamic to me personally. First, that we simply have no such architecture here. Second, that so many metropolises here have little sense of history, and are so prone to tearing things down and rebuilding them. We're still a very new nation in every sense in comparison. Very forward-looking, but void of much of a past. <sigh>

Making Britain and the continent utterly unique in this instance. We simply have no equivalent. Geez, I recall as a young child when we took the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia. The first time I ever actually saw European architecture. Very different from the states. But no castles to speak of. Gotta cross the pond for those.

 

[Maelstrom]

Well cue The Americans.

MR. HAMILTON: "Waddya get for living in a climate like this? Green stamps? It's terrible!"

BASIL: "Well I find it rather bracing"

SYBIL: "What do you find bracing, Basil? The damp, the drizzle, the fog?"

Of course it's not all about the weather but for visitors there seems to be some attraction and fascination about British culture.

It can be fine for a week but, well, to live here? Hmm... that said it must have something going for it else all these people wouldn't come live here.

Lived in Alaska for 5 years it was the happiest time in my life....so the rain slipped my mind. I thought you meant the people were not nice or something?
I suppose if one sees castles all the time they lose their charms...it is the same with mountains or the sea. I always wanted to live by the sea and go fishing...never got around to even doing it once in Alaska and now I feel bad about it. Life has a way of distracting you from the lovely blessings around you...always work to do classes to take....learning to stop and go enjoy the world around you is important to happiness.

 

[Ambi]

Those sound great! I'm trying not to get my hopes up about going to Wales too much, as I need to convince someone in my travel group to go with me on our day off in order to go, and I'm not having much success so far. For me to go, I would have to catch a train at 5am and then arrive back in Grantham at 11pm. Not too many people in my group want to get up that early.

It boggles my mind that you've got group members who are going to travel all the way to England, then balk at leaving by 5 am. When I travel somewhere, my attitude is that I may never get the chance again, so I try to do all I can, even if that costs some discomfort or sleep - there's time enough for sleep later when I'm back home

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

Oh it does. I am reliably informed that the Kayal is very good.

Shivallis is even better

If you don't get to Wales at least you'll be able to visit Edinburgh Castle, it in a different style to most Welsh castles but still brilliant.

 

[Aeolienne]

Go for a walk along South Bank. From Waterloo station you pick up signs to do the walk along the riverside. You'll pass the National Theatre, Tate Modern Art Gallery, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the very cool food market. You'll also see the Oxo Tower, the Shard and City Hall which we like to call the Gherkin...because it's shaped like a gherkin!

No, City Hall is shaped like a helmet. The Gherkin is the nickname for 30 St Mary Axe on the other side of the river. It's not open to the public except sometimes during Open House London Weekend, which this year takes place on 16 & 17 September.
The Gherkin, London

My no.1 tourist destination in London has to be the Cutty Sark, a restored tea-clipper moored in Greenwich. Best way to travel there is via the Docklands Light Railway - sitting in the front seat, so you can pretend you're driving the train.

Also accessible by DLR is The Crystal, a state-of-the art futuristic environmentally-friendly building next to Royal Victoria Dock. You could combine this with a ride on the UK's only urban gondola cable-car. (Although quite frankly if you want to ride on a gondola cable-car, you'd be better off heading to Matlock Bath in Derbyshire for the Heights of Abraham. But I digress...)

Still on a green theme, the best places for wildlife spotting in London are the Wetlands Centre (Barnes), Camley Street Natural Park (next to Kings Cross St Pancras and the Eurostar terminal) and Hampstead Heath (not so much a park, more a chunk of open countryside close to the heart of the city).

In my humble opinion, London does not reflect England in any way. It's a metropolis! If you get a chance to see some countryside and go to a rural pub for a roast dinner, that is a proper UK experience! Try some local ales. We are also very proud of our gins (many locally distilled) and food! British food is epic! Check out Nigella Lawson, the Hemsley sisters, and Mary Berry to get a sense of British food at its best!

Particular gastronomic hotspots outside of London are Abergavenny (Monmouthshire, Wales), Ludlow (Shropshire), Padstow (Cornwall) and much of the Cotswolds and the Lake District. Brighton is also renowned for its number of vegetarian restaurants.

If your chakras need rebalancing, the most New Agey places are Totnes in Devon and Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. Bristol held the title of European Green Capital in 2015.

Grantham's only claim to fame is as the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher (and even she rarely went back). The best places to visit whilst you're based there are Cambridge and Ely (for the university and cathedral respectively).

Leicester's supposed to have a space museum - not that I've been there yet myself. The Peak District national park is nearby, which has a lot of industrial heritage as well as the aforementioned cable car.

 

[Ambi]

Inserting a funny story.....when my friends and I were staying in Bath, the guy at the front desk of the youth hostel tricked us. He started chatting and found out how long we were staying in Bath (we had already visited the natural springs), and convinced us that we absolutely must include Chester in our travels, to miss out would be a real shame, in fact, we should even cut short our stay in Bath to get out to Chester. Gullible as we were, we took him for his word - we left early for Chester, and.............nothing. We arrived at around 5 pm, and we were hard pressed to even find a single restaurant open - everything was closed, nobody was even walking around on the street! I think this was a Sunday, the town seemed very small and quiet. So we had fish and chips for the first time at the one pub that seemed to be open, at least wherever we were walking around, realized we'd been tricked, then continued on with the rest of our planned itinerary :-D So if someone tries to convince you that you must absolutely see Chester, or some other town you have no idea about, look into it yourself first, otherwise you'll just have totally silly story to tell like that one!

 

[Maelstrom]

Inserting a funny story.....when my friends and I were staying in Bath, the guy at the front desk of the youth hostel tricked us. He started chatting and found out how long we were staying in Bath (we had already visited the natural springs), and convinced us that we absolutely must include Chester in our travels, to miss out would be a real shame, in fact, we should even cut short our stay in Bath to get out to Chester. Gullible as we were, we took him for his word - we left early for Chester, and.............nothing. We arrived at around 5 pm, and we were hard pressed to even find a single restaurant open - everything was closed, nobody was even walking around on the street! I think this was a Sunday, the town seemed very small and quiet. So we had fish and chips for the first time at the one pub that seemed to be open, at least wherever we were walking around, realized we'd been tricked, then continued on with the rest of our planned itinerary :-D So if someone tries to convince you that you must absolutely see Chester, or some other town you have no idea about, look into it yourself first, otherwise you'll just have totally silly story to tell like that one!

Why would some one do a stupid thing like that... that seems mean?

 

[Ambi]

Why would some one do a stupid thing like that... that seems mean?

Hmmm....I don't know why - I guess he just wanted to play a joke on us, maybe he didn't like us, who knows? We just laughed it off as another silly adventure on our trip (which also involved running down a mountain in search of a bus stop, getting lost in a field full of sheep, and various other unexpected things ). But........okay, please don't any Brits be offended! But in general, I did not find British people to be as helpful and friendly as typical Americans might be - we even had to leave a pub once because of the obvious hostility we received from the locals in York. So if he tricked us to be a jerk, sure, that's possible. But for the most part, people were polite. They were just as friendly as Americans after 2 pints of beer. The friendliest guy we met on our journey was a homeless Scottish man. But I also encountered enough anti-American sentiment, which of course gets annoying when you are not some kind of US diplomat, complaints about American accents, our loudness (we are inexplicably a lot louder than they are - I don't know why we half-shout when we are just talking!)....I seriously doubt you'd encounter any of that on a brief trip. I was there for a year.

Also, I think I figured something out. After some time, I just noticed the English seemed very xenophobic - they were always taking jabs at non-Brits...but then I noticed the English from the south also made fun of the English in the north, and all of the English seemed to make fun of the Scottish, the Welsh, and the Irish - and then last of all, they also made fun of themselves. So....basically, I think making fun of everyone and everything may be a national pastime there!

 

[Maelstrom]

Hmmm....I don't know why - I guess he just wanted to play a joke on us, maybe he didn't like us, who knows? We just laughed it off as another silly adventure on our trip (which also involved running down a mountain in search of a bus stop, getting lost in a field full of sheep, and various other unexpected things ). But........okay, please don't any Brits be offended! But in general, I did not find British people to be as helpful and friendly as typical Americans might be - we even had to leave a pub once because of the obvious hostility we received from the locals in York. So if he tricked us to be a jerk, sure, that's possible. But for the most part, people were polite. They were just as friendly as Americans after 2 pints of beer. The friendliest guy we met on our journey was a homeless Scottish man. But I also encountered enough anti-American sentiment, which of course gets annoying when you are not some kind of US diplomat, complaints about American accents, our loudness (we are inexplicably a lot louder than they are - I don't know why we half-shout when we are just talking!)....I seriously doubt you'd encounter any of that on a brief trip. I was there for a year.

Also, I think I figured something out. After some time, I just noticed the English seemed very xenophobic - they were always taking jabs at non-Brits...but then I noticed the English from the south also made fun of the English in the north, and all of the English seemed to make fun of the Scottish, the Welsh, and the Irish - and then last of all, they also made fun of themselves. So....basically, I think making fun of everyone and everything may be a national pastime there!

I guess we Americans are a handful sometimes...God have mercy on whom ever falls into our path.
But we do make the world considerably less boring!

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

@Aeolienne is right, Leicester's Space Museum is worth a visit if you're into that sort of thing, and the Cutty Sark is brilliant.

 

[xudo]

But in general, I did not find British people to be as helpful and friendly as typical Americans might be - we even had to leave a pub once because of the obvious hostility we received from the locals in York.

To be honest, the one thing that most people who come to the UK don't realise is that even though we're a pretty small island, no two places are the same. You'll find small towns where they all treat outsiders like they shouldn't be there, and big cities where everyone is treated like family. For such a small place, we're incredibly diverse.

After some time, I just noticed the English seemed very xenophobic - they were always taking jabs at non-Brits...

I'm so glad (no offence to anyone who's English) that you put 'English' rather than British. Many people use English and British interchangeably, but obviously, we're not all English (and will be very quick to point out if we're not). Don't get me wrong, there are totally d***heads all over Britain, not just in England.

Also you're completely right in that we all slag each other off. Wales, Scotland and Ireland all hate England. I will cheer for anyone in the rugby, if they're playing England

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

No, City Hall is shaped like a helmet. The Gherkin is the nickname for 30 St Mary Axe on the other side of the river. It's not open to the public except sometimes during Open House London Weekend, which this year takes place on 16 & 17 September.
The Gherkin, London

My no.1 tourist destination in London has to be the Cutty Sark, a restored tea-clipper moored in Greenwich. Best way to travel there is via the Docklands Light Railway - sitting in the front seat, so you can pretend you're driving the train.

Also accessible by DLR is The Crystal, a state-of-the art futuristic environmentally-friendly building next to Royal Victoria Dock. You could combine this with a ride on the UK's only urban gondola cable-car. (Although quite frankly if you want to ride on a gondola cable-car, you'd be better off heading to Matlock Bath in Derbyshire for the Heights of Abraham. But I digress...)

Still on a green theme, the best places for wildlife spotting in London are the Wetlands Centre (Barnes), Camley Street Natural Park (next to Kings Cross St Pancras and the Eurostar terminal) and Hampstead Heath (not so much a park, more a chunk of open countryside close to the heart of the city).


Particular gastronomic hotspots outside of London are Abergavenny (Monmouthshire, Wales), Ludlow (Shropshire), Padstow (Cornwall) and much of the Cotswolds and the Lake District. Brighton is also renowned for its number of vegetarian restaurants.

If your chakras need rebalancing, the most New Agey places are Totnes in Devon and Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. Bristol held the title of European Green Capital in 2015.

Grantham's only claim to fame is as the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher (and even she rarely went back). The best places to visit whilst you're based there are Cambridge and Ely (for the university and cathedral respectively).

Leicester's supposed to have a space museum - not that I've been there yet myself. The Peak District national park is nearby, which has a lot of industrial heritage as well as the aforementioned cable car.

Grantham ... Isaac newton?

 

[Lady Penelope]

I went in 2015 and fell in love with Hampstead Heath and their local Wells Pub... and another off the main st but i forget the name....
Take high tea in a fancy hotel in Mayfair and do the Monopoly tour
The Wellesley is nice atmosphere for fancy eating and Soho is a trendy area with cool market vibe.
Essential to do: a black cab ride. I didn't get the chance when i was there and it's my only regret!

 

[Ambi]

To be honest, the one thing that most people who come to the UK don't realise is that even though we're a pretty small island, no two places are the same. You'll find small towns where they all treat outsiders like they shouldn't be there, and big cities where everyone is treated like family. For such a small place, we're incredibly diverse.

I also don't want to malign York - I later met a really nice girl from there, so obviously, people vary And I don't mean the English are unfriendly - I think they seemed a bit more reserved initially, though. Like I said, 2 pints of beer caused a transformation, lol!

 

[toothless]

Show them the photos of our castles! Who can say no to an awesome castle?? Cardiff actually has one right in the middle of the city centre, because Wales is cool.

i agree,wales is my favourite country in the UK besides ireland, i dont like much of england-to much arguing over what race lives where and its all concrete mainly,the lake district should be a place anyone from outside the UK should visit if they ever come over, its an absolutely beautiful place, i also think if your an american and your budget isnt to small you should book a 3 night stay at centreparcs [i recommend centreparcs in penrith which is up north in cumbria],if you like being in a log cabin in the wilderness its the most beautiful and calming place you could be-theres often over 5000 people on site but it feels like your the only one.

in terms of london,i have never been there but i can only think of places i am going to visit at one point this year, theres the big hamleys toy store-which is three floors high and youve got arsenal football clubs ground,i guess thats something to look at-i want to see it anyway and go to their shop to get a size UK XXXL jersey with mr shadow and the number '1' printed on the back.

 

[ksheehan88]

To be honest, the one thing that most people who come to the UK don't realise is that even though we're a pretty small island, no two places are the same. You'll find small towns where they all treat outsiders like they shouldn't be there, and big cities where everyone is treated like family. For such a small place, we're incredibly diverse.



I'm so glad (no offence to anyone who's English) that you put 'English' rather than British. Many people use English and British interchangeably, but obviously, we're not all English (and will be very quick to point out if we're not). Don't get me wrong, there are totally d***heads all over Britain, not just in England.

Also you're completely right in that we all slag each other off. Wales, Scotland and Ireland all hate England. I will cheer for anyone in the rugby, if they're playing England

Bloody English...

Tbf, I dislike being referred to as British, I would much rather be referred to as English. And if you're English, you best be referring to me as Bristolian lol