tell me the tourist spots I must see. I am aware of the obvious ones, but I'd really like to visit places like cemetaries or poet's homes, etc. Can you help me to begin a list? I'm going 3rd week of March during /spring break. My husband has an old friend who lives there (and turns out is now a miilionaire and will be financing our trip!!!) I'll also be 7 months pregnant.

There's this little place in Ashford, Kent. Just knock on the door any time, day or night.

Talia,

England is very tourist-friendly and almost every place of interest has maps and walking tours associated with it. At 7 months pregnant, you may not want to walk a lot, but the tours are designed for groups including elderly people so the pace is not break-neck.

In London there are Shakespeare-related tours and Dickens-themes tours and Sherlock Holmes-related tours, and racks of brochures at every train and tube station, making them easy to find.

I expect the same is true of other English cities: Wherever you arrive by train, someone will be able to direct you to a rack of literature about local points of literary interest.

If you're willing to take part in a group package tour, here's one that may be what you're looking for:

[www.backroadstouring.co.uk]

Talia,

In March, it's starting to warm up (as England considers warmth)- go to a park and watch the world go by.

pam

Cemetaries are favs of mine too.
Go see Winston Churchill's grave.

Do not walk too much. I went to London once, pregnant
(first prego)and my body stretched too much
and I had to go home, fast. It all finally went back into place---
not to worry. But avoid huge dept stores like Harods
as all the gorgeous clothes will make you feel fat.
Bring your own food cuz British food aint French.

The scones are awesome so always go to tea.

Best wishes,

Lisa

Talia, whereabouts in England will you be staying?

Stephen

South of London about 20 miles. My husband can't think of the name, but says it is right on the Thames River. (the man we are staying lives apparenlty has a boat in the back). I really want to see Syliva's grave...anyone remember where that is? I know we have discussed here before. Also would love to go to any bars (do they call them pubs?) visited by authors. Sort of like how Hemingway was a big drinker so Key West is full of his favorite spots.

Visit the lake district in northern england. It's the land of Wordsworth, Coleridge, etc. It dosn't get much better(if your into nature)! You'll see & understand their inspiration.

-Harlow

Syliva Plath's grave (photo at www.sylviaplathforum.com/27ten.html )
is in Heptonsatll, near Hebden Bridge, right up in West Yorkshire - Heptonstall is an amazing village. on the top of the hills and therefore largely abandoned when the packhorse trail gave way to river and railways, so settlements moved into the valleys. It's a very special place, ( I live quite near there) but a long haul from London. Ted Hughes house is now a literature centre, holidng residential writers courses etc , is not far from there.

If you like Kipling - his house is open to the public and is really nice. It's called Batemans and is in the Dudwell Valley in Sussex, so not far from London.

Blenheim Palace, built by the nation for the Duke of Marlborough and which has close assocaitions with Churchill ( a descendant and great admirer of Marlborough's) and Chartwell where he lived also aren't too far, if you are interested .

The Globe Theatre where Shakespeare performed has been rebuilt and is in the middle of London and well worth a visit - you can see a Shakespeare play performed as it would have been, or just do a tour round it. It has an amazing gate, but I've not been inside.

Westminster Abbey for Poets' Corner, 'though it's very crowded. If you're on the Thames- it sounds like you're uo in Berkshire- you'll be near Stoke Poges, for Gray's Elegy, near Kenneth Grahame's Wild Wood, and close to the Vicar of Bray's parish. There are whole anthologies of poetry about the Thames and London.

Highly recommended is a visit to the Poetry Library. It's on the South Bankof the Thames, Central London. Here's the site:
[www.poetrylibrary.org.uk] />

Stephen

You could also visit Oxford.

Have a great trip!!

Lisa

Talia-


It reminds me of friends who come in from overseas and say:

"I want to see the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, Disneyland, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Bourbon St., Hollywood, and Tony Packo's in Toledo (Home of the best Chili Dogs on the planet).

Granted, it's an island, and you could fit most of it in your pocket (I understand they recently had the whole thing recarpeted), Rhode Island could kick their butts in a war. But I jest. Plan well, pack a lunch. Enjoy.


Jack

a cliché but ...

Please write and tell me about London,
I live for the day when I step off the boat-train and feel its dirty sidewalks under my feet.

I want to walk up Berkeley Square and down Wimpole Street and stand in St. Paul's where John Donne preached and sit on the step Elizabeth sat on when she refused to enter the Tower, and like that.

A newspaper man I know, who was stationed in London during the war, says tourists go to England with preconceived notions, so they always find exactly what they go looking for.

I told him I'd go looking for the England of English literature, and he said:
"Then it's there."

( from 84 Charing Cross Road )
.................
I have been to England only twice. I hope you enjoy it a lot !
It is lovely indead.

The St Paul's Cathedral Donne preached in burned down in 1666.ilza wrote:

stand in St. Paul's where John Donne preached

1666? Well, they've had plenty of time to fix it then !

Probably too early for the plays at the Globe- my memory is that productions start in May. A good theatre museum is there, though.

pam

Ilza,

Have you read any of the other Hanff books? There are two or three more about 84 and her visiting London.

pam

Just be prepared- pubs are full of smokers.

pam

Pubs are a good place for inexpensive lunches, though. Noisy and crowded, yes. A LOT of suds are sucked down at lunchtime. Forget about 221-B Baker St. though. Mrs Hudson was nowhere to be found.

I'm suprised. I thought England was at least as liberal as New York and would have banned that by now.

Hugh-

He took her to Sussex to help with the bees.


Jack

And there is a movie:

[freespace.virgin.net]

Check before you set off for the Poetry Library!

"The Poetry Library will be closed to visits from the public from 1st April 2005, as part of the renovation project of the Royal Festival Hall. The Poetry Library will return to its home on Level 5 of The Royal Festival Hall in January 2007."

You would probably enjoy a visit to either Oxford or Cambridge.

You can see the works of AE Housman and AA Milne on display in the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge and, at the Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester, a small museum about Rupert Brooke. You could travel there by punt, but it's upstream from Cambridge and quite hard work!

and say hello to Syd Barrett too !

I bought Apple of my eye - but I don't know where I placed it !
but I read The Duchess of Bloosmbury Street
but that is all

Re "pubs visited by authors":

I'd be willing to bet that the bartender (publican) and the regulars at any English pub will be happy to tell you about famous people who've imbibed there.

In my experience, they'd also be very happy to invent some! Circular blue tourist plaques are more reliable - just keep an eye out for them in your travels, you can pick up a lot of interesting historical and literary titbits that way.



Post Edited (01-11-05 02:55)

Also in Cambridge, "The Fitzwilliam Museum has re-opened to the public following the completion of a major building development. Visitors will be able to enjoy the enhanced facilities and new galleries created by the enclosure of an unused internal courtyard. The £12 million Courtyard Development has made the Museum more accessible, with refurbished galleries and redisplayed collections."

However, there are any number of interesting sights and important museums to visit in London. You can't see them all, so make your choice carefully. Entry to most museums is now free.

The London Eye is very popular. You may need to book ahead but you can do that from home over the Internet. There are day tickets for travel on the Underground railway. Look at the Transport for London website for full details.

Hampden Court Palace is very impressive, with tours led by guides in period dress. You can also have lunch there.

I think I'd recommend a trip on the River Thames to Greenwich, at the other side of London. Return by Dockland Light Railway on the front seat if possible. You can visit the Cutty Sark and have lunch at the National Maritime Museum. This includes the Queens House built by James I. At the top of the hill is the Greenwich Observatory where you can stand astride the Greenwich Meridian.

and you can probably get a t-shirt that says "having a Mean Time in Greenwich"

Thank you guys so much for all of your help. My head is reeling.

Talia-

That's common in the second trimester. Sit down. Put your feet up. Have a smoke and a pint.


Jack

Now stop...I'm trying to avoid all of that. I'm having an ultra-sound toady...anyone want to know what I'm having? (Hopefully a baby).

Just hope its only one. A friend of mine was going to have a baby and then later a fibroid removed, until she was eight months gone and the midwife felt too many head and bums. The scan showed twins, one had hidden from all the previous scans. So she ended up with five boys under the age of six. The twins were one last try for a girl after three boys.

This is my second and I know its only one...but that would be a nice excuse for all the weight I've gained.

Was one of the twins a girl, Linda - or were two boys playing hide and seek with the scanner?

Two boys were playing hide and seek. Their sense of fun continued into toddlerhood. Lego was something to drop into the toilet 'cos it made a nice plop. Eggs were things that broke in an interesting way when dropped on the porch floor (the milkman delivered their eggs)

I'm glad I stopped at three (and the youngest leaves school this summer, so light at the end of the tunnel)

Think again, Linda.

It still may be an oncoming train.