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elusive_shadow May 14 2012, 06:29:08 UTC
Some of my favourite London things:

-South Kensington museums (V&A, Natural History and Science Museum - and that's my order of preference for visiting too!). They're all free, too (as are many art galleries and museums in London/the UK. One of the best things about the city!)
-The Proms: If you're coming after the 13th July, the Proms will have started. Worth going to just to see the Royal Albert Hall! Check the website for what's on to see if there's anything of interest. You could book in advance, but you can also get £5 tickets on the door if you don't mind queuing and standing ('promming'). Take plenty of water if you do stand, though - that pit gets HOT!
-Southbank: Just walking along London Southbank is lovely, though it might be more rammed than usual in July (Olympics don't start til the end of the month, but more tourists than usual might be over a bit before that, too). Look out for the used book stand too. (Best tube is Waterloo, or you can go to Embankment and cross the river. Start near the Royal Festival Hall and walk towards the Tate Modern, or vice versa!)
-Borough Market: Expensive, but so much amazing food. You can eat a free lunch off all the samples too ;) Better to go on Thurs/Fri than a weekend as it gets really busy!

For views over the city, you can go to Greenwich but I prefer Primrose Hill. It's right next to Regent's Park and walkable from
Camden Lock, both places also worth going!

If you like cinema, in the summer there's often a lot of outdoor screenings at a whole range of places - worth just googling 'outdoor cinema London' and seeing what comes up for when you're here! It might be a nice way of finding areas of London you might not otherwise have visited, too. There's also Secret Cinema if you're into audience participation too (I've never been, but it looks fun!).

What sort of sports are you into? If you want quintessentially English, my boyfriend got on-the-day tickets to a county cricket game at Lords last year for pretty cheap. Might be worth considering, though I do think cricket's kind of boring if you don't understand it. Mainly because I don't understand it!

Also, are you planning any day trips? If you're in London for two weeks you've definitely got time. Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton in particular are really close and quick to get to (1 hour or so, direct). Bath's also worth considering IMO.

As for drinking, agree with the person above who said Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - and it's not bad prices for London either! If you want to go out in the centre you'll probably find most clubs quite expensive so it's worth researching what's happening elsewhere, e.g not in Zone 1! Time Out London is a good place to start (in fact it's a good website for events and so on in general - not just club nights) and I can pretty much guarantee that whatever sort of place you're looking for you'll be able to find it - from hip hop karaoke to rockabilly nights to megaclubs!

Anyway let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, enjoy London!

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elusive_shadow May 14 2012, 06:44:46 UTC
Also, if one or both of you has a smartphone then definitely download a tube map
planner which will tell you the best way to get from A to B. The timings aren't always the most accurate, but seriously they're a lifesaver. I've lived in, and still work in, the city and still often use mine. It's particularly helpful during weekends, when there's often engineering work going on which means some lines, or bits of them, might not be open, or if there's a problem on one of the lines (quite common!) when it will show you alternative routes. (That said, the tube staff at stations are usually lovely and very helpful so if you get really stuck then just ask them :).)

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relumine May 14 2012, 09:10:32 UTC
Damn, you're awesome :D Thank you! I added almost everything you pointed out to our list, let's see how much we actually get to see when we're there.

Quick question on the phones: Are there any -relatively- cheap prepaid cards for mobile internet surfing around? We're from Germany and our providers charge about 80 pounds a month for roaming in the EU, so that's out of the question.

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elusive_shadow May 15 2012, 21:02:59 UTC
Glad I could be helpful!

Eek I didn't think of that. I don't really know to be perfectly honest, as I've never had to look into it! I wouldn't even know where to start :/ However a lot of places now have WiFi, so you'd be able to use the Internet there. But that's not as good as being able to use it on the go... Hmm...

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