I've been to London 4 times - most of those were only for short visits but I have seen different stuff each time. It really depends on what you are interested in personally.
You could: visit all of the galleries. National Gallery, Tate, Tate Modern etc. Concentrate on just one artist rather than trying to see everything.
British Museum - just to geek out over the Rosetta Stone (and to hang your head in shame when viewing the Elgin Marbles)
Science Museum - just to see the Difference Engine
Go see a show - but only if you're into that sort of thing
Go on one of the "walks". Great way to see part of a city you'd never see otherwise.
Catch a Hop on Hop Off Bus. Sit at the top. Seriously. Best way to "see" a city.
Avoid most of the tourist sites.
Catch a train from Paddington to Windsor and spend a day at Legoland (perhaps the best Legoland)
Shopping. But not really, as you can get most stuff online. There is something rather neat, however, about going into a store in *London* and buying something you've wanted for ages.
That experience with the Elgin Marbles is the one I get with most of the exhibits at the British Museum - it's like the evil house of British imperialist thievery. To be fair, they should be shipping back all the Greek treasures to Greece and the Egyptian ones to Egypt, and the only reason they don't is because they're worried their museum will be less cool without all that stuff. (As if they couldn't fill a museum with cool British stuff - Viking stuff, Roman stuff, medieval stuff, etc.)
I don't entirely get that -- though I appreciate that my belief is far from trendy/acceptable in these times.
From what I see, Greece's government of the day let Elgin take that stuff. Probably a good thing, too, at the time, given the ballyhoo the place has been through since. I remain unconvinced that if they had remained in place, they would have survived to this day in their present condition.
It's nice to have the warm buzz from saying, let's give it all back, but sometimes there's no 100% right answer. You'll also find that the British Museum is bound, by law, not to give these things back.
I'll second the National Gallery, but I take the philistine approach: rush the the whole place in a couple of hours and just take in the awesomeness of it. Pause when you see something particularly appealing. You can try the same with the Loouvre when you're in Paris, except that even rushing, the Louvre will take a full day.
wow. tough question. Really.
I've been to London 4 times - most of those were only for short visits but I have seen different stuff each time. It really depends on what you are interested in personally.
You could: visit all of the galleries. National Gallery, Tate, Tate Modern etc. Concentrate on just one artist rather than trying to see everything.
British Museum - just to geek out over the Rosetta Stone (and to hang your head in shame when viewing the Elgin Marbles)
Science Museum - just to see the Difference Engine
Go see a show - but only if you're into that sort of thing
Go on one of the "walks". Great way to see part of a city you'd never see otherwise.
Catch a Hop on Hop Off Bus. Sit at the top. Seriously. Best way to "see" a city.
Avoid most of the tourist sites.
Catch a train from Paddington to Windsor and spend a day at Legoland (perhaps the best Legoland)
Shopping. But not really, as you can get most stuff online. There is something rather neat, however, about going into a store in *London* and buying something you've wanted for ages.
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From what I see, Greece's government of the day let Elgin take that stuff. Probably a good thing, too, at the time, given the ballyhoo the place has been through since. I remain unconvinced that if they had remained in place, they would have survived to this day in their present condition.
It's nice to have the warm buzz from saying, let's give it all back, but sometimes there's no 100% right answer. You'll also find that the British Museum is bound, by law, not to give these things back.
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I feel a little odd that I've been there twice and still haven't bothered to go look at the Mona Lisa.
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