10 Places to see/Things to do in London in 1 Week

There are many interesting places to see and things to do in London.  My personal rule is when you have only limited time to visit a place, then you have to prioritize what you really, really want to see and do.

When I started listing down my London wish list, I think I had more than 20 items on my original list.  How many did we end up visiting?  Half of it - only 10!  Haha....

Here's a snapshot of 10 Places to see/Things to do in London in one week - please note that this is in leisure pace.  You could probably add 2 to 4 more items if you're the type who has a full-blown itinerary from early morning until late evening and if you follow a strict schedule. :)

1.  Walking City Tour.  This would take about 3 hours.  We joined a free walking tour around the Old City of London which gives an overview of London's history and famous landmarks such as the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Millenium Bridge, The Shard, etc.   After the tour, you can spend the rest of the day exploring the city by foot.   For more info on what other interesting spots are there to see in the Old City of London, you can check out my blog on Exploring the Old City of London.

2.  Westminster Abbey.  There are a lot of beautiful and historical churches in London.  But if you've only enough to visit just one, I recommend Westminster Abbey.   You probably remember Westminster Abbey as the venue for Princess Diana's funeral and the wedding of Prince William and Kate.  Yes, that's exactly the church I'm talking about.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey was founded in the 10th century and is England's Coronation church.  The first ever to be crowned here was William the Conqueror in 1066.  The historical coronation chair is one of the main exhibits in the church.  Too bad though that photography isn't allowed inside the church so all the photos I have here are from the outside and in selected cloisters where picture-taking is allowed.

Check out the beautiful details of the doors of Westminster Abbey -

What else is there to see inside the Westminster Abbey? The Shrine of St Edward the Confessor, tombs of monarchs (lots of King Henrys - I, III, V, King Edwards, Queens Elizabeths, Queen Annes - sorry, I couldn't distinguish them.  It's all confusing to me who's who. Waaa....).

Who else is buried at Westminster Abbey?  Among those I've recognized are Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Robert Browning, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Laurence Olivier...

Source

Some tomb markers are just on the floor and people unconsciously walk over them but there's one special tomb inside Westminster Abbey which you can't accidentally walk over because it's in a prominent spot and it's considered really special. It's none other than the tomb of an Unknown Warrior who represents all the soldiers who died fighting for the country.   I think that's a really great way to honor unsung heroes.   

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (Source)

The tomb's inscription says - "A BRITISH WARRIOR WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 FOR KING AND COUNTRY. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS."   

When you exit the main church, you can go visit the cloisters and that's where photography is allowed. Here are some photos I took -  

There are guided tours inside Westminster Abbey and I recommend that you join them so it's easier to find the most important sections of the church and the most popular tombs.  Also, you might also get access to restricted sections like during our tour, they allowed us entry to the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor and sit on the chairs at the Quire which are usually cordoned off to visitors.  

BTW, within the Westminster area, is also where the Houses of the Parliament are.  I think most tourists would know this place by another name -  Big Ben.

Great Clock of Westminster in the Houses of the Parliament

BTW, Big Ben is a bell - not a clock.  Big Ben is the largest bell in the Great Clock of Westminster.  How big is Big Ben?  The original bell was 16 tons!  And why is it called Ben?  Possibly in honor of Sir Benjamin Hall (a member of the Parliament) whose name is inscribed on the bell.

Great Clock of Westminster. Its biggest bell is know as Big Ben.

3.  Watch a Musical in London's West End.   I love musicals so this is a must-do activity.  There are a lot of nice productions to choose from but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Royal Drury Lane Theatre was my top choice.  Incidentally, Royal Drury Lane Theatre has some historical significance - it's London's oldest theatre still in use. :)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical

The Royal Drury Lane Theatre was built in 1663
making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use.

How was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  The production was amazing.  They were able to achieve special effects like one of the boys falling into a chocolate lake and one of the girls inflating then floating away.   To complete the confectionary experience, vendors inside the theatre were selling cotton candy and ice cream!  Haha... :)    

Here are some photos I took in the West End area - 

Royal Opera House

BTW, for discounted musical tickets, you can check out http://www.theatrepeople.com/.

While in the area, you can also head to Piccadilly Circus via train.  This is London's version of Shibuya street crossing.

Piccadilly Circus

Why is it called Piccadilly Circus?  "Circus" comes from the Latin word meaning "circle" in the context of a round open space at a street junction.  So the word "circus" in Piccadilly Circus is not the circus we know which involves performers.  :)

Piccadilly Circus at night

The Piccadilly Circus is a shopping and entertainment area. There are a lot of branded stores and souvenir stores here if you want to do some shopping.

4.  Camden Market.  London has a lot of popular markets - Borough Market, Greenwich Market,  Portobello Road Maret, Convent Garden Market, etc. - but we picked Camden Market since it's nearest to where we were staying and there was a church nearby where we planned to hear Sunday mass.  Perfect.

Shrine of Our Lady of Hal in Camden

From the church, Camden Market is just walking distance - maybe 3 blocks away.

Street Art in the Camden Area

Colorful stores at the Camden area

Unique store facades at the Camden Market

According to Wikipedia, Camden Market attracts an average of 100,000 visitors every weekend. Wow.

What we discovered while at Camden Market is that there isn't just one market but there are several markets in the Camden area like the Inverness Street Market -

Inverness Street Market

We spotted this comicbook store along the Inverness Street market and got a handful of vintage comicbooks to give away as gifts. :) The place reminded me of Stuart's comicbook store in The Big Bang Theory. Haha... 

We continued walking and spotted another market called CamdenLock Market.   

Camdenlock Market

CamdenLock Market 

It's in CamdenLock Market where we stopped by to grab some yummy lunch of Crispy Roast Duck!  Yum, yum, yum!

We continued to walk and spotted another market called Stables Market. Why is it called Stables?  The place was formerly a stables and horse hospital before being converted to a market.  

You can buy all kinds of stuff from these markets - arts and crafts, shirts with pop culture prints, leather goods, customized items, fashion accessories, paintings, souvenirs, fresh produce and assorted culinary delights that smell so good! :)

5.  Tower of London.  There are a handful of palaces you can visit in London like Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle, etc. but my personal choice is the Tower of London for its historical value and also to see the Crown Jewels.  

Tower of London

For more details on what to see at the Tower of London, you can check out this blogpost.

6.   Harry Potter Studio Tours at the Warner Bros. Studios.  Are you a Harry Potter fan?   Then this is a must!  It's actually one of my top reasons for wanting to visit London.  Haha...

The Gryffindor Common Room

Dumbledore's Office

Please make sure to buy tickets online weeks in advance.  For more useful tips and to get a sneak peek of what you'll see at the Harry Potter Studio Tours, check out this blogpost. 

7.   British Museum.   Do you love going to museums?   The British Museum contains artifacts from Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Asia, Middle East, Medieval Europe, etc.  And the best news?  It's open 7 days a week and admission is free! :)

To check out some interesting artifacts you'll see at the British Museum, check out this blogpost.

British Museum

8.   National Gallery.   Are you a fan of Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet or Leonardo Da Vinci?  Then you have to include the National Gallery in your itinerary.  

To check out some of the interesting paintings you'll see at the National Gallery, check out this blogpost.

Van Gogh paintings at the National Gallery

Inside the National Gallery

9.  University of Cambridge.   Former undergraduates of the University of Cambridge has won the most number of Nobel Prizes for any university, totaling 61 Nobel Prizes to-date.  Established in 1209, it's also one of the top 5 oldest universities in the world.  Its most popular alumni include brilliant minds like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.  And remember that story when an apple fell onto Newton's head?  Legend has it that it happened in the grounds of Cambridge. 

If you're planning to visit the University of Cambridge, you need to block off 1 full day since travel time is between 2-3 hours one-way.  

For more tips when planning a visit there, please check out this blogpost.

10.  221b Baker Street.  If you're a real fan, you know what this is. :)

But it's not in the real Baker Street where they shoot BBC's Sherlock TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  It's in another place - Speedy's Cafe is at 187 North Gower Street, near Euston Station.  I would have loved to see Benedict though.    Too bad, not a single sighting ...  the only Benedict sightings I had were on mugs, bags and keychains.  Hahaha....

Sherlock Holmes Museum

We weren't able to go inside the Sherlock museum though because there was a long queue and we had a flight to catch.

Additional tips: 

If you're booking via Airbnb, even if the description says it's walking distance from the train station, make sure to pick a place that's also near a bus station.  Why?  Coz walking distance is relative so if it isn't walking distance to you, you still have an alternative public transpo that would bring you nearer to the place. :)   You can ask the owner for the estimated distance in meters to be more accurate;  never ask in terms of minutes coz that's relative again. 

Our airbnb unit was around 500m away from the nearest tube station but if we ride the bus from the tube station, it would bring us closer - just about 50m away.  Very convenient especially when you're tired from walking the whole day plus if you don't want to walk in cold weather.  <Ahem...> 

Our airbnb unit is at the 3rd floor of this apartment

View from our airbnb unit

Choose a place where the nearest tube station is near main stations like King's Cross or Leicester Square so it's faster to get to your target destinations as you can easily shift trains.  Ours was at Caledonian Road (Underground Station) and it was perfect because it was just 1 station away from King's Cross and it was a direct line to and from the Heathrow Airport. :)

Caledonian Road Underground Station

5 Useful Tips when Visiting the University of Cambridge

If you plan to visit a university in England, that's usually a toss-up between the University of Oxford (established in 1096)  and University of Cambridge (established in 1209).  Both are in the list of world's top 5 oldest universities.   Well and good if you can visit both but since we didn't have the luxury, we ended up picking the University of Cambridge.   

Who are the most popular alumni of the University of Cambridge? Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Babbage (the inventor of the first computer), William Fox Talbot (inventor of the camera), Stephen Hawking and other mathematicians, inventors, scientists, politicians, world leaders, religious leaders, literary geniuses, etc.

Its former undergrads have won a total of 61 Nobel Prizes to date.  That's the most number of Nobel Prize wins for any university. Wow.

Sharing with you my top 5 tips if you plan to visit the University of Cambridge:

1.  How to get to the University of Cambridge.  From King's Cross Station or Liverpool station, you can take the National Rail.  Get off the Cambridge Station.  Then take bus 1 or 7.

2.  Know which college buildings you want to visit beforehand.   Cambridge University is huge.   If you're going there, you have to know which specific college buildings you want to visit because when you get off the Cambridge station, you can't ask people  "How do I get to the University of Cambridge?" coz there are 31 constituent colleges in Cambridge! :)

We ended up visiting King's College.  It was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI.  

King's College Chapel

King's College Chapel

The building that is open to the public at King's College is the chapel.   Below are some photos inside the chapel.

Pipe Organ at the St John's College chapel

King's College Chapel is famous for its College Choir.  Since it was established in 1441, King Henry VI provided 16 choir members and 10 chaplains to sing daily services in the Chapel.

Today, King's College still has 16 choir members and all members are educated at the King's College. The choir is world-renowned.   Each Christmas Eve,  the King's College Choir performs The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and it is aired by BBC radio and syndicated to hundreds of other radio stations outside of England.  

Intricate ceiling details

Beautiful stained glass windows

Ever wondered how these beautiful stained glass windows are produced?

Here's how in pictures -

The making of the "Death of Ananias" stained glass window

And here's the final product - I had to look for it in the King's College Chapel windows. :)

Antique keyhole.

Closet made from oak which is believed to date back from1480. 

Beautiful interiors of the King's College Chapel

White sharp keys against black keys.  Disorienting....Haha...

King's College

Proof that I've stepped on the grounds of King's College. Haha...

3.  Catch the world-renowned King's College Chapel Choir sing.   They sing every 5:30pm on Mondays to Saturdays (though there are days when there is none so better to reconfirm with the front guard).   People start lining up at 5pm.   We actually lined up already but I asked the guard if we can leave mid-way the evensong since we had to catch a train ride but he said that it's discouraged since the ceremony is solemn. So too bad, we weren't able to hear them sing. :(

4.  Join a tour.    When I googled for information, I read that there are regular tours around the university but we miscalculated the travel time and missed the last tour for the day when we arrived. I  also wasn't able to research about free walking tours so we ended up joining a Punt Tour.   

But I always prefer Walking Tours over Canal Tours coz it's more slow-paced which means there's more room for interactivity between the guide and participants plus there's more time to take photos. Haha...  Here's a free walking tour I found online - but just make further research to check if the reviews are good  - http://www.footprints-tours.com/cambridge-walking-tours/tours/2-hour-free-cambridge-walking-tour/)

Punts for rent

Guided tours by the punt

View of King's College Chapel and King's College by the canal

The advantage of doing a punt tour is you're able to visit most of the colleges in maybe 45 minutes to 1 hour including walk time to the punt station. The disadvantage? The pace of the tour is so fast (versus walking), thus, you could barely retain any information during the tour. It's also hard to listen and difficult to take photos. :( Here are some of the photos I took but sadly, I can't recall what colleges or buildings they are. :(

The only building I could recognize is the Trinity College for 2 reasons - (1) this is the college of Sir Isaac Newton and the guide said that the falling apple happened right here at the school grounds and (2) the guide said that Trinity College was shortlisted before as a possible location for Hogwarts (that caught my attention coz I'm an HP fan. Haha...)

Trinity College

Wall of the Trinity College

If we had more time, I would have loved to explore Trinity College by foot.

During the canal tour, you'll pass by a lot of bridges along the way -

Cambridge version of the Bridge of Sighs 

The most popular one is called the Mathematical Bridge - sounds so intellectual!  I'll explain shortly why it's called such.

Mathematical Bridge was rebuilt on 2 occasions - 1866 and 1905

The bridge appears to be an arch, right?  But guess what? It is composed of entirely straight timbers! 

Under the Mathematical Bridge

So why is it called the Mathematical Bridge?  Here's the verbatim explanation on wikipedia (it's beyond my comprehension though! Haha...):

The arrangement of timbers is a series of tangents that describe the arc of the bridge, with radial members to tie the tangents together and triangulate the structure, making it rigid and self-supporting. This type of structure, technically tangent and radial trussing, is an efficient structural use of timber, and was also used for the timber supporting arches used for building stone bridges. Analysis of the design shows that the tangent members are almost entirely under compression, while the radial timbers are almost entirely subject to tension with very little bending stress, or to put it another way, the tangent and radial elements elegantly express the forces involved in arched construction.
If you didn't understand any of the text above (like me! haha...), here's the easiest way to understand why it's called the Mathematical Bridge.  Remember I said the bridge is made entirely of straight timbers?  The straight timbers were arranged in an unusually sophisticated engineering design that the bridge appears to be an arch.

For some visual reference, here's a photo from Wikipedia which highlights the straight timbers specifically referred as the tangential members of the tangent and radial trussing in the complicated explanation above.  After seeing the photo below, that was the only time I got the essence of the explanation. Hahaha....

During the canal tour, we also spotted some modern structures which look like residential structures -

After the punt tour, we were still able to explore by foot on our own.   There are also tourism offices where you can inquire what other interesting activities you can still join for the day depending on your interests.

Posters of various events are tied to fences.  These events are part of the university social life. 

Lots of stores and cafes line up the streets.

Cambridge University Sculpture Map

5.  Be conscious of time.  It's so easy to forget time when you're in Cambridge but you can't afford to forget when you're on a day trip because you might miss your train ride going back to London. Travel time one-way is between 2 to 3 hours including the bus ride and switching trains.  So if you think one day is not enough, you might have to plan an overnight stay in Cambridge.  :)