An American, a teenager and me in London...

[HORN]

...on saturday.

I'e been scouring websites for something beyond the usual "Buckingham Palace" type of stuff that might keep the three of us entertained or a few hours in Central(ish) London this coming saturday. The Timeout site has lots of weird and wonderful things to do but I'm keen to keep travel times to a minimum.

Is there a half day's entertainment in Hyde Park? Cycle hire, is Speakers Corner actually worth visiting? (my American friend is a staunch Republican, I'm afraid).

If anyone can fire a few suggestions at me I'd be most grateful.

[EIM]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/pubsandbars/the-griffin-info-11770.html

[nefertiti]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

How old's the teenager?

[HORN]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

He's 15.

[hobbes]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

A stroll along the River is a good bet. Start North at Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, cross over to the South side at London Bridge then you can walk along past Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market, through the old docks, under some bridges, past the wobbly bridge and Tate Modern, The national, The NFT, the SOuth Bank Centre, Gabriel's Wharf, the book market the London Eye, City Hall and on the other side of the water they'll get a top view of the Palace of Westminster etc.
Would take you about 2 hours, perhaps 3 with a couple of stops for coffee/lunch and they'll get the most important views of London. You can even do the touristy thing and get a no.15 from central london to Tower Bridge (one of the old routemasters.)

[gt3]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Great walk suggested by hobbes there. The bar at the top of the OXO tower is a great place for a drink/coffee/glass of champagne.

[nefertiti]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

I was going to suggest a boat trip- down to Greenwich and the Thames barrier.

Otherwise go for a pizza Brixton market.

[Wyatt Earp]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

nefertiti wrote:

I was going to suggest a boat trip- down to Greenwich and the Thames barrier.

Otherwise go for a pizza Brixton market.

Yeah, the boat trip's great. Seconded. And if you get off at Greenwich, the Royal Observatory is wonderful.

[HORN]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Ah, this is wonderful. I'm so grateful.

[gt3]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

You can get a roaming ticket for The Thames Clipper - £8.00. The Observatory is free, but the Planetarium is £6.00. There's also the Maritime Museum and The Painted Hall at Greenwich.

[Lucia Lanigan]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Definitely go for the river over Hyde Park, you'll see so much more. The OXO tower has mental prices generally, but you should be able to get a bottle of their nice house wine for about £15 and take in the view from their balcony - makes a great punctuation point in your stroll.

nefertiti, are you a Brixton resident or has word spread about the pizza place? Five quid for the best (and biggest) pizza I've ever tasted. Incredible wild mushrooms one day, smoked ricotta, parmesan and buffalo mozaralla the next. Fuck it, I'm going there right now.

[nefertiti]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Not a Brixton resident, unfortunetely- though I remember the old Pizzeria very well - but I've heard the current owner describe how he makes his sourdough, and I've eaten his food.

[hobbes]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

The Greewich thing is excellent for a day out, actually. The view from the top of the hill is amazing.
The River walk is more quantity over quality if you want to get all the sights in, in a short amount of time.

[nefertiti]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

The walk is great- I recommend nipping in and out of Smoerset House to see the fountains. But on the boat you go past it all- if you leave from Westminster pier.

Oyster card gives you 33% discount on the river.

[evilC]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

I can't be the only one who glances at this thread title and sees it as the morphed-film-eyeworm 'An American Teen Werewolf In London'?

[gt3]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

You're not Clive, you're not.

The Thames Clipper takes you all the way down to the O2 which is worth a wander for restaurants etc.

[G-Man]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Quite, EvilC. I was rather disappointed at the opening post as a consequence.

Anyway, HORN, if you're anything like my ex-stepfather, you'll take the 15-year-old teenager into a brothel. That's what XSF's plan for me was when I was 14. To my relief (...), my mother nixed the idea.

[Toby Gymshorts]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

I went to Broadcasting House yesterday and had the guided tour. £6.50 per ticket, lasts about an hour and a half and the guides are all very friendly and self-deprecating, which should push all the American buttons.

It also helps if you're a bit of a geek, like me, in which case you'll be hard pressed not to barricade yourself into one of the production offices and start broadcasting your inner monologue to the entire nation.

I've decided: I want to work in Broadcasting House.

[Gangster Octopus]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

I used to work in an offshoot and have my lunch every day in Broadcasting House.

[Brandenburger Toro]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

That Pizza joint in Brixton is utterly, utterly, wonderful. Not just the fantastic, very reasonably priced food, but the organic beer and wine and lemonade, the atmosphere, the crazy Italian boss who looks like a cross between Bert and Beaker from the muppets...

[Toby Gymshorts]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Gangster Octopus wrote:

I used to work in an offshoot and have my lunch every day in Broadcasting House.

You're a lucky man. I just want to work there, I'm not really fussed what the job is*

As for this pizza place - is it Franco Manca? I'm planning on making a trip there special like, just to see if it's as good as is claimed....

*Caution: May Contain Lies

[hobbes]

An American, a teenager and me in London...

Horn, what did you end up doing?