Can't tell you where to stay but the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the V & A are places you must see.

And then there's the art galleries...

I'd recommend popping down to Leicester Square early in the morning and seeing if you can pick up some cheap tickets for a West End show you fancy. Watch out for scammers though! Check your tickets to make sure they're the ones you paid for before walking off. (Voice of experience unfortunatly)

The Terracotta Army is currently occupying the British Museum, so now's an even better time than ever to visit!

Kensington Palace is gorgeous. There's a part of the tour where you walk through all these rooms, the guide telling you when you would have been turned away at the door if you weren't wearing such and such clothes or were of such and such a rank - all the way through to the Royal Bedroom!

A boat ride down the Thames is a wonderful way to see London, or you could take a Double Decker Bus tour.

If you're into Shakespeare there's a Shakespeare Walk that gives you a boat ride down the Thames and then a guided tour around the Globe's area of London. The company also has many other walks if Shakespeare isn't to your taste. http://www.walks.com/Homepage/Monday/default.aspx#11

The Tower of London makes a fun visit if you're in the mood for ancient stones and gory history - see the chopping block and some truly enormous ravens! (Er, no direct correlation these days.)

Oh! The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace! This site has a schedule here: http://www.changing-the-guard.com/sched.htm

Hope some of that strikes your fancy!

Just to chime in, if you want to see the Terracota Army exhibit, book your tickets now and on-line if you possibly can - they're going like hot cakes (in fact, I booked last week for a Friday in January and there was limited availability for most time slots). They're releasing something like 500 tickets every morning at circa 9am (exact details on the British Museum website) but it will be like a cattle stampede unless you get there super early.

I don't think I'm going to go all the way to London to see the same Waxworks I could in NYC, LA, Las Vegas, Orlando... ;-) Never really cared for that kind of thing anyway.

We'll probably also be skipping the terracotta army, but I'll have to check with my partner.

I'm much more interested in actual British stuff. ;-)

The problem with London won't be filling four days, it'll be trying to fit everything into just four days.

Make sure you take a Walk. The Ripper Walks are excellent, but they have tons:http://www.walks.com/

(Note: don't be fooled. walks.com is the only site you want.The others are nowehre near as good.)

I have no recommendations, only envy and a great desire to read Rampant.

I soooo mean it. Gritty unicorn fantasy? I'm so in!

Congrats!

Gotta love the writing research trip.

Catherine

Thank you! Those are two of the characters from Gossamer and Viridian, one of my works in progress, drawn by minoukatze, who is a freelance artist friend, and wonderful to me in her gifts. This icon, as well, is one of her pieces.

I hope you have a wonderful time, and you get what you want. I've been to London, and I have to suggest the very nice and FREE British Museum as a must see, always.

Post the details of your trip, and enjoy.

Catherine

London has a fairly efficient public transport system - almost everything is close to a tube station.

As it's a research trip, you ought to have an idea what kind of sites you want to see - there are relics of almost every period of history an almost everything is worth seeing, but if I had to name the one that impressed me most, the most unique, it would be the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre which was nothing like anything I've seen anywhere else.

As for the big sites, if you have only four days, you're probably best off joining one of the tourist buses that allow you to get on and off at will. AFAIK, they'll also provide you with entrance tickets, because in case you hadn't been warned, London is EXPENSIVE, and if you're in a rush, you might be disinclined to spend £12 just for a twenty-minute stroll around St.Pauls, for instance.

The British Museum is worth a visit however much time you bring - it's free, it's hellishly impressive, and nobody can see all of it in a day anyway - but no visit to London would be complete without.

The last time I was in London I had a full day which I spent walking along the South Embankment, over Tower Bridge, with a look a the outside of the Tower, down to St.Pauls, had a peek in and balked at the entrance price, and a couple of other things.

Most of the attractions you might want to enter will set you back at least £10, and if you're planning to do more than one per day, that racks up very very quickly. To the best of my knowledge, the hop-on-hop-off bus companies have special arrangements to that you can get into places like Westminster Abbey and St.Pauls without having to shell out the full price. I'm not certain - I'm only a tourist myself - but it sounds worth investigating, eg walking into a Tourist Information and finding out.

Plan some downtime; London is pretty intense.

That icon is priceless!

Thank you. It's a souvenir from Worldcon, well, the backpacking trip I did afterwards. There was this group of about six or seven blokes, and they all wanted a picture of themselves and their mates in front of this gate, and so the tourguide was handed a stack of cameras...

I confess to sneaking pictures of people posing for their friends whenever I can ;-)

As for the churches, the argument is that those buildings are very very expensive to maintain, and if the public want them to be open, they ought to pay. Westminster cathedral is another I know for certain charges, as does Chester cathedral, and a number of others. Many others like Salisbury Cathedral don't charge, but ask for donation - but in a manner that's so obnoxious and obvious that, unless they really won't let you in otherwise, I refuse to pay.

I don't mind contributing to the upkeep. I don't mind a sign saying 'we're in need of a new roof, please give' - but I do mind it when they say 'we get X visitor, to cover our Y costs, every visitor needs to pay Y/X; because in that case I'm always tempted to say 'if those are my choices, you're having X-1 visitors.'

Those churches have been paid for over and over again, and often by people who did *not* have a lot of money to spare. As you can see, it's a bit of a sore point for me.

I second Holly on all counts.

I haven't the time to type up extensive advice for London, but I can point you at my posts about my own trip, which should give you some tidbits on the sites I hit. (And things like the utter impossibility of finding food at night in Central London.)

The funny thing is, I'm not ordinarily much of a journal-keeper. I never managed anything of the sort until I did it online; it seems I need to write for an audience for it to work. But those posts were as much telling myself the story of my trip as it was writing to other people. I wanted to be able to remember it afterward -- and I'm very glad it worked.

It's hard enough doing research for NOW without worrying about what it looked like before a fire three centuries ago...

Not much to say to this but "yeah." <g>

You went to Australia? Yay! Did you come here to Melbourne?

Have a lovely day! :-)

You might find the following links useful:

All about London:
http://www.londontown.com/

Hotel Links:
http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/United-Kingdom/London/
http://www.booking.com/city/gb/london.en.html
http://www.superbreak.com/london.htm

Some advice about where to stay:
Notting Hill, while I consider it expensive (exchange rate thing), is a nice area. It's quiet and comfortable. And for London, the prices aren't bad: http://www.thehill.co.uk/accommodation.htm

Some advice about Zones in London:
Zones 1 & 2 (Central London) are expensive, but that's where I'm guessing you'll be focused.

Zones 3 & 4 are rough; avoid Woolwich (nothing to do there) and especially Plumstead. The latter is known to have the highest crime rate in London. I also don't recommend anything in those areas, including any hotels that might be located there.

Zones 5 & 6 are too far from Central. They include places like Wimbledon and Heathrow.

Getting around Central London without a map is also pretty simple:

Walking:
The area around Leicester Square / Covent Garden (most popular areas of Central London) is a grid.

The roads forming the 'boundaries' of the grid are (clockwise on the map) Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road until it hits Leicester Square, Coventry Street until it hits Picadilly Circus, Regent Street.

Over on the West End, south just passed Leicester Square are the Portrait & National Galleries.

From Leicester Square, go East to find Covent Garden -- there's a small (tiny?) market there and several museums. It's also a good place to find unusual trinkets (but you have to look really hard, and lots of things are expensive).

Tube Travel:
Other places to visit, like the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre are across the Thames; you'll need to take the Tube for those.

Camden Market and Greenwich are places you might want to visit -- history and shopping, and a different atmosphere to Central London. As far as I recall, they're in Zone 3. (Check the transport ticket you bought that day that it is valid for Zone 3.)

You might also awant to visit Harrod's, just for the sake of visiting (if you have time). It's located on Brompton Street, Knightsbridge (requires Tube). Take a look at http://www.harrods.com/Cultures/en-GB/Home/homepageindex.htm

Zones Transport:
Be aware that if you buy a Zone-limited ticket, you will only be allowed to travel within that Zone(s).

For example:
One-day travel pass, Zones 1 & 2, will allow you to go everywhere in Central London (large area).

But, if you have a visit that is, say Greenwich, Zone 3, you won't be allowed to travel there. You will have to get another ticket for that. And vice versa.

Travelling around London (Oyster ticket):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/travel-around-London-DL-210906.pdf

A few other highlights:
http://www.britishinformation.com/index.php?thelink=aHR0cDovL3d3dy50aGUtbG9uZG9uLW1hcC5jby51ay8=&c=a&tl=33


I hope some of this rambling helps.

snitch, this is amazing information! Thank you so much! This is going to be a huge help as we figure out what to do/where to stay, etc. I had no idea about zones at all...

When in England, bring your umbrella EVERYWHERE! I'm not kidding; the UK is notorious for being rainy, cold and miserable. Mind you, I haven't been there since I was 5 years old, but it's commonsense ;-)

Have a lovely day! :-)

The Chancery Court Hotel on High Holborn is lovely, but not cheap. It's also near several museums. I'd check out the Tower of London, the London Eye (great views), the London Dungeon, and the British Museum. You could also take a double-decker bus tour. If you want high tea, book the Ritz on Piccadilly near Jermyn St. and Green Park early. They don't take walk-ins. Indian food in London is some of the best in the world, so try it while you're there and don't forget the fish & chips. My favorite spot is Covet Gardens. There are lots of little shops tucked in and around there. Also keep in mind that London has a ton of shows/plays second only to Broadway. Have a great time. :)

You seem to have a lot of help here already, but if there's anything you want to ask about London nearer the time - maybe some more 'off the beaten track' places to visit (depends on what, in particular, you're researching) - let me know. I'm a native!

Karen

I second everyone who's already said the British Museum, but actually recommed a side trip to Oxford (only about a 40 minute coach ride) to visit the Bird and Baby/Eagle and Child pub. It was the Tuesday lunch home of the Inklings (Tolkien, Lewis, and company), and they have photos up of those writers in their glory, along with some of Dorothy Sayers, who would sit in fairly often. It was a sort of pilgrimage for me to go my first time in England, and I recommend it if you're a fan of those writers.

Also--just finished the two Secret Society Girl books and *loved* them. I'm living near New Haven and I have many friends at Yale, so the setting was particularly fun for me.

you can find a good accommodation in London at http://www.discountcityhotels.net or if you want to stay in luxury hotels than check http://www.luxurycityhotels.com . Also for a change you can stay in serviced apartments in London which you can find at http://www.apartotels.com . All these accommodations are located close to transport links and main tourist attractions. Have a wonderful stay!