BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Questions for Londoners. We are coming for a visit.

**Posted by AliceI** April 23, 2013 1:40 pm

Hello all,
We are coming for a visit in August, but only have a couple of days in London before we move on to the next city, so I want to try and get the most out of our visit. I have been doing a lot of on-line checking for sights that we will want to see, but what I am having some trouble finding is a place to buy a Tardis wardrobe. My kids are all big Dr. Who fans and my eldest doesn't have a closet in her room so we would like to get one of those tardis wardrobes. I looked at the WhoShop and they have a wardrobe that is canvas but they won't ship it over seas. Is there anywhere else that we could get a proper wardrobe (wooden) that we could buy and have them ship home to us?

We plan to visit the 221B Baker St location, as well as the Whoshop. Unfortunately the Dr. Who walking tour of London will not be availabe the dates we will be there. Such a shame. They have a VIP tour that is always available with advanced notice but it is 330 pounds per person. That is too rich for us.

I read someone elses' post about the tube and gleaned some useful info from her question and your answers so that is good. I am guessing that cabs, at a pound a minute, would be a pretty expensive way to get around. We don't mind walking so I am hoping that most of the things we want to visit are in walking distance to where ever we will be staying, although I wouldn't mind taking the tube from place to place. If I can survive the NYC subway system, the London tube should be fine!

I wouldn't mind one fancy evening out for dinner. Any suggestions? I know I would like to try having lunch at the little sandwitch shop next to the BBC's Sherlock version of 221B Baker street. I am thinking that it might not be so busy in August since they would be done shooting series three by then. Running into any of the cast or writers would be fabulous, but I don't imagine that would ever really happen.

One of the things I really want to do IF we have time is to take a trip out to Cardiff. I understand it is quite a ways from London. I am wondering if it would be better to try and rent a car to go ourselves, or take a train? How far is it actually and how long would the train ride be if we went that way? Actually how is driving in London? Maybe we should just rent a car for the entire time we are in the city rather than trying to figure out the tube or take cabs. Input on that idea?

I guess that is it for questions at the moment. I will most likely ask more questions as our plans firm up and we know where we will be staying and more importantly how long we will be staying before moving on to the next city.

Thanks
Alice

**Posted by veecee** April 23, 2013 10:05 pm

It may sound corny, but we took the dinner cruise on the Thames. The food turned out to be quite good and the lights on the bridges, buildings, etc. were lovely.

**Posted by Davina** April 24, 2013 7:10 am

Car, in London? No. That's why Ben rides a motorbike.

Taxis are quite expensive but the black hackney cabs are sometimes useful.

Cardiff is quite a way from London, not in American terms but in UK terms. I think I would get a train.

Eating out? You are spoiled for choice in London. Depending on where you are staying and what sort of budget for a meal I can let you know (I have my sources!). PM me with details if you want. Veecee's idea of a meal is lovely. The River Thames and The City are astonishing when lit up at night.

To see the sights and be able to hop off when you want I really do recommend the Bus Tours. It is also lovely to go up and down the river on one of the boats that go from The Tower (yes that Tower) to The Houses of Parliament. That way you can see so much including The Globe Theatre, The London Eye, The OXO tower etc.

The tube is relatively easy to use and whichever hotel you stay in will help with directions, just ask at the desk. They'll be able to advise about buses too.

If you do go to The Tower of London then go on one of the Yeoman Guard's (Beefeaters') tours. They are free and they are just great! You can see the Crown Jewels at no extra charge as well. From there you can get a river boat up to the Embankment.

You can also ask them about any areas that it might be inadvisable to wander into at night. We ask that in any city we stay in.

If you only have a couple of days then a trip to Cardiff is probably out of the question. It is a lovely little city it I'm not sure I would take all that time out to go there if I was in London itself for such a short time.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** April 24, 2013 9:55 am

Driving in London is a big NOOOOO...definitely the tube or walking. The ordinary London bus routes are pretty hard to figure out compared to the tube actually, but the bus tours are good if you want to do all the classic touristy things, although you might not have time for most of it if you're only around for a couple of days.

For good food I'd recommend Soho or Covent Garden...and if you're looking for something particularly classy (and Sherlockian), try the Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly or Simpsons-On-The-Strand.

**Posted by erunyauve** April 24, 2013 11:10 am

Sherlock Holmes wrote:
Driving in London is a big NOOOOO...definitely the tube or walking.

Not to mention that you're driving on the left side of the road in a very congested city you don't know. (And then there's the roundabouts, and we're not talking the quaint little circles in upscale areas - these are several lanes deep and move very fast. My mum would just go round and round sometimes. We thought it was a carousel ride.)

**Posted by AliceI** April 25, 2013 4:18 am

Davina wrote:
From there you can get a river boat up to the Embankment.
...The Globe Theatre, The London Eye, The OXO tower etc...
Eating out? You are spoiled for choice in London. Depending on where you are staying and what sort of budget for a meal I can let you know (I have my sources!). PM me with details if you want.
Cardiff is quite a way from London, not in American terms but in UK terms. I think I would get a train.
If you only have a couple of days then a trip to Cardiff is probably out of the question. It is a lovely little city it I'm not sure I would take all that time out to go there if I was in London itself for such a short time.

What is the Embankment?
What is the OXO tower?
Do they still have plays at the Globe theater?
I don't know yet where we will be staying, but I'll drop you a PM when we firm up our plans.
It's a shame about Cardiff. I am a huge Doctor Who fan and I understand that Cardiff has an attraction called The Doctor Who experience. It seems a shame to be so close and not be able to fit in the time. If I can get a few extra days off from work maybe we can extend our stay by a few days. I don't know if that will be possible but we could always try.

Sherlock Holmes wrote:
Driving in London is a big NOOOOO...definitely the tube or walking.

Ok, no renting a car then. Even my sister, who has been a few times, said don't even think about renting a car. It isn't worth it due to parking fees and such. She said to get an oyster card. That's for the tube right? Can we get those at the hotel or do we have to go to some sort of transportation hub?

erunyauve wrote:
Not to mention that you're driving on the left side of the road in a very congested city you don't know. (And then there's the roundabouts, and we're not talking the quaint little circles in upscale areas - these are several lanes deep and move very fast. My mum would just go round and round sometimes. We thought it was a carousel ride.)

I suppose it might be like driving around in a reflection - what with the steering wheel on the other side of the car and the car on the other side of the street. It would be somewhat weird. I know that the turnabouts could be challenging, but I once drove through the DC beltway at rush hour on my way down to Virginia Beach. Those folks drive six lanes deep anywhere from 65 to 75 miles an hour! It was a bit hair rising, but I managed it in a huge cargo van. Of course that was 25 years ago before I started wearing trifocals! LOL

Thanks for the tips guys. As we get closer I may ask a few more questions. Oh wait here's one. Can we buy the DVD sets for Sherlock that will play in region 1 DVD players or do we have to do that on-line at like amazon or something?

**Posted by AliceI** April 27, 2013 10:36 pm

I told my husband that 2 nights in London was not enough for me so we have extended our time in London to 4 nights! Whoo Hoo.

In any case I thought of a question I could ask when I saw a new post on the Hawking thread. Is there a good place for me to look while I'm in your country to find as many of Benedict Cuberbatch's roles in recorded form (i.e.. DVD or tapes)? In America we are somewhat limited as to what we can see of British movies and shows. I mean I can't just pop off to the local Blockbuster and get copies of his movies to rent. So where would you folks go to get releases of his work for sale? I am quite impressed with him as an actor. And to think a few months ago I had never even heard his name.

Oh I was watching a British show called MI5 on Netflix and saw that he had a cameo appearance in one of the early episodes. I was just sitting there and all of the sudden I said, "Hey look, that's Benedict Cumberbatch! He only had a few lines. He was hauled in by the MI5 group because he was selling state secrets to terrorists. I wonder what else he has appeared in?

Looking around on-line I still haven't found anywhere we can buy a wooden Tardis wardrobe, but I know such a thing exists. The WhoShop has a canvas one but we were really hoping to find a proper wooden one.

I showed my son a video of the gift shop at 221B Baker street and he was like a kid in a candy shop. He wanted almost everything the camera panned across. I guess we'll be stopping there for souvenirs. Who would have thought that a seven year old in the year 2013 would be a Sherlock fan? I'm sure ACD would have laughed at the suggestion.

Renting a car in any of the cities we go to will be out of the question actually. I never thought about the fact that my driver's license would not be valid in another country, but my husband told me that we would have to have international licenses to drive around in Europe. Even getting my passport has hit a snag. Apparently now the old birth certificates are no longer any good for getting such documents. 49 years ago the parents names were not put on that particular legal document and so now I have to go down to the state office and get a new birth certificate that has my parents names on it. This apparently is the new policy because of terrorism. You never know, I might be a terrorist in disguise trying to get a passport, never mind that the birth certificate is 49 years old.

Well we wont be leaving for Europe until August 10th so I guess I have some time. I'll head down to that office on Monday. We will be arriving in London on a Sunday morning. Any suggestions for what would be a good set of sights available on a Sunday afternoon?

Davina I'll PM you when we get our hotel reservations confirmed. Thanks for the assist. Okay long day, no sleep after night shift and I still have to get dinner on the table, so I guess I'll sign off.

**Posted by beekeeper** April 28, 2013 7:38 am

Ok I am a Londoner living in Cardiff. My 2c

Really no point drivving in London. The public transport system is excellent and cheap and driving is discouraged anyway with the congestion charge. The Tube is a lot of fun but my tip would bo to make sure you also take buses and overground trains because that's a really good way to see London as well.

Cardiff to London is doable, I do it all the time. It depends on your budget but the train is quick, around 2-3 hours, and takes you into central Cardiff. There are times to take the train and times not-say if you want more info (basically, try to go off peak and/or upgrade to first class-its pretty cheap to do this) . To get cheap intercity tickets you can book in advance. I've been to London and back for £20 but that's booking aeons in advance and a fixed ticket. Depending on how many kids you have, a family railcard might be cheaper.What I'd say is that if you have Doctor Who fans, Cardiff might well be worth a visit. Its location shots are mainly filmed here and a fair number of the locations are easily accessible from the station. I'd have thought there would be a tour actually. That might be the point at which renting a car (with sat nav!) would be worthwhile. You could do a lot of Dr Who locations in a day, certainly, the city is crammed with them (my kids are better at spotting them than me!) . There's the Dr Who experience too, which is easy enough to get to. Sherlock is a bit different. There certainly are locations you could go to and several of them are central (eg the museum) but because London is so important in Sherlock, a lot of the location filming happens there while afaik a lot of the Cardiff filming is studio work. I don't think you can do any kind of tours and tbh, if the studio is where I think it is its not very interesting to drive past or anything. Cardiff really hasn't jumped on either the Dr Who or Sherlock tourism bandwagon at all, its all there but you have to do the legwork.

I'd say you could do a good, intense, Dr Who/Sherlock day in Cardiff if that's what you want to get from your visit and you will see stuff like the locations where various episodes were shot and so on. It would be something very different. But of course it is a day out of your trip. Think what you really need is a tour of some kind, preferably someone else driving you from location to location.

http://www.doctorwholocations.net/ this is completely accurate as far as I know.

Re things to do in London on Sunday. How old are your kids? Mine are all under 10 and really love the Kensington museums (free). There's a great playground nearby-Diana Princess Of Wales Memorial-which has an outdoor cafe with actually decent food. River tours are nice too. My kids really like the Emirates cable cars over the Thames, actually they just like riding around on the Tube network! The Transport museum is good for this age group and very London. My kids also really like the Museum of London-there are two, both good, one in the Barbican and one in the Docklands. Oh my tip would be, make sure you get an Oyster card as it makes travelling cheaper. Oyster cards you can get from any tube station, newsagents too, I think. I dunno, a hotel might have them too. You won't struggle to find one. Kids don't need them, young adults do but iirc still travel free (mine haven't hit that age yet!)

Any more questions, please go for it. I know London and Cardiff really well and both with and without kids and they are two of my favourite cities so I love talking about them!

Last edited by beekeeper (April 28, 2013 7:56 am)

**Posted by beekeeper** April 28, 2013 7:41 am

tardis wardrobe-just had a look at a few. Honestly, I'd say they'd be pretty easy to make! Or at least mod an existing wardrobe. Certainly for the amount it would cost to buy and ship it back.

Last edited by beekeeper (April 28, 2013 7:42 am)

**Posted by AliceI** April 28, 2013 11:41 am

beekeeper wrote:
tardis wardrobe-just had a look at a few. Honestly, I'd say they'd be pretty easy to make! Or at least mod an existing wardrobe. Certainly for the amount it would cost to buy and ship it back.

Thanks for that tip. My daughter is a HUGE Dr. Who fan and she does not have a closet so I thought the Tardis wardrobe would be the perfect sweet 16 present.

Ok. Thank you for all the info. This is our honeymoon trip so no kids. We never took a honeymoon when we got married so now that we have the time and the funds we are finally taking it after 20 years of marriage.

The whole reason for taking extra days in London is so that we could fit in the Cardiff trip. I have been watching Doctor Who since I was a wee little child. I really want to go to the Doctor Who experience and see that square with the towers and the waterfall sculpture where the rift is supposed to be. I have also become a Torchwood fan (not surprising). In any case yeah we will get the train. The most advanced I can buy tickets would be when we arrive unless I can get them from here before we even leave for England. No worries. We planned on spending money while abroad and have set aside for it. I'm not worried about a 20 pound train ticket.

Thank you so much for all the tips and advice. I am so excited for this trip. I have been a fan of everything English for as long as I can remember and I'm finally going to get to see your country.

Last edited by AliceI (April 28, 2013 11:44 am)

**Posted by Davina** April 28, 2013 12:19 pm

You can book and buy tickets on-line before you arrive if you know when you want to go. There are a number of companies that do this. I suggest, in the first instance, using 'Journey Planner' which is easy to use and gives all times, stations etc (you can buy tickets too).

**Posted by beekeeper** April 29, 2013 8:34 am

oh god if you have no kids DEFINATELY the train. Without kids it will be actually enjoyable! Re the tickets they go up a lot in price the closer you get to the date-and it can be a LOT, like £150 each as opposed to £30. Sure you can book from abroad-you usually have a collect at station option. TBH if all else failed and the train turned out to be amazingly stupidly expensive there is a coach too, and its fine, and much cheaper.

The rift is five minutes walk from the Dr Who experience and very easy to find. The entrance to the Torchwod hub is also easy to find as it is plastered with "Ianto lives" graffiti, messages and so on :-). There is actually almost no signposting in Cardiff for unofficial Dr Who/Sherlock stuff, for some reason, so its worth checking into this stuff before you arrive.

They seemed to film quite a lot down there for the first few seasons, so the church in "Fathers Day", the estate where Rose lives (mainly). Torchwood tends to film a lot in Cardiff centre, its rarer for them to film local to the hub, but the centre is a short train ride away.

Oh also just realised they are now filiming Sherlock at Roath Lock studios, I believe. Think you'd be able to see them at least from the "hub"-they are pretty distinctive/

**Posted by hjohnson919** June 17, 2014 8:42 pm

So how was the trip? What did you see and do? Where would you go back to if you could?