london

Hunterian is the absolute bomb. When I worked at GAFTA (which is right next to the John Soane museum) I used to nip through Lincoln's Inn Fields and spend my lunchhour looking at endless jars of rotting, pickled fetuses and syphilis-rotted penises. Heaven.

Co-sign. Been there with my drawing group two or three times.

keep meaning to see soane's museum by candlelight will get around to it one day

rain room disappointing tho the queue moved quicker than they were saying

Hunterian museum

^ is this the place that does stuff like arsehole cupcakes and std-riddled buns in the tearoom?

I don't know - but not if this is the cupcake thing - the pathology museum is different, never been there.

oh, St Bart's seem quite nervous about it. Not surprised.

John Soane Museum is AMAZING. My general apathy towards pre-modern art/artifact museums was totally blown away by how cool this place is.

If you're willing to put in 2 hours in line, I'd recommend going to one of the free evenings where it's all candle-lit.

oh yes woof, that was what i was thinking of

Went to the Hunterian today. Strikes a decidedly more scholarly note than Peter The Great's equivalent collection (which is more omg look at this three-headed baby!) and seems less grotesque as a result. It was worth seeing.

Loved the Soane museum too.

Soane and the Hunterian are both fantastic...what are other notable small museums in London?

The Petrie Museum, maybe? I have been meaning to go for a while.

The Horniman - not as quirky but it does have a giant overstuffed walrus. Dennis Severs' house - not yet got around to it meself.

William Morris' House in Walthamstow is worth a look, depending on how you feel about the Arts & Crafts movement. Not exactly small, but often overlooked and amazing is the Wallace Collection- Poussin, Canaletto, Gainsborough and the Laughing Cavalier plus loads of armour, porcelain etc. One of my favourite galleries anywhere.

Wallace Collection is great - and well located as part of an overall Marylebone walk from Edgware Road tube that takes in leafy Montagu and Bryanston Squares, through Manchester Square and up Marylebone High St.

Dulwich Picture Gallery's another, strong trad painting collection, often very strong temporary exhibitions, beautiful John Soane building.

I really like the Geffrye Museum, maybe that's a bit big to qualify...?

Leighton House, off Kensington High St., near Holland Park (and Jimmy Page and Michael Winner) is worth a visit as a slightly unusual small museum.

(I read that as "usually unsightly", maybe it was the mention of Michael and Jimmy.)

Was going to chime in with Prince Henry's Room on Fleet St, but apparently it's closed.

Horniman is great and the surrounding grounds have recently been redone (I think they should be finished now) and have a nice view over London.

Went to the Petrie today. It's really interesting. Small but packed with artifacts. Quiet, too.

The William Klein / Daido Moriyama show at the Tate Modern is worth seeing. A Bigger Splash: Painting After Performance is as underwhelming as the reviews suggest, though. The Tanks are great.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64340000/jpg/_64340140_naked.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20466764

i just think it's brilliant that someone is standing up for what they believe in.

Police - "There's no obvious motive that we can see"

nudist rights, general fighting of the power, right to rub your knackers on a statue's head.

can understand why someone would strip off in rage at whitehall's parade of memorials to warmongers tbh.

vilest road in the capital.

danger of making fun of the mentally ill but lauging with him not at him
http://news.sky.com/story/1015578/naked-man-climbs-on-to-whitehall-statue (video therein)

he must be chilly, it's could out today.

"cold"

"Eyewitnesses said the man could be seen waving his arms"

not the only things he was waving

(sorry v boring at work today)

If you were starting a London day off along the King's Road and ending up at Paddington, where would you want to be inbetween? Interesting shops, nice caffs etc. I realise this is very vague.

exhibition road, bibendum, hyde park

Walk by ridiculous shops on Sloane Street, buy Harvey Nichols food hall products for posh but not too expensive gifts, Serpentine Gallery, dim sum at Royal China on Queensway.

Do you like dinosaurs?

It guess it depends on what you want (a lot of it also comes down to your take on "nice" [read: £££] parts of the city) but I'd say: exhibition road is indeed nice (this also gives you the option of stopping into the the VA or exercising your hypothetical like of dinosaurs), Hyde Park is Hyde Park, and I'd probably go to Notting Hill/Portobello Market, too (though I realize you may not share my willingness to devote all one's time and money to the Notting hill music video exchange and Honest Jons). Also, the semi-closed off road alongside the west end of hyde park with all the embassies makes for a really nice walk.

Depending on route, you could stop for a tea or coffee at the Albert Hall and then admire the Albert Memorial across the road, then walking across Hyde Park.

Other possibilities: I quite like the unlikely looking walk through Paddington Station alongside platforms 8 and 9 (i think) that brings you out on the Paddington Basin of the Grand Union Canal. A very short walk along the canal in the left direction takes you to the houseboats of Little Venice.

Thanks for suggestions. In the olden days, the route probably would have taken in a record shop or two.

[For future reference, not a fan of dinosaurs, particularly].

just bought a ticket to london for 2 weeks in may. super pumped.

What about you - do you like dinosaurs?

I'd wager he does.

I am flying in especially for dinosaurs yes

Cool. I'll see what I can find.

crystal palace park, natural history museum, probably more

I think those are just models / fossils and stuff, not the real thing

Revived, ahead of a jaunt to London tomorrow.
And to see where the dinosaur conversation goes.

Well, I'll probably be run off the London Restaurants thread, if not out of town, but I quite like the Pheasantry on the Kings Road - a Pizza Express in a Georgian building. It has an interesting walled courtyard at the front and the ground floor has some faux 60s artwork and pleasant ambience. The downstairs is uninteresting, though I did once sit next to a group of Chelsea nannies gossiping about their employers which was quite interesting

Other possible stopping points: I like the Victoria pub in Strathearn Place. It's just above Hyde Park and a few minutes from Paddington. It's a classic Victorian traditional style pub (Fullers - I recommend the London Pride). Plus for historic interest, you're a only a few doors away from where John Lennon, George Harrison were first turned on to acid in the 1960s by George's dentist (at 2 Strathearn Place).

And I do recommend Little Venice if you're in the Paddington area:

http://www.london-attractions.info/images/attractions/little-venice.jpg

Possible boozer: the Warwick Castle just off Blomfield Rd, at Warwick Place.

Shame that it gets dark so early at this time of year.

Just be very careful:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01568/ferns_1568189i.jpg

map of where bombs fell during the blitz:

http://bombsight.org/

there's a road i walk down on the way to work (Westville Road, W12) where a terrace has a break in it which has been filled with flats. in the mortar at the end of the terrace is scratched two pairs of initials and a date in 1945...

(oddly not on the map. although there are a couple close by. also nothing in askew road where the pub was bombed)