Wimbledon
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious. Naturally it is a regular feature on the Tennis calendar. London goes "tennis crazy" for two weeks when the competition commences in late June and early July. One of the greatest traditions is to eat Strawberries and Cream, with sugar.
Royal Parks
Take a walk through London's Royal Parks. A good walk would start at Paddington station, and head through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park passing Buckingham Palace and St James Park before crossing Trafalgar Square and the River Thames to the South Bank and Waterloo Station. At a strolling pace this walk would take half a day, with plenty of places to stop, sit, drink, eat en-route. A good pictorial description of this walk can be found online at Trips By Trains Royal Parks Walk (http://tripsbytrain.com/t...).
London School of Economics and Political Science
The only college in the UK focused exclusively on social sciences, whose courses are regarded as amongst the very best in the world. Often associated with neo-liberal political economic theory.
School of Oriental and African Studies
Offers highly regarded courses in law, languages, social sciences and humanities, with a unique focus on Asia and Africa. Its glittering list of alumni include many foreign leaders.
London Business School
Postgraduate business school offering one of the world's leading MBA programmes.
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary was formed from the merger of four historic colleges and since joining the University of London in 1915 has grown to become one of its largest colleges.
Summer Skating.
In summer and also in winter, for the more dedicated there is also a thriving roller skating on inline and traditional "quad" skates scene in london, catering to many disciplines including street hockey, freestyle slalom, dance, general recreational skating including three weekly marshalled group street skates and speed skating. this mostly centres around hyde park on the serpentine road and kensington gardens by the albert memorial. see the district articles for mayfair-marylebone and south west london.
Open House London Weekend
Explore many of the city's most interesting buildings during the London Open House Weekend - usually held on the third weekend of September. During this single weekend, several hundred buildings which are not normally open to the public are opened up. See website for details of buildings opening in any given year - some buildings have to be pre-booked in advance - book early for the popular ones!
Winter Skating.
London has a number of outdoor ice rinks that open in the winter months. considered by some to be somewhat overpriced and overcrowded, they nonetheless have multiplied in recent years, easing congestion and increasing competition. most charge from â£10-12 adults for an hour on the ice, including skate hire. see the district articles for the city of london, east end and leicester square.
Live Music
London is one of the best cities in the world for concerts, spanning from new musical trends to well known bands. Between huge concert facilities and small pubs, there are hundreds of venues that organise and promote live music every week. Many concerts, especially in smaller or less known places are free, so there is plenty of choice even for tourists on a budget. London has long been a launchpad for alternative movements, from the mods of the 60s, punks of the 70s, new romantics of the 80s, the britpop scene of the 90s and in recent years the indie rock movement spearheaded by The Libertines and their ilk. It has one of the world's most lively live music scenes: any band heading a British, European or World tour will play London, not to mention the local talent. London's Music Scene is incredibly diverse, covering all genres of music from electro-jazz to death-metal, and all sizes of bands, from the U2s and Rolling Stones of the world to one man bands who disband after their first gig. This diversity is reflected in prices. As a rough guide: £20+ for 'top 40' bands in arena sized venues, £10+ for established bands in mid sized venues, £6+ for up and coming bands and clubnights in smaller venues, £5- for upstarting bands in bars and pubs. London has hundreds of venues spread out over the city and the best way to know what's going on where is to browse online ticket agencies (http://www.seetickets.com...)?, music magazine's gig directories (http://www.nme.com/gigs) and bands' myspaces (http://profile.myspace.co...). However, there are a few areas which have higher concentrations of pubs and venues than others. Kilburn is situated in North West London. It's long been known as an Irish area, and though their numbers have somewhat declined any visit to a local pub will show their influence remains today. Kilburn's important venue is The Good Ship. (http://www.thegoodship.co.uk/) Due to its inclusive policies and fair payment system, The Good Ship is a favorite place for young aspiring bands to try to get a foot off the ground. Good for those who would like to see bands "before they were big", who appreciate £5 entrance fees, good beer and friendly staff.
London is one of the world's leading financial centres and so professional services is the main area of employment, although this sector has been hit hard by the global financial crisis. As of Mid 2010, the job market in London has recovered somewhat, it is best to check with recruiters and staffing agencies.
London is hugely popular as a working holiday destination - work in bars and the hospitality industry is relatively easy to find.
Wages are generally higher in London than the rest of the UK, although the cost of living is higher still.
University College London
The first university established in London, offering a wide range of courses. UCL academic research is cited more than any other university in the UK, and its courses are regarded as amongst the best.
Theatre
The West End, especially the areas concentrated around Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Shaftesbury Avenue and Haymarket, is one of the world's premier destinations for theatre, including musical theatre. Covent Garden has the only Actor sponsored school in the city called the Actors Centre (http://www.actorscentre.co.uk/) which also gave way to the London Acting Network (http://londonactingnetwor...), a London acting community support group. In the centre of Leicester Square there is an official half-price TKTS booth. For up-to-date listings see the weekly magazine Time Out (http://timeout.com/london) or check the official London theatreland site (http://officiallondonthea...). The South Bank is another area well-known for world class theatre, and is home to both the National Theatre and the Globe Theatre, the latter of which is London's only thatched building and an atraction in itself. Each Globe performance has over 700 £5 tickets. London's theatre scene outside of these two main districts is known as "the Fringe". There are tour companies worldwide that take travelers to see London theatre. These companies sell themselves on being able to deliver unique and behind-the-scenes access to some of the world's greatest theatre like this company in Colorado (http://mytheatretour.com).
King's College London
Situated in the heart of London over 3 main campuses. Offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses for a range of subjects at a high academic level.
Watch football
Take in a home match of one of the city's 15+ professional football clubs for a true experience of a lifetime as you see the passion of the "World's Game" in its mother country. London will have six clubs in the top Premier League in the upcoming 2012â13 seasonâArsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers QPR, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. A level down, in the Football League Championship, finds Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, and Millwall. Five other clubs are in lower levels of the professional league systemâBrentford and Leyton Orient in Football League One; and AFC Wimbledon, Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge in Football League Two. Many of the bigger clubs will require booking in advance, sometimes many months ahead, but smaller clubs allow you to simply turn up on match day and pay at the gate. You will be able to find a ticket to a quality football match on any Saturday during the season.
London is a huge city, so all individual listings are in the appropriate district articles. To make the most of the city's tremendous cultural offerings performing arts, museums, exhibitions, clubs, eateries and numerous others, visitors will do well to pick up a copy of a cultural magazine like Time Out London available at most corner shops and newsagents which gives detailed information and critiques on what's around town including show times and current attractions. The website (http://www.timeout.com/london/) also has major shows listed and there is also an iPhone/iPod app available though these tend to not be as detailed as the print version.
learn english
London is a natural place to learn and improve spoken and written English. There are a huge range of options, from informal language exchange services to evening classes and formal language schools. There are a number of unaccredited schools charging hefty fees and offering qualifications that are viewed as worthless. If choosing a course from a privately-run school or college, it is important to ensure the institution is accredited by the British Council.
Some links to British Council accredited schools:
Tours
London Ducktours
If you are in the mood for a view of London by boat. The tour bus is actually a D-Day landing water/land vehicle that has been refurbished complete with tour guide.
If you don't feel like splashing out on one of the commercial bus tours, you can make your own bus tour by buying an Oyster card and spending some time riding around London on the top deck of standard London buses. Of course you don't get the open air or the commentary, but the views are very similar. You will likely get lost but that is half the fun; if it worries you go for a commercial tour.
Open top bus tour
These offer a good, albeit somewhat expensive, introduction to the sights of London. Two principal operators tend to dominate the market for this kind of tour: The Original Tour (http://theoriginaltour.com/ +44 020 8877 1722 and The Big Bus Company (http://bigbustours.com/) +44 020 7233 9533). Both provide hop-on/hop-off services where you can get off at any attraction and catch the next bus; both provide live commentaries in English and recorded commentaries in other languages not necessarily on the same buses.
London Film Location Tours
London is the third busiest filming location in the world and has plenty of famous film locations to visit from movies such as Bridget Jones's Diary, The Da Vinci Code and Sherlock Holmes.
New London Tours
Old City of London Tour starts everyday at 10 am by the sundial directly opposite the Tower Gateway exit at Tower Hill Station. Royal London Free tour starts daily at 11AM by Wellington Arch. Use EXIT 2 when leaving Hyde Park Corner station. Phone number links to Germany.
Architectural Tours
Open House Architecture Tours take place every Saturday morning and offer an opportunity to experience London’s built environment at first hand. The tour guides, all of whom are architects, architectural writers or architectural historians, have an in-depth knowledge of London, enabling them to provide an intelligent but accessible commentary to the tours. Four geographical areas are rotated on a weekly basis: The Square Mile, Edges of the City, Westminster and Docklands. Please note that a coach is used to get you to the key destinations, with some walking in-between.