Dear british folks

[Captain Giraffe BAR]

Hey y'all, in a month I'm going to England to see some mates. i'm going to be in lancaster for 5 days and I was wondering if any of you lot have ever been/things to do there/places to go in the country/things to see. My mates have exams until the 12th and I get there the 9th so I've got a couple days to do whatever.

[Cast 1st MRB]

don't go leicester or london and you'll be fine

[Luna 1st MRB]

whats wrong with those cities?

[Cast 1st MRB]

both shitholes. If you go london posh side it nots so bad but

[Dawson 1st MRB]

[Peaker]

London's not that bad. North London is kind of meh, but there's Karl Marx's grave there, which I visited. Downtown London and Soho are really nice. London really wasn't my favorite city though, York definitely was in England, and Edinburgh in Scotland (Hell, Edinburgh's pretty much the nicest city i've ever seen). If you can visit York, I definitely encourage you to. Leicester Square can be interesting, a bunch of different people end up there. I'll admit I didn't really like Manchester, it's not really pretty, but the Curry Mile is awesome (A "mile" long street of indian restaurants, jewelers, hookah bars etc...).

If you want some more tips, i'd be glad to help, even though i'm not from England myself. I can't say i've been to Lancaster however.

[Cutts]

London is a lot of fun to visit, have a night out, etc. but I wouldn't want to live there as its just a bit depressing long term.

I'm around the south (in Reading, pronounced Redding)... Lancaster is proper up north, and basically miles away.

Its an old Roman town, if that kind of history interests you, so probably has some excavated ruins complete with cliché gift shop.

And it was the capital city of one of the major houses in the Wars of the Roses (medieval civil wars), so you'll probably find some

disappointingly damp old castles.

Other than that, I can't tell you a lot about it it... it almost certainly has a much the same sort of night-life as any other relatively

average English city: slightly dull. If you're with students they'll know the right places though.

[Parker 1st MRB]

to see some mates

any of you lot

No need for the vocab Martinez, you're not in England yet

[Captain Giraffe BAR]

London is a lot of fun to visit, have a night out, etc. but I wouldn't want to live there as its just a bit depressing long term.

I'm around the south (in Reading, pronounced Redding)... Lancaster is proper up north, and basically miles away.

Its an old Roman town, if that kind of history interests you, so probably has some excavated ruins complete with cliché gift shop.

And it was the capital city of one of the major houses in the Wars of the Roses (medieval civil wars), so you'll probably find some

disappointingly damp old castles.

Other than that, I can't tell you a lot about it it... it almost certainly has a much the same sort of night-life as any other relatively

average English city: slightly dull. If you're with students they'll know the right places though.

Haha I know a bit of history, House Lancaster was King Henry the IV and Prince Hal who became Henry V and fought at Agincourt right? Thank you Shakespeare and Age of Empires

I think I'll probs pop down to london, maybe on the 11th to watch England's first match. My mate says it's a couple hours by train?

No need for the vocab Martinez, you're not in England yet

Haha I watch too much soccer and too many britcoms to talk normal like. Try not writing like that after watching BFQOY and Never Mind the Buzzcocks every year

Edited May 11, 2012 by S. Martinez 1st MRB

[Grant 1st MRB]

Well I was going to make my own topic but this here popped up so nevermind. I am in London right now, Chelsea to be exact. I am at the start of a 6 week study abroad program in which I only have my classes on Tues. and Thurs. which is awesome because it leaves me tons of chances to go see the rest of Europe. Anybody got any suggestions on places to eat?

[Peaker]

Pub food in England is awesome, it's cheap and delicious. You often can get a beer with any meal for a negligible price. (And drinking age is 18 there) Other than that, there's this small place downtown, though I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. They make awesome fish and chips, and great Pimm's too! (Pimm's a cocktail). You'll find that food in England is more comforting than gourmet, but I never found any truth to the rumors that it's bad. Mint sauce is delicious! Oh, and try cask (or warm) ale when you're there, if you've never had any.

[M. Johnson 1st MRB]

okay the only place to eat is either a scream bar; or a nandos IMO.

If you like chicken you'll love nando's... heres a song about the place;

one thing to be wary of is a lot of fast food joints. Like alot of kebab/ fish and chip shops might fill be delicious after a heavy night drinking but they might make you feel ten time worse in the morning.

Definitely visit London Martinez if you can, Cast doesnt know what she's talking about! well Leicester is a shithole to be fair, but London is such a vast and amazing city.

Also if you should definitely hit blackpool which isnt too far away from where you'll be. It's like the run down seaside resort; super tacky but it's still pretty fun!

[Berg 1st MRB]

Link check it out around 6 min. the show is good if you check it out!

[Maines]

I personally would rather visit Ireland because of my heritage there. But London is up there in the spots to visit. Along with Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo

[Cast 1st MRB]

Must have just been the place i visted then in london. But i hate cities way too many people, the best things about england is our countryside and our historic buildings you know

[Griswold]

the british members and those abroad should all get together and take a picture. Should be the 1st MRB convention kinda thing in britain.

Make a place for everyone to go to and meet each other. Would be amazing, post pics if it happens.

[Cutts]

Pub food in England is awesome, it's cheap and delicious. You often can get a beer with any meal for a negligible price. (And drinking age is 18 there) Other than that, there's this small place downtown, though I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. They make awesome fish and chips, and great Pimm's too! (Pimm's a cocktail). You'll find that food in England is more comforting than gourmet, but I never found any truth to the rumors that it's bad. Mint sauce is delicious! Oh, and try cask (or warm) ale when you're there, if you've never had any.

I think that the old rumours of British food being bad stem from the 1970's when that was very true. But we're mostly over that now...

Traditional British dishes are very much comfort food, but you can find pretty much any nationalities foods cooked with reasonable accuracy

in most places. You can find the gourmet stuff aswell... but its much more popular to go out for an indian or a chinese, and wash it down

with their respective imported lagers.

Ales - yes - get involved. Theres loads of them about, with lots of ridiculous names (micro-brewerys are making a big comeback).

Pimms is an excellent cocktail, particularly by the side of a river whilst observing a boat race, but can be enjoyed any time.

[Bryant 1st MRB]

no. i went last year to london. food was absolutly terrible. the mcdonalds wasnt even good. all i can say is when i got home from that trip i pigged out

[Captain Giraffe BAR]

Bryant, you're fucking messed up man. I'm definitely going to London. Maybe on the 11th to see the first England match of the Euros. Grant wanna meet up? I promise I'm not a scary stalker/serial killer.

[Bryant 1st MRB]

how am i messed up?! im just stating it the way it is. every resturant i went to was not that great. i was never impressed

[Cast 1st MRB]

did you go to all the cheap ass places? And why go somewhere and have a mcdonalds you can have at home makes no sense lol

[Grant 1st MRB]

Bryant, you're fucking messed up man. I'm definitely going to London. Maybe on the 11th to see the first England match of the Euros. Grant wanna meet up? I promise I'm not a scary stalker/serial killer.

Sure that sounds awesome. Like I said in my previous post, I am living in a flat in Chelsea and pretty much have every evening free. I only will have classes on Tues. and Thurs. so if you wanna meet-up just message me with details and I'll try and find you

And Cast I came here mainly for the classes that the program offered coupled, the fact that they were only twice a week, and I figured it was a great jumping off point for the rest of Europe. I plan on going to as many places that I can.

I definitively want to go to Edinburgh and Dublin, but I really want to make my way over to Italy and Germany. France... meh not so much, except for Normandy, lol.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Grant 1st MRB

[Bryant 1st MRB]

did you go to all the cheap ass places? And why go somewhere and have a mcdonalds you can have at home makes no sense lol

because it was the last day there and i was sick of shitty food so i tought. hey this should taste the asame all around the world....no...it doesnt..damn..

[Captain Giraffe BAR]

Sure that sounds awesome. Like I said in my previous post, I am living in a flat in Chelsea and pretty much have every evening free. I only will have classes on Tues. and Thurs. so if you wanna meet-up just message me with details and I'll try and find you

And Cast I came here mainly for the classes that the program offered coupled, the fact that they were only twice a week, and I figured it was a great jumping off point for the rest of Europe. I plan on going to as many places that I can.

I definitively want to go to Edinburgh and Dublin, but I really want to make my way over to Italy and Germany. France... meh not so much, except for Normandy, lol.

France is awesome! And yeah, I'll message you once I know for sure. The 11th is a wednesday, and I'll probably be going to a bar with some friends to watch the match. Hey british folks who know London, what are some good bars/pubs/whatevers?

[Cutts]

because it was the last day there and i was sick of shitty food so i tought. hey this should taste the asame all around the world....no...it doesnt..damn..

Lol, bad luck dude!

I could've told you to avoid McD's in Britain (they're terrible) and stick to Burger King, if you really must eat some of that shit (Burger King are a lot better... not great, but better, and twice the price).

There are good resteraunts about, but typically your chain-resteraunts are a bit shit. And we have a lot of chain pubs that look like independent establishments (you only realise they're a chain when you

stumble into an identically furnished place in a different town, and freak out that the grandfather clock has all the same dents in it).

Anyway... Tips if you find yourself in London...

1) Head down to Soho with trusted friends, and go into one of the Chinese resteraunts there. Pick one with no white people in it for a reasonably authentic experience (they'll speak no English, so you'll

have to gesticulate wildly, and you'll end up with something utterly random but usually tasty. You will never discover what it actually was however, so I advise being extremely drunk.

2) Go to the Science museum (which I believe is free, with a voluntary donation at the door) and look around. Head to the Launchpad section, with all the fun stuff for small children (sciency machines

with levers to pull and buttons to press) and play with it all like you're 5 years old. I recommend being extremely high.

3) Go to the Tate Modern, on mushrooms. You can get away with standing, staring at the same work for hours whilst simply laughing about nothing... and you wont get thrown out.

4) If you're there for longer than a couple of months, get an Oyster card for travel (they're quite cheap, and save you from paying the normal rates (which are about twice as much to scam the tourists)).

For maximum style points, get an oyster card, carefully strip out the RFID chip and antenna and install them in a magic wand, and then Harry Potter your way through the security gates.

5) Hit up the Imperial War Museum, and take a look at some massive cannons. They also have an interesting artwork section, with lots of old political cartoons, which can be quite witty. Or they did when I went.

6) Go to a concert. There will be something you like:

Most big rock bands hit London at some point on an international tour.

If you're into Classical there is the Proms (which has dozens of different concerts going on over the summer), aswell as a lot of other stuff all year round.

If you like a good rave, there is usually 3 or 4 good ones every weekend to choose from.

7) Go to a market. There are a lot of them about, some on specific days, others all week round. Portobello road is quite a trendy one. Covent Garden is very nice, but tends towards expensive tastes.

Camden is a mix of upmarket boutiques and weird hippy stuff... inhabitted by students, ravers, punks and freaks of all varieties, you WILL be offered cannabis by greasy looking skanks! And crack.

8) Go to a football (soccer) match. Not my kind of thing, but as I understand it there are a number of good teams based in London who will be playing most weekends.

The game is fast paced, and the crowds generally very boisterous, so the experience can be quite thrilling, if you're into that sort of thing.

9) Go and have a look at any of the following buildings:

The Natural History Museum (designed by Alfred Waterhouse, who really knew how to make a building look magnificent, and coincidentally designed my school)

Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament)

The Royal Albert Hall (better still, see a concert in there)

Thats right.... we've built ALL that shit! The whole area around the Natural History Museum is filled with really nice architecture.

10) Have a BBQ in a park. Not all parks allow it (although you'd probably get away with it anyway). London isn't quite as rainy and dreary as portrayed in

the films you see... on a nice day it is simply excellent. My personal view is, Britain doesn't always do nice weather, but when it does its absolutely perfect.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Cutts 1st MRB