Two day layover in London, what should I see?

The Bass museum (now called the Coors brewing museum, don't know why every American beer I've had tasted like flavoured water!) is located in Staffordshire......about 2 hours from London, the Lotus factory is located in Norfolk, so unfortunalty both are out of the greater London are.

you could try the Science museum, or you could always wander around the likes of HR Owen or some of the other top end delears.

Then of course theres always the Tate Museum.....lots of pretty paintings unless you end up in the tate modern......lots of stuff people call art!

If you can get a hire car for a day give Kev O'rourke from mototechnique.com a call (he's on here as telaio) to see if you could have a look round his workshop (if you look in the classic section for the GTO restoration thread you'll know why ) there is also Brooklands, the famous banked circuit from the 1920's.

have a great time whilst your over here

 

Unfortunately (or fortunately??) Buckingham Palace won't be open in March. And all these car factories are well out of London, so you'll probably be doing of a whole day trip.

There are lots of galleries to visit (if you are into Arts), or you can just walk up and down Park Lane (just by Hyde Park) to see all these car showrooms!

Have fun!

 

My advice is stay in london as you only have two days. Otherwise you will spend your whole time travelling and end up seeing very little.

My top 5
1. London Eye
2. Tower of London
3. Windsor Castle (although just outside London)
4. Plenty of museums/ art galleries
5. Open bus tour (but take your raincoats.)

 

The Young's brewery in Wandsworth does tours and is within a few miles of your hotel - round the corner are several classic car shops eg Joe Macari

A river trip would be good too eg from Westminster/Parliament to the Tower

The Eye is probably the best though especially if you get a good sunset

 

I suggest that you head to Central London. In a well organised day you could possibly do all of the following (everything is in a suprisingly small area and all within walking distance)

The Tower of London
Tower Bridge
The Monument
The Bank of England
St Pauls Cathedral
The Tate Modern
The Globe Theatre
The London Eye
Boat Trip down the Thames (to Greenwich Observatory)
+ somewhere fit in a ride on an open top Double Decker Bus

 

Coys for sure, must see, and Gregor Fiskin is right by, as is Hall and Bradfield, all within walking distance of Harrods, and have some of the greatest cars ever, right now coys has a F40 and an old Dino race car, and Hall and Bradfield have a 750 Monza?? i think it is? and a some 250 GTB series ferrari... well worth the visit...
sorry for the bad pics, i mostly visit on the weekend when they are closed
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AndrewG is right: The London Science Museum.

Even though the steam motorbike is no longer on display it is just GREAT, and you can get there by tube.

There is a sectioned V2 missile on the ground floor, and there is a full size Newcomen steam engine lurking about, as well as the real ‘Rocket’ locomotive. If you like mechanical stuff it is THE place to go. Just before your eyes glaze from overload you should wander upstairs, past the Spitfire hanging from the ceiling. There are racks of piston engines on the third floor to ogle at, everything from a Gnome rotary to a Merlin. It is much better than tramping up to Norfolk to see the Lotus factory.

For a real contrast I also recommend the recreation of the Globe Theater. There is a good tour.

Have a great time!

 

Take her to the theatre. I've just been to see Mama Mia with an ex friend. It was amazing. The show is written around songs from Abba.

 

Last time over we took the Big Bus tour, it came with a boat ride up the Thames, stopped at the National Museum, the Tower of London, and watched the changing of the guard at the Palace.

 

Somewhere in London there is a McLaren F1 road car in a storefront, or is it still there? I learned this about a year ago and wished I would have known when I was there in '97

If it's still there, that's got to be worth a tube trip, especially if it's near some other things.

 

I was in London this past August when Katrina struck. I would recogmend you go to Victoria Station and take the double decker bus tour. Go early because the tour is long but good. Also, for night life I recogmend Ronny Scott's in the SOHO district. World famous jazz spot. Pictures on the wall of all the jazz greats! It is best to make reservations for a table, plus you will get in faster. In the area of Harrods, you will see numerous exotics like Ferraris, Lambos, Bentleys,Aston Martins etc. so keep your camera handy!
The Tube can get you most anywhere, and the transit workers are great with directions.

 

Like Adnaan mentioned, I suggest the London Eye. After that, you can easily walk to Parliament, Buckingham, Westminster and Picadilly Circus in a few hours. Great things to see on foot.