Heading for the UK.. things for a whistler to do? Updated

[wvwhistler]

@MTGuru

Play your whistle atop the London Eye / Millennium Wheel.

There, that puts this thread back on topic.

Expensive place to play but I may have to consider it…

[Martin_Milner]

@wvwhistler

The Tate Modern is on my list as is the British Museum. My son is 10 and likes artsy types of things. We plan on doing a lot of wandering and see what strikes our fancy. I want to take in a session or three while there and eat lots!

I recommend you also see the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery if you’re into Art. Both are free (as far as I know) and right near or on Trafalgar Square.

@wvwhistler

I understand that there is a sort of open-air market (like an american flea market) that is occasionally (or frequently) held near the walking path along the Thames that is on the opposite side from St. Pauls Cathedral ( like in the area from Waterloo Bridge to London Bridge).

There’s a second hand book market under Waterloo Bridge, right outside the National Film Theatre on the South Bank (that’s the official name of the walking path), that’s open every day - there are often other stalls on special occasions, but not a flea-market as such, only books.

If you’re into market browsing, Covent Garden has a range of stalls that are worth a ramble, plus fun street entertainers (jugglers, unicyclists etc), and at weekends there’s a big market at Camden Lock, on the Northern line close to Brent Cross.

@wvwhistler

Also, is Visa and cash the best way to go around London? I’m not sure if the smaller pubs and eateries accept cards.

If you’re spending over £5, and if you’re eating in pubs as a family you will be, then I’ve yet to find a pub that won’t accept Visa. For transactions less than £5 cash is preferred everywhere. In the UK Visa and other cards work on a “chip and pin” basis, I’m not sure if your cards even have chips, but they should still accept written signature verification.

@wvwhistler

This thread has kinda turned into an all about London tourism type of thing and I will be understanding if it gets moved. My initial interest was to find out about sessions and whistlemakers in the area for the time frame I’m going but all of the other information has been invaluable to me.

The problem is there just isn’t much Whistlemania in London. Whistles are not a big deal for your average Londoner. You’ll see them played by buskers occasionally, and in pub sessions, and a couple of Music shops have more than just Generations (Hobgoblin and Macari’s) but that’s about it…

[avanutria]

Visa cards shouldn’t be a problem, just make sure your card company knows that you will be travelling overseas so they don’t think it’s stolen. if your pin number is 6 digits long, as if you can get a 4 digit one as all pins are 4 digits here and some ATMs won’t be set up to deal with 6 digits.

If you have a bank account with HSBC you can withdraw from HSBC atms here with no charges (beyond the exchange rate obviously)…I imagine this is similar for other banks but as I had HSBC in the US I didn’t experiment with other ATM companies.

I think most US cards (at least as of 2-3 years ago) don’t have chips but don’t worry, places will accept signatures for non-chip cards.

@MTGuru

Play your whistle atop the London Eye / Millennium Wheel.

I’ve played my whistle on top of the Monument.

@Martin Milner

The problem is there just isn’t much Whistlemania in London. Whistles are not a big deal for your average Londoner. You’ll see them played by buskers occasionally, and in pub sessions, and a couple of Music shops have more than just Generations (Hobgoblin and Macari’s) but that’s about it…

Yes…London isn’t a whistle mecca. Heck, it’s hard even finding an Irish session if you don’t live in North London!

[Adrian]

When I go to London for a day or so I normally visit:

• Hobgoblin - They do have a reasonable number of whistles and flutes and don’t mind you playing them all. There have lots of other instruments to try out.
• Virgin Megastore 10 mins away always has some new whistle CDs that I haven’t got on the third floor i think. It’s then only a few minutes walk to …
• Denmark Street. This is full of music shops and quite a few books of Irish tunes to peruse. I like to amuse myself by trying out guitars and basses if i have time.There are more music shops on Charring Cross Road but they are less happy to let you play instruments.
• The British Museum is close by. I normally read some of one of the history of music books in the book shop there!
• Covent Garden to watch the buskers. This is about 10 min walk from Denmark St. Lots of interesting shops around there.
• The Early Music Shop gets a visit as I enjoy playing recorders as well as whistles and they have some very nice CDs. http://www.e-m-s.com/front/emsframes.html
• All Flutes Plus to stock up on flute supplies and try out flutes that I cannot afford. http://www.allflutesplus.co.uk/2006/index.htm It is on Warren St at the top of Tottenham Court Road

During the week there are various things happening at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith to go to. http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/directory/links/apps/irishcentre/ Call them on 020 8563 8232 as there is always more going on than the website shows (even when it is up to date). There should be at least one session to go to.

[wvwhistler]

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who supplied me with valuable information. I think I’ll be able to enjoy my 7 days there with plenty of things to do off the beaten path and not have much trouble doing it! The advice is such that I would never have found out in any books. It takes experience to be able to tell me what you all have.

[wvwhistler]

I’m back! What a blast! I saw a lot of things and played my whistles everywhere I went. I played along the Thames from Westminster bridge to Tower bridge and back again. I played in the pedestrian tunnels under the bridges, in SOHO square, the quadangle of Buckingham Palace, Covent Gardens and at Stonehenge. Totally awesome. I did get to Hobgoblin and met Paul and John but it was getting late and could only try out a few whistles there. Time didn’t permit me to go back again and blow some bucks but there’s always the next time. Thanks to everyone for the great advice and ideas, the trip went off without a hitch.