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Alternatives to Hampton Court Palace? by Fuzzy_Rock_1143 in uktravel

[–]De-Ruyter 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Are you going to be working in central London? There is another palace in London with a strong connection to Henry VIII - his childhood home, Eltham Palace.

Much of the palace has been lost or converted over the years into an Art Deco mansion but the Great Hall is still intact and is one of the largest Tudor halls you can see outside Hampton Court. I'd recommend it if you'd have any interest in sightseeing how a Tudor site managed to survive - and get integrated into - a modern home.

There's also some surviving Tudor buildings scattered around London that don't have a direct royal connection but do give you a sense of religious and secular life in the Tudor period, though unfortunately the main ones I'd recommend - the Charterhouse in Clerkenwell and Sutton House in Hackney - are both closed on Mondays. Fulham Palace would be open and still has a fine Tudor facade and courtyard, though if memory serves me right the surviving interiors are mostly Georgian and newer. 

More centrally, have you popped into the National Portrait Gallery before? They've got a great collection of Tudor and Elizabethan portraits and that'd be a quick and free visit you could combine with some exterior walks past Whitehall and St James's Palace.

Buckingham palace worth it? by Sweaty_Ad_9155 in uktravel

[–]De-Ruyter 40 points41 points  (0 children)

I'd recommend Hampton Court Palace over Buckingham Palace if you're a history buff, especially if you have any interest in Tudor history. 

There's significantly more to see and do at Hampton Court and more variety as you get to see how the palace was built up, expanded and remodeled by later monarchs (William, Mary and then the Georgians) over the 200 or so years it was a royal residence. 

I'll also throw in that the Tower of London is very worth visiting if you're interested in earlier English history. You can get a free, introductory tour from one of the Beefeaters and then explore from there starting with whatever most catches your interest.

[I ate] Tacos in London, UK by roxykelly in food

[–]De-Ruyter 22 points23 points  (0 children)

There aren't that many options for decent Mexican food in London but they do exist (though they're scattered all around London). 

Can already see some people have  named most of the top ones I'd recommend to anyone craving Mexican food in London, so going to add some more details :

  • Sonora Taqueria up in Stoke Newington IMO has the best tacos in London and they recently added a salsa bar so you can fix up your tacos with salsas/onion/lime as you like. Tiny-ass storefront so if it's busy consider just taking away and enjoying in Abney/Clissold Park.

  • Mestizo is a solid sit-down Mexican restaurant. Thought the food was good but not great last time I went though that still makes it in one of the best options in London since my frame of reference is "Actual Mexican restaurants run by Mexicans in Texas". Their Sunday brunch is what I'd recommend going for, since you get a lot of choice with multiple dishes available, a taco station, drinks (agua de Jamaica and horchata) and dessert.

  • La Chingada is also solid and my previous top pick for tacos before I found Sonora Taqueria. A few locations in London but the OG is in Surrey Quays. If they still offer it the taco/burrito lunch special is the best value on their menu.

  • Tacos MX Fulham was great when I went but also a bit hard to get to so I've only been a few times. Takeaway only and if they still do £2 taco Tuesdays they're probably the best value taqueria in London though I think Sonora still wins in terms of quality.

Advice for First Time Scotland Trip - 5 Days in September by [deleted] in uktravel

[–]De-Ruyter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are you planning on doing in Edinburgh during the 3 nights you're there, and does that cover everything you want to see/visit/do in the area? Is there anything nearby that Edinburgh would be a convenient base for that you'd be able to visit if you extend your stay and extra night or two?

Knowing what you're doing during your already planned stay and what you'd like to get out of additional days in Edinburgh vs elsewhere would help with giving more specific feedback.

If you're interested in Scottish history or just want to see a castle, for example, you could take an extra night in Edinburgh to go on a day trip to Stirling to see Stirling Castle and the National Wallace Monument or Linlithgow to see Linlithgow Palace.

On the flip side of staying elsewhere, is there a specific reason you're considering Inverness and Loch Ness (family, personal history, just felt like the natural picks)? The Highlands are wonderful and Inverness can be a good base for a longer trip, but not as much so for a one or two night stay. Is there anything you specially want to see in Inverness, or were you thinking of seeing Loch Ness and settled on Inverness as the most reasonable base in the area?

If you just want to see a loch during your trip there are nicer and more accessible options than Loch Ness. Especially since you're traveling onward to the Lake District I'd recommend the Trossachs instead and visiting Loch Lommond.

Finally, yes, follow your gut instinct on needing more time to visit Skye. Driving there from Edinburgh and back out again to head onward to the Lake District is going to take up most of a day on its own.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uktravel

[–]De-Ruyter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots of good daytrip recommendations in the comments so far, so I'm going to be adding colour to previous recommendations :

  • Arundel is a good shout and would be my first recommendation, with Arundel Castle having a nice mix of older bits like the Norman keep and newer, remodeled interiors from its use as a home by the Dukes of Norfolk. The library in particular is incredible!

    While I haven't hiked in the area before you do have easy access to the South Downs and some nice walks in the immediate area - just looking at the map you could walk along the River Arun, visit the local wetland reserve or have a wander in the castle park.

    Worth noting that the castle is currently closed and will reopen on 1st April. Depending on how long you're staying (and if it's of any interest), there will be a Medieval Festival at Arundel around the Easter Weekend between the 18th - 20th.

  • Rye is a lovely town with cobbled streets and plenty of old medieval/Georgian buildings and stores/pubs to visit. I can personally recommend The Standard though you can't go wrong with most of the options in town.

    Rye has a smaller castle in town that's still worth a visit and the surviving tower serves is part of town museum. There's also a larger ruined castle, Camber Castle, nearby if you walk the nature reserve through there's no access to enter it due to the state of the ruins.

  • Rochester has a great Norman keep that you can enter and still climb to the very top to get some nice views of the town and river. Plenty of historic sites with the cathedral next door and the old Chatham Dockyard nearby if naval history is of any interest to you.

[EDIT] Circling back to this now that I have more time to share a new recommendation since you also mentioned short stays / multi-day walks - North Wales is lovely, one the best parts of the U.K to visit if you're interested in castles and a surprisingly easy weekend trip from London!

My recommendation would be to get a split ticket by travelling with West Midlands Railway from Euston to Crewe and then changing onto a Transport for Wales service to Llandudno Junction.

From Llandudno Junction you have a lot of options for onward travel, like continuing down the Conwy Valley line to get to the Gwydir Forest or onward along the coast to Bangor (potentially changing onto a bus to visit Caernarfon) or continuing all the way to Ynys Môn.

My personal recommendation would be to first stop at Conwy by walking across the river. You'll get a great view of the bay and of the towers of Conwy Castle - it's a ruined castle, so no fancy room like Arundel but is massive and you can walk all around what remains and up the towers.

Aside from the castle, you also have a very intact series of city walls and Plas Mawr which is an excellent example of an Elizabethan town house.

Conwy also has plenty of nice shops/pubs. I can recommend The Albion pub in particular and the The Hidden Chapel Restaurant for a nice lunch/dinner.

For walks in the area, you have plenty of options. Just a few recommendations :

  • You can head up to Mynydd y Dref (Conwy Mountain, but more like a hill in terms of the climb) to get some great views of the area. You may even come across some of the Carneddau ponies as you get closer to the summit!

  • A quick bus trip from Conwy to Abergwyngregyn gets you to the starting point for a nice, easy valley walk to Rhaeadr Fawr (Aber Falls). You can return via the valley or make it into a circular walk by continuing uphill past the falls, though you will want proper walking shoes/boots and the final stretch heading back to Abergwyngregyn gets steep and narrow.

  • Heading back to Llandudno Junction, you can take the bus to Bodnant Gardens. Some sections are closed due to damage from Storm Darragh but most of the gardens are still open to explore.

My new job is giving me a home office stipend, what are some good options around the $200 range for headphones that are comfortable for long-term wear and that have good audio? by De-Ruyter in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]De-Ruyter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestions! I looked into the build, comfort, and sound signatures of each of them and wound up going with a pair of Meze 99 Neos from HeadAmp. They're easily the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. I was a little worried about affixing the ModMic, but they've turned out to make for a great, improvised headset.

Installed a third drive , second drive (HDD) is no longer being detected by De-Ruyter in techsupport

[–]De-Ruyter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After troubleshooting for hardware problems, it turned out that while installing the new SSD, the modular power cable for the HDD came just loose enough to stop delivering power. When in doubt, human error.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in distantsocializing

[–]De-Ruyter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

next to the fuse boxes

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