To expect to walk from London EC2 - museum lane?

[therenter]

Ok I am a Cornish girl born and bred. I have been to London once a few years ago. We took the children to the natural history museum and the science museum. This was pre my little boy who is now 6. He has just completed a topic of the Great fire of London in school and was so into it he never stopped talking about it. We are off up to Derby on Monday and plan to surprise him with a trip down to London aswell. We are going to take him to the monument and pudding lane. But I know he would also love the museums.
Are they in walking distance? If not how long on the tube and how expensive would it be (we are a bit skint)? Is there anything else in the EC2 area worth visiting? Thanx.

PLEASE go to the Museum of London. It really is superb and so suited to children as well as adults. Very different to some of the other museums which can be a bit 'dry' and boring. When I went to the Museum of London, the display for the Great Fire of London was excellent. He HAS to see that!

I have just checked the price of a duck tour (won't be doing that then!), but I also found the routemaster no 15. Which leaves from towrt bridge and goes to Trafalgar and that is £1.50 each for dh, dds 1 + 2 and myself (dd3 and ds would be free) so that seems a good option to go for.

Will definitely be taking them to the museum of London :-)

I'd perhaps start at Monument tube, go up The Monument, walk up to Tower of London (10 minutes) walk round it but not go in (costs a lot but it's great fun to look at from the outside) then carry on over Tower Bridge (you can get a good value combined ticket with The Monument that takes you round the engine rooms and over the high level walkway but just walking over it is exciting). Then down the South side past HMS Belfast (again budget will prevent you from going in but I'm sure he'll enjoy seeing it up close). Check out the mad ship sculpture in the shopping arcade and on to the London Bridge pier where you can catch a Clipper down to Westminster pier (or Waterloo or Tate if more convenient for journey home) and check out loads of landmarks en route, then home.

That would involve maximum sightseeing for limited cost and minimum walking. If you were up for a really full on day then you could start the day with a couple of hours at the Museum of London, then bus/walk down to Monument, then break for lunch and then do the rest of my route.

the 15 buses are not all routemasters, but they do run most of them between Tower Hill and T-Square.....was down with a friend in October and we went to see the poppies and somehow ended up as the only passengers on a gorgeous old routemaster.

the two of us went selfie mad! :D ...ridiculous women!! :o :o

look at the Days Out site, if you have train tickets you can print off lots of 2for1 vouchers, food and places I think, and also if you have tesco vouchers, usually some good stuff on the Clubcard Deals site

and just thought Lift times for Tower Bridge, I'd love to see that, lived in London for years and never seen it! I shall check for next time we are down.

We walked from borough market to st Pauls yesterday. Have been in London for the last few days. I wouldn't have done it with my kids. But was a lovely walk.

Tottenham court road, isn't closed but you can't get off there. As we were there a few days and visit alot we have an oyster card. Works out cheapest for us. We just top it up as we go.

I was in the British museum yesterday. It was busy, but not ridiculously so. You could see everything. Didn't spoil it.

Really recommend travelling about London on buses. All children aged 16 and under are free although 11 to 16 will need an Oyster card. The fare is £1.45 no matter how many stops you go. Mostly the on board display tells you the name of the stops. If you have Google maps on your phone you can tap on the blue bus stop icon and it will display the name of the bus stop. I also have the TfL bus arrivals app on my phone. Can use this to look up stops and also look up routes for specific numbers. It is relatively easy to plan routes that will take you on buses past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben etc and there is a lot that is free to do in London. I would suggest going to the Natural History museum first thing, for when it opens. Then catching a bus or buses to Westminster (or to Victoria and change to a bus like the 11). Get off at Parliament Square and tge houses ofvParliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey are in front of you (alternatively catch District Line from South Ken to Westminster although tube is free for kids like the buses it will be more expensive for you). Then walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. You will walk past Downing Street, and Horse Guards. Catch the 15 from there to the City to visit the monument and Pudding lane.

If you go on the museum of London website you can download an mp4 walking your of the route of the fire. A short film clip to watch at each stop, an explanation if what phoneme there and what to look for then directions to the next stop. Well well worth it and highly recommended.

Oooh cheers for that info TooMuchIceCream (by the way your name is a LIE. That is simply impossible)

I can't remember the name of the road, but off Fenchurch Street is the place where Pepys lived during the fire. There is a garden there and a commemorative plaque. My DS found it interesting as it helped judge the distances involved. It's about 10 minutes walk from The Monument.

There's another monument to where the fire was stopped/burned out close to Barts Hospital/Smithfield Market, which is fairly close to the Museum of London - the Golden Boy of Pye Corner (at the time the Sin of Gluttony was denounced as a reason for the fire, as it was caused by a baker's oven).

And just round the corner is where they executed Braveheart (Sir William Wallace) :o

I think you mean Seething Lane Gardens Peach. Not much to look at really but it's on your way to the Tower if you're passing (vaut le (small) detour, but not vaut le voyage).

That's it, thanks LadyIsabella

The other thing you can do is a Dragon hunt. There are statues of dragons around the City of London that mark the original City gates. DS used to like spotting them when he was little.