First you must go to the Camden street market. This is positively the greatest market I have ever been to. From crazy Brits hawking every type of food from stir fry to orange juice to the Palm readers and all the other zany and wonderful shops between this is simply to die for. It is a huge market housed within the curved alleys and picturesque rooms of a medieval castle (or fort or whatever). The place is so big that you could not hope to visit every single shop in a day and even if you had the time you'd probably loose track of where you'd been because it is the least linear array you could imagine, alleys curving back on themselves, shops within shops or behind shops. And each one with wonderful Egyptian glassware or Bali instruments, Celtic, Nordic, Gypsy, and, of course, many traditional Brits just showing off their wears. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what was so great about the whole experience, but it was a wonderful experience and I didn't want to leave. In part it may just be the attention you get, everyone likes you when their trying to sell you something (although even the folks that I didn't bye from were very sweet). But I think that such a great show of individual determination and entrepreneurship was mesmerizing as well (after shopping around I watched the families take the merchandise that they were selling up and down the river through sets of hand operated locks) It really feels like your buying from a person when I bye something from these merchants. Not to say, of course, that I didn't get ripped off, I dropped a lot more dough then I should have, but I wouldn't take it back if I could because it was a priceless experience.

The second thing that you must do if you come to London is go to the New Globe Theatre. As you may know, the globe is where Shakespeare performed many of his plays, as you may also know it tragically burned down. However, I replacement was reconstructed very near the original site, in as close replication as possible. Which reminds me, if you go to the globe you MUST bye groundling tickets. They're only 5 pounds and they are the best seat ... er spot ... in the house (and in my opinion the only spots worth having). They get the best view, the best experience, the most fun and mingling value and if your close enough the actors may interact with you. Anywho, I just saw Much Ado About Nothing and it was positively amazing. I'd seen it before, but not in this brilliance. And after staying in London for 4 days, the Old Engish was a blessing (I had no problem understanding any of the lines, my only problem was booking the even ... the agent kep asking for my passcode, I finally realized that she meant postcode as in address ... crazy Brits). Anywho, marvelous event definitely worth seeing and amazingly cheap for such an experience. The only downside ... you have to stand in the pit for three hours (though there is one intermission).

Anywho, like I said, definite must sees, skip Big Ben (it's just a big clock), skip the Rosetta stone (don't really, it is cool, but prioritize), skip Buckingham Palace (I haven't actually been yet) but don't you dare skip these two, they are top notch, excellent.