It could be racist or it could also just be ethnocentric or could just be those areas are high in crime. And we won't know until we know exactly why Licurg's friend said those areas should be avoided.

Point taken.
Lets get off this tangent, sorry I mentioned it. I want to keep making fun of the guards and over priced cigarettes! :D

DELETED because due to recent knowledge gained, I can now see I wrote very offensive words here.

Speaking as a Romanian who used to live in the UK, the exact same thing was said about Romanians, all Indians and most people from different regions in Africa. Strangely I didn't have one problem with any of them.

221b Baker Street

Madame Tussauds (I know, you said no museums. But I thought this might count as an exception because it might be quite fun for your son. If you have the money - it is quite expensive).

If he isn't too big for that already you might also visit the Diana Memorial playground in the Royal Parks - it has a cool pirate ship to play on.

Or you might just go skating through Hyde Park. It's a very nice area.

Or if you want the full dose of touristic crap, you can book the Harry Potter Bus tour and suffer while your kid enjoys himself. :-)


P.S. Oh, and if you have your wife with you avoid Bond Street like the plague, or you will leave London a good deal poorer than you came.

*sigh* I deliberately refrained from using that word, to avoid confusion and/or stupid comments from people not familiar with British slang and/or with a poor sense of humor.

I don't think they were talking about "Romanians", if you get my point ;)

Poor sense of humor? What an elitist thing to say... Just because you don't find something funny, one has to have a poor sense of humor to find it funny? That is like saying, if you don't like the same kind of beer I like, your taste in beer is shit...

"Can I bum a fag, mate?"
"Sure, let me reach into my fanny pack"

There, 2 countries seperated by a common language ;)

In the U.S. in the 1800's, maybe later, faggot was a log. There is a cute joke about it in Rustlers Rhapsody.

Actually, he's not a Harry Potter fan. Probably because I refuse to buy the movies, since I find them much (I SAID MUCH!) inferior to the books. In a few years, when his English skills are better, I expect him to start reading the books. Yes, they have been translated into Danish, but they are better in English.

So I'm the only Harry Potter fan in our household, but I wouldn't enjoy the bus tour, I assure you ;-)
Not quite. Look around the internet, and tell me that the word "fag" is not both horribly overused and misused, mostly in a rather unfunny way.
That, on the other hand, is funny ;-)

The movies are way inferior to the books but I still have them all and cherish them all. And yeah, I could give two shits about the bus tour or the platform that evidently they've had to rope off because of kids knocking themselves out running into it. :D

And for everyone's viewing pleasure here is one of my favorite London related bits from an actually shitty movie. Still this clip is great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

DELETED because due to recent knowledge gained, I can now see I wrote very offensive words here.
DELETED because due to recent knowledge gained, I can now see I wrote very offensive words here.

I'd recommend (depending on where you're staying);

The Tower Of London

The London Eye

Hampstead Heath and walk into Hampstead for cafe / restaurant / etc)

The Globe

Tate Modern

Also Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens (if you want to escape the city for an afternoon)

and the aforementioned Hyde Park.

I wouldn't recommend

Curries in Brick Lane

Madame Tussaud's

Camden Town with a young kid in tow

Random stuff:

There's some great shopping here, but be aware that it's going to seem very expensive to you.

Don't be afraid to use public transport but the buses can be rough at night.

British food isn't as bad as you think. London has everything in food up to the finest restaurants in the world, so you can eat well here.

British teeth are just as bad as you think.

Be thankful you're here in the summer because you're going to do most of your smoking outdoors :D

I think wherever you go you need to be prepared to adjust and this goes beyond language and comes down to common courtesy on the part of the visitor. In the U.S. fag is a pretty despicable term so it falls on the visitor to be weary of that and not toss it around willy nilly. In the U.K. it's not a despicable term so again in behooves the visitor to be aware of it and not laugh at or criticize the locals for using it. This can apply to a million terms, words, and customs and I think it is key when you are visiting anywhere. Shit, in upper Michigan "chink" is a building term. In lower Michigan it a racial slur. It's the SAME state for Christ sake and yet this HUGE difference.