For free music ideas, borrow someone's copy of the Time Out music/film/event guide or check Time Out online for non-free music happening in London, and see free music listings at the Free London List.
1. Hang Out in Piccadilly Circus
c Kathleen Crislip
It's said that you'll see someone you know if you hang at the Eros statue in Piccadilly Circus for 15 minutes. Maybe you'll see someone you want to know. You can easily spend hours hanging here -- you will see street performers, busy business types and travelers, and if you have a few pounds, you can shop Virgin Records (former Tower Records). Learn what the words "Piccadilly" and "Circus" and see some Piccadilly Circus people-watching pictures:
2. Take the iToors Soho Podcast Tour
I recently took an iToors walking tour podcast called "Subversive Scribes," which talks the tour-taker past some spots where famous scribblers as diverse as Dylan Thomas and Douglas Adams ("Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") wrote, misbehaved or starved in sometimes not-so-long-ago London. Excellent. Walking is free -- you just need an iPod. See the top 5 travel downloads for iPods, too.3. Tour the Tower of London with a Yeoman Warder
Yeoman Warders dressed in "Beefeater" costume (picture the gin bottle) give way cool and free one-hour tours of the very old, very interesting Tower of London, which leave every 30 minutes from just inside the gate. Bonus free thing: The Ceremony of the Keys has been going on at the Tower of London every night for the last seven... hundred... years (say that slow). Starts at 9:30 p.m., and you have to leave at 10:05. Tickets are free, but you must write via snail mail. Tower Hill tube.4. See the British Museum
You've got to see the British Museum -- one of the world's best and free every day from 10:0 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. It's possible to spend entire days wandering in here. Wow. Take the Tottenham Court Road tube.5. See Street Art in Covent Garden; Hit a Market
© Kathleen Crislip
Go to Covent Garden for the street scene -- there are always folks hanging and plenty of art and performers. Market stalls pop up on weekends. Speaking of markets, London's famous Borough Market is foodie heaven -- for fun, watch the weekend gourmand shoppers at this very old outdoor market near the London Bridge.
Take the tube to Covent Garden stop, or London Bridge stop for the Borough Market -- five minutes' walk south.
