GECCO was held on the site where Charles Darwin lived.
University College London
is in the heart of Londonmap.
It is in Bloomsbury,
with the British Museum,
Covent garden,
Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, etc,
in the
park,
Soho (theatres)
and
Oxford Street all close by. UCL is served by no less than five
underground stations.
Tube map.Post Offices.
More Information
See GECCO-2007
for about electronic submission
procedures, formatting details, student travel grants, the latest list
of tutorials and workshop, late-breaking papers, and more.
For technical matters contact Conference Chair
Hod Lipson
at
Hod.Lipson@cornell.edu. For conference administration matters contact
Primary Support Staff at gecco-admin@tigerscience.com.
Small and densely packed with antiquities, painting and architectural
curiosities which Sir John 1753-1837 collected.
Remember to ask to see his architecture drawings and stay to see the
oil paintings.
Avoid weekends and peak hours.
Holborn
WC2A 3BP
map
Changing of the Guard
Victoria
St. James'
Hyde Park Corner
Green Park
SW1A 1AA
map
Hampton Court Palace
lies on the River Thames,
a couple of miles west of Kingston-upon-Thames.
It can be reach by train from Waterloo in about half an hour.
Hampton Court Palace promises a magical journey back through 500 years of royal history. Discover the magnificent State Apartments of Henry VIII and William III, explore 60 acres of immaculate riverside gardens and lose yourself in the world-famous maze.
KT8 9AU
map
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is in Kensington Gardens (Hyde Park).
Queensway
Kensington High Street
South Kensington
Notting Hill Gate
W8 4PX
map
Well worth five quid. Return From The Market. Made of stone.
During GECCO, Arthur Gilbert's art collection,
which has been shown at the Los Angles County Museum and other
museums in the USA, will be exhibited beside the river Thames in
Somerset House.
(Avoid the paper cup tea in the Cafe at the south end of the square with
fountains).
Toilets
Large public buildings, museums, art galleries, departments stores
have loos.
As do restaurants.
All pubs and bars have WCs for their customers,
when open, mostly they will let you use them if you ask.
Note: some of the smaller cafes do not.
The larger London railway stations charge 20p to use their conveniences.
The WCs at UCL are scattered about the buildings.
There are some underneath the South Cloister (known as South Junction).
Near the shop.
Travel
To London
France and Belgium
Trains
from Paris (≈2½ hours) or Brussels (≈3h) arrives at London Waterloo.
The Northern line (black) leads directly from Waterloo to UCL
(Warren street and Goodge Street are both within Walking distance of
GECCO).
map
Holland
This service may have changed
Boat and train?
U reist al vanaf € 39 per enkele reis per persoon van ieder NS station in Nederland naar hartje Londen.
Arrive at Liverpool Street.
Take the Circle line yellow or Metropolitan line purple to Euston Square,
or take the
Central line red to Tottenham Court Road.
Tottenham Court Road is a slightly longer walk to UCL.
map
LHR Heathrow Airport
LHR
The worlds busiest international airport.
There are 4 terminals.
Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are within walking distance of each other.
Terminal 4 can be reached by special (free) train.
The train service
goes to London Paddington in 15 minutes
(23 mins from Terminal 4).
At Paddington take either Hammersmith and City purple
or Circle yellow underground to Euston Square.
map
The London underground Piccadilly line (dark blue) goes directly
to central London
(Russell Square for UCL).
map.
It is much cheaper than the train and generally
you can use your ticket on the rest of the London Underground network,
however it takes about 30 mins longer than the train.
There will almost certainly be a huge queue to buy a ticket unless you
use one of the ticket machines.
(These take English money).
ATM
All the major English banks have automatic cash dispensers at the
airport.
These are usually free for UK bank accounts but may charge
a small amount (one or two dollars?) for
transferring money from an overseas account and converting it to english
pound notes.
All the airports have many ATMs.
There are literally dozens within walking distance of UCL.
Cash machines are usually operate 24 hours, every day of the week.
Note some cash points (particularly in shops or bars)
may charge you
more to get at your money.
Map (incomplete) showing location of cash machines
near GECCO-2007.
Approximate location of ATM
(
multiple ATMs).
Public Telephones
Surprisingly there are a huge number of telephone boxes in London
streets.
You will also find some in public buildings.
The minimum charge is 40p and they do not return your change.
There are at least two companies (stupid or what?).
Some non-BT (mostly coloured black) prevent you calling the operator.
For serious (that is other than short calls to places in central London)
mostly they take a variety of special purpose cards as well as coins.
Sometimes calls can be charged against your credit card, but
this tends to be expensive.
LGW Gatwick Airport
LGW
The direct train to London Victoria
(Victoria line blue to Warren Street)
are fast and frequent.
Alternatively train go to London Bridge (Northern Line black to Euston)
and King's Cross Thameslink.
King's Cross Thameslink,
depending on daylight and your luggage, is too far to walk
map 12W
to UCL.
Instead take the
Circle or metropolitan line to Euston Square
map,
Bus 30, 476, 73 or 205
map
or taxi.
LUT Luton Airport
LUT
Direct train to King's Cross Thameslink.
King's Cross Thameslink,
depending on daylight and your luggage, is too far to walk
map 12W
to UCL.
Instead take the
Circle or metropolitan line to Euston Square
map,
Bus 30, 476, 73 or 205
map
or taxi.
STN Stansted Airport
STN
Direct train
service to central London (Liverpool Street,
Circle yellow, metropolitan purple to Euston Square or
Central Line red to Tottenham Court Road, longer walk,
map).
The train takes three quarters of an hour.
There is a coach (Victoria coach station) which is much cheaper and
takes much longer.
Alternatively take the train as far as
Tottenham Hale, change for the Victoria tube line (light blue)
and take the underground. For UCL alight at Warren Street.
BHX Birmingham International Airport
BHX
It may seem like a strange idea to arrive in Birmingham
but there is a fast and frequent train service to London Euston
which is within sight of UCL,
unfortunately the trains are vigins.
However Central Trains and
Silverlink
offer a cheap alternative which takes about 40 minutes longer.
(pdf).
In London
GECCO will be held in the center of the world's first and the largest
underground
railway system.
This is generally the fastest and most convenient way to get around.
(Estimated journey time in minutes is
≈2½ × number of stops.)
London Underground does not run all night.
Generally it starts to shut down about midnight (earlier on Sundays).
Times of first and last trains of each day are posted near the
entrance of each station.
Tickets can be brought at underground stations.
At peak periods and busy stations (eg Heathrow, Victoria and other
major London railway termini) there can be lengthy queues
and it may be better to use one of the ticket machines.
Some ticket machines give change
others give operating instructions in a few european languages.
There are many discount schemes for buying tickets.
Generally these are not available during rush hour.
(Avoid rush hour)
The simplest is perhaps a travel card.
The cost varies according to which zone
you wish to use.
The zone are roughly concentric circles.
Zone 1 is the center and zone 6 the outer most.
An underground travel card is also valid for buses,
and trains within the zone scheme.
If travelling by train into London,
it is usually a good idea, if possible, to buy a train ticket which
includes a travel card.
London also has a comprehensive
Bus network.
(UCLs postcode is WC1E 6BT).
There is a wide spread system of night buses.
Generally these run once an hour.
Night buses are usually shown in black or dark grey rather than
the red used for day time buses.
London's black cabs
(Taxis)
can be hailed from
the street.
These are officially licensed and are recommended.
For short journeys with groups of up to 5 people that can be fast and
cost effective as well as convenient.
Taxis available for hire will show a yellow light on the roof.
Apart from extras, taxi drivers will charge what is displayed on the meter.
Minicabs are also common.
These have to be booked.
You should agree a price beforehand.
It is possible to travel to Shakespeare's birthplace and
The Royal Shakespeare theatre
by train.
However you may be able to find a special
coach excursion from London.
Students
A number of student travel grants will be available.
Cheap
1.
within walking distance
B.
(Near Telecom Tower)
C.
(Near Russell Square)
2.
Also within ≈one mile (Northern line black
to Warren Street,
3rd stop,
or buses 29 or 253).
Walking distance of Camden Market.
You will be in the heart of London.
99% of people will eat lunch.
Sunday may require more searching.
A few suggested locations are shown on the
map.
Also see
LSE's suggstions.
ULU?
IOE?
On fine days, eating a picnic in the main quad at UCL and
Gordon Square can be nice.
Tavistock square and Russel Square gardens are a little further.
There are lots of sandwich places nearby.
Eg
Sainsbury's 145 Tottenham Court Road.
Cafe
Despite what you may have been told about the British and tea,
there are far too many places supplying poor tea in London.
Generally avoid ordering tea in any establishment which makes a point
of serving coffee
or anywhere which asks what sort of tea you want.
Especially anywhere which charges a fortune for it and serves it in
cardboard.
You cannot treat tea with such lack of respect and expect to get away
with it.
Too much Chocolate, Cafe Vergnano 1882
Leicester Square
The hot chocolate at
Cafe Vergnano 1882, 62 Charing Cross Road,
comes close to proving you can have too much chocolate.
Never mind you can always water it down with airy cream.
Open evenings. No WC.