One Yank shares his secrets for feeling like a peer of the realm.

London is one of those cities that can take a lifetime to know. In the two hours I’d typically have between meetings, I’d do my best to gather string, yet I frequently found myself logging the same obligatory stops at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, blah, blah. So I came up with this tour. It’s the one that always makes me feel less like just another boring American and more like a real citizen of the world’s most civilized metropolis.

4 p.m. Take a stroll through London’s “green lung,” Hyde Park. Make your way through Henry VIII’s former deer-hunting grounds to Serpentine lake.

4:20 p.m. Hail a cab on Bayswater Road. Travel south through the park to the Victoria & Albert Museum, getting a view of Buckingham Palace along the way.

4:30 p.m. Arrive at the V&A. It has more than 4 million artifacts, so chop-chop — you’re on the clock.

4:35 p.m. Walk into Room 40 to see absurd eighteenth-century wigs and the famous pair of platform shoes that sent Naomi Campbell tumbling down the catwalk. 4:45 p.m. Take the elevator up to Level 3 to the metalwork galleries. Pause in front of the massive Victorian copy of the Jerningham Wine Cooler. Contemplate breaking that out at your next tailgate party. Zip by furniture, paintings and photography. Briefly consider taking the Tube just to hear the warning to “mind the gap.” 5 p.m. Take a taxi past the River Thames to the Savoy for drinks at the American Bar. They can gin up gin any number of ways here, but it’s best to stick to the classic dry martini that the eponymous American bartender Harry Craddock made famous in the ’20s.

6 p.m. Head over to Veeraswamy, the oldest, and maybe finest, Indian restaurant in England. Reservations are a must, though, so make sure your office calls the same day it books your hotel. Order fiery Nihari lamb served in a small pot. Sop it all up with naan. 7 p.m. Return to the Dorchester, still one of the world’s most luxurious hotels, to prepare for another day of more of the same. Brian Mikes, 32, is an Arizona-based banking consultant who works with small and microcap companies, mostly on alternative-energy deals.

Brian Mikes, 32, is an Arizona-based banking consultant who works with small and microcap companies, mostly on alternative-energy deals.

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