From Germany we drove to Calais, France to catch the ferry across the channel to Dover, England. We used P&O Ferries (found HERE) to book our tickets ahead of time. I highly recommend doing it before you go, I hear they are double the price if you buy your tickets on site. You don't have to be there on time either like the Chunnel (found HERE), which is why we didn't use it. We booked a time for 13:50 and we could show up 4 hours before OR after our scheduled time. It worked out quite nicely, especially since we missed our appointed time.
Don't forget your passports either - Very Important!
Our first day we visited the Natural History Museum (FREE)
It is absolutely perfect if you have children - our kids LOVED it!
Go HERE for their website.
Next stop: Buckingham Palace
Changing of the guards takes place around 11:30 AM, but the real action takes place before or around 12:30 or so. If you want a more detailed schedule so you don't miss it go to
www.changing-the-guard.com and click on Date & Time at the bottom of the page.
Unfortunately, we were having so much fun at the museum that we missed it, all the more reason to try and make it back to London again right?!
This is where you stand for the best views! In the middle of the circle at Victoria Memorial.
We then walked through James' Park where we were able to experience a true London park experience. Beware: a park is a grassy area with no slides or swings for your little ones.
The British Museum is a must when visiting London. Their website is www.britishmuseum.com for more information. Some of the highlights are the Egyptian Rosetta Stone and mummies, The Assyrian winged lions and the Nimrud Gallery with a Royal Lion Hunt story carved into stone, and the Athenian Parthenon dating 450 B.C.
From here we checked out ...
The British Library (http://www.bl.uk/)
where highlights include: The Magna Carta, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Beowulf, The Beatles, The King James Bible, Chaucer, Handle, Mozart, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.
If you do go to London do yourself a favor and treat yourself to some Indian food. They seriously have the best Indian food, it was delish! I wish we could eat like that more often.
After dinner we decided to experience The London Eye.
Go here for more information - www.londoneye.com
Tickets are pretty pricey ... actually I just looked at the website and I swear I didn't pay 37 pounds per adult, or 148 pounds for our family. Regardless, it's expensive. But check out that view!
I love how you can tell what time it is/was.
On our second day we started off visiting St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Diana was married and entered the Royal family. It was really impressive and we wish we had more time to climb to the top of the tower. As it stands, we only made it to the top of the dome.
FYI: If you do go with your kids there are two audio-guides, an adult one and a children's one. If your children decide they want an audio guide make sure you get a children's one as well so they aren't wandering all over the cathedral in the opposite direction you are headed for your adult audio-guide. It was really hard keeping track of our kids in here due to different audio guide directions.
Next stop: Tower of London
One could spend all day here and if you have unlimited time you just might want to. We only had a few hours so we rushed through seeing really only the Crown Jewels and The White Tower.
The Tower Bridge
If you look closely you can see the Olympic Rings hiding.
We took a cruise down the Thames River from The Tower of London to Westminster Abbey. It was a a really nice relaxing way to get to Westminster. On board a guy was giving commentary about what we were seeing and some history tidbits mixed with lots of humorous misconceptions.
None other than the London Eye ... or a giant ferris wheel with air-conditioning
Parliament ... make sure your children are obsessed with Car's 2 before you go and this just might be the highlight of their trip. After all it is where Mater is tied up and escapes to save the day.
Westminster Abbey
Where kings and queen have been crowned and buried here since 1066. If you run out of time to tour it during 'normal tourist hours' you can always catch and Evensong in the evening (around 17:00 or so).
Then run into the Churchhill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms - www.iwm.org.uk - you will not be disappointed.
Trafalgar Square (above and below)
Then catch a double decker red bus back down to Parliament and see if you can catch them in action. They weren't meeting the night we were there, but if they had been we would have loved to sneak in and hear some debating.
What better way to end your day by walking along the Tower Bridge at night while it is all lit up.
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