The Royal Treatment - (by Kate Schneider)
London, the capital city of England and a chance to see a piece of living history. We started our tour of the city at the infamous Tower of London . The Tower was built in the early 1080s by William the Conqueror. Through the years the tower was added to by generations of monarchs and its notorious, and often gory history, tracks its use as both a dominating fortress, plush palace and terrifying prison. Today it is also home to the spectacular collection of the Monarchy’s Crown Jewels.
It is more economical to book your tickets to the Tower in advance, and this also means you are able avoid the long lines of crowds that can form at the ticket offices in peak seasons. We had the tickets delivered to where we were staying but you can have your event tickets mailed internationally. Views from the Tower of London of the Tower Bridge and St. Catherine's Dock are beautiful, if the weather co-operates. But, in turn, the tours of the Tower's Dungeons and Traitor's Gate would make a gloomy day that much creepier!
If your plan is to experience more than one London attraction it is worth taking advantage of “Combination tickets” that will allow you to combine more than one London attraction for a better discount. Combination tickets can include attractions such as The London Eye, Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum and the London Zoo. It is well worth considering these packages in
advance as they often allow you to skip lengthy queues.
The London Eye was an extremely fun and a breathtaking way to view the city. From the Eye you get unsurpassed views of London and the River Thames. The Eye is directly downstream from Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. It is not very far to walk but the best form of transportation is The London Underground, known as “The Tube”. Public transportation in the UK is
outstanding. Whether you prefer taxi, bus or train the options for getting around the capital city are unlimited and are fairly reasonably priced. Trains run under and over ground across London and the UK – including to the major airports – Heathrow and Gatwick.
If you choose to walk down river, you can pass right in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral on your way to The London Eye. St Paul's does require a ticket to enter and explore the historic cathedral, but it is not very expensive and the ticket machines are situated right inside the gates.
From the London Eye you can walk across Westminster Bridge towards Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Tours are available for a price but we were more impressed with the exterior of the buildings. From Big Ben you can walk directly up Shaftesbury Avenue to Trafalgar Square which is home to Nelson’s Column and the Trafalgar Square Museum.
It is only a short walk from Trafalgar Square down to view stately Buckingham Palace, one of The Queen’s official residences. You can always tell if the Queen is actually home if her 'Royal Standard' Flag is flying. This April, well-wishers of Prince William and Kate Middleton will line up all along the historic Mall, up to Buckingham Palace, hoping for a glimpse of the new princess as she appears on the balcony of Buckingham palace for the first time!
Another attraction worth visiting is Madame Tussaud's Waxwork Museum, especially if you are entertaining children. We purchased tickets for Madame Tussaud's Waxwork Museum as part of a 'combination ticket' along with the trip on the London Eye. This was well worth the visit as the museum is spectacular and has something to interest everyone. I enjoyed the Celebrity Room, but my boys enjoyed 'The Chamber of Horrors' best - not for the faint of heart, I will just add!
From Madame Tussaud’s, “Harrods”, the most famous luxury department store in London, was easily accessible in Knightsbridge either by foot or on the Underground. The Knightsbridge area of London also houses the most exclusive hotel “The Ritz-Carlton”, where a nice cup of tea and cucumber sandwiches are recommended! However, just a short distance down from the Ritz Hotel you will come across The Hard Rock Café if you prefer more contemporary food and decor!
Oxford Street and Regent Street, which are prime shopping locations for London, we accessed directly from the Tube Station at Green Park .
And once we were ‘shopped out’ our last trip of the day we made was to King’s Cross Station to see the Station Platform made famous by the Harry Potter books and films – "Platform 9 & 3/4." Wizard!