A fast week in the London area

The London Eye was the most spectacular thing we found to do. Also, I would recommend Buckingham Palace during its summer opening. Getting away from London, we truly enjoyed visiting the city of York, and also Leeds Castle. Stonehenge was interesting, as was the city of Bath.

The British Museum in London is fantastic, but huge. Know what you want to see, and get there while you're still fresh, or plan on a couple of shorter visits. We enjoyed a quick hop to Edinburgh for a couple of days as well. But Edinburgh truly deserves a trip of its own.

Quick Tips:

We found the Great British Heritage Pass to be wonderful. I believe it must be purchased prior to leaving the US and can be bought for different periods of time. It offers admission to hundreds of sights throughout Great Britian, so if you're a castle or history buff, it's well worth the cost. Our seven-day pass cost , and we used it at six different sights, and there were several others that we didn't get to due to changing plans. We got at least double the value of the pass out of its use.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you're going to be trekking around London on your own, a London Travelcard is a must. For most, a card good for Zone 1 or 1 and 2 would be adequate to get you anywhere.

The Airways Hotel was really a pair of Victorian townhouses broken up to provide about 40 rooms. The rooms were quite small, and the bathrooms even smaller, but overall, we found it a very comfortable place to stay. The staff was pleasant and they served a nice breakfast.

My main reason for choosing these accomodations was the location. Barely a 5-minute walk from Victoria Station, it allowed us easy access to buses, trains, underground, and the main coach station, as well as being within walking distance of Buckingham Palace and other attractions.

It was definitely not the kind of place that luxury-minded travellers would choose, but for less that $100 a night, it suited us.

When we first decided to visit London, I was thrilled to find out that we would be in time (just barely) to make the annual summer opening for Buckingham Palace.

As expected, there were security screenings to go through before entering, but they were well organized and moved quickly. I had previously purchased the official guidebook, and I was glad that I did. With the incredible amount of artwork, antique furniture, and more in the palace, it would have been very easy to miss some of the more famous pieces if you didn't know where to find them. The audio tour helps of course, but I personally found it a bit longwinded. It tried to give more information than I found I could really pay adequate attention to while still trying to enjoy the visual input as well.

It's difficult to choose any one thing that particularly stood out. The throne room was impressive, the main gallery appeared to be nearly wallpapered with artwork, and the fully set dining table was a magnificent sight. Overall, there was far too much to even see to remember in a fraction of, but it was well worth the visit.

Rather than taking an escorted tour to the castle, my Mom and I purchased tickets from the national coach service, which made a daily stop at the castle. The weather didn't entirely cooperate, but we still had an absolutely grand time. It was late September and the gardens were still full of flowers and beautiful. As a plantaholic, I was very pleased to note that the majority of plants were labeled as to the species and variety so I could look for them at home. The terrace gardens were an absolute delight to walk through. We spent some time walking through the castle’s aviary, which contained a variety of parrots, as well as toucans and egrets.

One of the best parts of the castle complex was, of course, the hedge maze. More difficult, I felt, than the one at Hampton Court, because many of the paths circled, but a castle employee was stationed on the mound in the center to give guidance to the hopelessly lost. The view overlooking the maze from the mound was quite intriguing, and the exit through the underground grotto was beautiful. We hit these outdoor areas first because of the threat of rain, and when the rain did begin, we headed for the castle itself.

Leeds Castle may well be deserving of its title of "loveliest castle in the world". Situated in the middle of a lake, it was a wonderful sight. The interior decor was far more modern that I had anticipated in such an old structure, early 20th century. But the furnishings and artwork were wonderful.

If the weather had been better, the time allowed by taking the public coach might have been a little tight. We arrived around 10:30am and departed at 3:10pm, but it allowed far more time to enjoy and explore than any of the tour company tours, which stopped at Leeds Castle for only an hour or so.

Mom and I set off early one morning to spend time on the South Bank of the Thames. We started with a flight on the London Eye, an experience I would highly recommend to everyone. While the huge observation wheel is quite imposing when you stand at the base and look up, the ride itself was magnificent. (I would recommend buying one of the 360-degree postcard sets so you know what you’re seeing). We had pre-purchased tickets on line for the first flight of the day (9:30am), and fortunately, the weather was perfect, a brilliant blue sky and a view that went on for miles. Being early in the day, there were few people there, so we shared our capsule with only two other passengers. Capacity is 25, which I believe would have made moving around to see difficult.

The flight takes 30 minutes and we were never aware that we were even moving. It seemed that suddenly we were at the top and just as fast the ride was over. If time had permitted I would have loved to return for a sunset flight - maybe next time.

After our ride on the London Eye, we took a leisurely walk along South Bank past the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare's Globe and spent an hour learning about the original and this recreation. The guides were well informed about how things were done in Shakespeare's day as well as the current use of the theater. After a large number of audio tours at other locations, a tour with a real live guide was a distinct pleasure.

After leaving the theater we continued on down the South Bank to Southwark and the Borough Market. A very traditional produce market, with everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to meats and cheeses, as well as prepared foods to eat as you go. We were there on a Friday, which we'd been told is more of the locals’ day at the market. Saturday supposedly offered more goods for tourists. I can't say for sure, but I was certainly enjoying the smell of the roasting sausage, and turkey and lamb while I sipped a cup of delicious hot spiced cider.

There were actually other sights on the South Bank that we simply didn't have time for. More time to visit Southwark Cathedral and the Tea and Coffee Museum would have been welcome, but there were other things we wanted to see, so we passed these by.

While planning our trip to London, I also looked into possible day trips out of town and was immediately intrigued by the city of York. I found its long history and medieval flavor impossible to ignore. So early one morning, we hopped the train at King’s Cross for the two-hour ride north to York.

We had tickets for the hop-on-hop-off city tour, so we first took that around the city to get oriented, but York was very easily managed just on foot. The central part of the city is almost, but not completely, surrounded by the 13th century wall and gates (or bars, as they are called) and a one-of-a-kind barbican. We began our exploration at the magnificent York Minster cathedral, a beautiful, gothic-style cathedral with numerous medieval stained glass windows.

After viewing the cathedral, we began wandering down the narrow, winding streets. Some were wide enough for cars to pass through, but others were definitely just for walking, especially those that had over-hanging second stories. It was a charming area to walk and an interesting place for studying the architecture. As we walked along we sampled the baked goods and meat pies from some of the tempting bakeries in the area, as well as stopping into various gift shops. Down in the square, a band was setting up to play for the lunchtime crowd, adding to the festive atmosphere.

York’s history as first a Roman and then a Viking city was one of the things that had originally attracted me to visit, so we next headed off to the Jorvik Viking Center. Personally, I found myself somewhat disappointed in the place. It takes guests on a time- travel ride to the city of York during the Viking period. You ride through scenes set up with animated figures and authentic aromas, depicting what life was like in the 10th century. While entertaining and, honestly, fairly informative, I didn’t particularly care for the presentation. I far more enjoyed the end of the tour, where they had displays of the artifacts found during the archeological excavations in the area and costumed presenters doing short talks on different aspects of the Viking culture. The weapons guy was quite good.

Our last stop before heading back to London was the interestingly named Bar Convent. It was just too hard to pass. The name comes from the fact that the convent is located just outside a bar, or gate, of the city wall. Not a very noticeable building, but the museum it contained showed a fascinating history, not only of the convent’s foundress, but also of the lives of Catholics during the time of suppression in England. Besides the museum, the convent still houses a school, a gift shop, a small café, and guest rooms, as well as an attractive chapel. While found accidentally, the Bar Convent was a truly enjoyable stop on our day in York.

There were several other places that I would have loved to visit, including Clifford’s Tower, the Railway, and York Castle Museums, but unfortunately, we still had packing to do for our return to the States when we arrived in London, so it was on the time to get on the train and head back south. But I will be looking forward to an opportunity to finish my tour of York in the future.