New Way to Look at London

This depends a great deal on exactly what you like. There are lots of museums, wax works, beautiful buildings such as Westminster, Tower of London, and St Paul’s Cathedral... the list goes on. The London Eye is a must for all visitors and is within easy walking distance of Westminster, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben.

Quick Tips:

A good tip when visiting London is to plan ahead. Try to buy tickets for things before you get there so that you can jump the queues. Another thing to plan is exactly where you are going and how you are going to get there. You can easily get around London by tube (underground train), taxi, bus, or on foot. If you plan your route, you won’t waste time trying to figure out which train to catch and which stop you need.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can buy a travel card for London, which for a small cost gives you access to the tube and buses. By getting one of these, you can avoid queuing for tickets and save a lot of valuable sightseeing time.

On lots of occasions, as long as the weather is good, you can walk between locations; sometimes this is actually easier than catching the tube. Some journeys look quite a distance on the tube map, but in actual fact, they are easily within walking distance.

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum is an excellent place to visit. If you have ever visited any of the Tussaud’s wax works at the seaside, then you may think you have already seen all the wax models you want to see. But you have to remember that this place is the original and definitely the best.

Although there is the odd model who is a little "dodgy", the majority of the wax models are truly lifelike. Remember that they do rotate the exhibits, so not all the models can be seen at every visit.

When we visited, there was an extremely good Graham Norton model which actually speaks to you. He was extremely lifelike, but the best bit about his model was the woman standing a few feet away taking his picture. She was actually a wax model, but we watched lots of people bump into her and apologise or get in front of her camera and again apologise--very funny!

I was extremely impressed by a model of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. Her face was so lifelike; I had to touch it to be sure it was a model.

Other wax models we saw were Jerry Hall, David Beckham, and Kylie Minogue, with whom my husband was very taken--he even stroked her bum!

Steven Spielberg was also there, as were John Travolta, Johnny Depp, Nick Cage, and one particularly impressive model, Samuel L. Jackson.

The list goes on–-members of the British royal family both past and present, including the Queen and Princess Diana. There were also political leaders from all over the world, including Bush and Blair, sports stars, pop stars, film stars...

You also get to go to the Chamber of Horrors, which has wax models of some rather gruesome scenes and prolific murderers, etc.

The London Planetarium is also part of Tussaud's, so you can go on a tour of the stars in the sky, as well as those on screen and stage.

If you are visiting London, it is definitely worth visiting here--you should not be disappointed.

The London Eye near Westminster is truly an inspiration. I have been on this about six times, but always for business and never for pleasure. I usually have lots of clients to entertain, so cannot normally enjoy the actual ride or the views. To view it as a visitor this time was fun.

We pre-purchased our ticket, so we had a set time to board and thus didn’t queue. You can buy a joint ticket with Madame Tussaud’s, as they are owned by the same company, and it works out cheaper.

The London Eye consists of lots of large glass pods rotating slowly on the biggest ferris wheel you are likely to go on. If you manage to pick a clear, sunny day, you can see for miles; unfortunately, on this occasion, it was rather overcast and not too good on the view front. Usually you can see Trafalgar Square with Nelson’s Column, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster, and many more sights. The pods are equipped with landmark pictures, so you can spot the sights as you go round.

If you are worried about travel sickness, don't. You are rotating very slowly, so you hardly notice it; you are, however, pretty high, so if heights aren’t your thing then you have been warned. I would, however, urge anyone to have a go on the London Eye. It really is an excellent way to spend half an hour seeing London as you cannot see it any other way. Remember to take a camera or camcorder, as the views can be spectacular.

It's a definite must-visit for anyone going to London. Remember, pre-purchase your ticket on the web so you don't have to queue, and you will not be disappointed.

The Natural History Museum is a fascinating place to visit. Even before you enter the building, the external architecture is stunning.

Once you are inside, the first thing that confronts you is an enormous dinosaur skeleton completely dominating the main hall. However, don’t be completely distracted by him; take a look around the surrounding exhibits, as these too are very interesting.

The museum contains all the things you would expect a natural history museum to have, such as lots of ancient dinosaurs, including a T-rex who growls at you, along with many smaller articles, such as sea creatures, mammoths, birds, etc. You can basically see back to the very first origins of life and then up to the present day.

The museum is divided into areas, and one of these has large glass cabinets with stuffed birds and animals. Many of these are quite scruffy and old, but the museum states that they are not prepared to replace these animals, as the idea of stuffing animals is now very outdated and many people disapprove, so you have to take these exhibits at face value.

If you visit the sea section, you will see dolphins, sea animals, fish, birds, and an enormous blue whale hanging from the ceiling. The blue whale is the largest creature on the earth, and you can really get a sense of how huge these animals really are.

The museum also has sections devoted to the earth itself, which I found particularly interesting. Here you can see all sorts of stones and minerals, etc., that are found in the earth and see how they are formed over millions of years. You also get to learn about ice ages, earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, and other natural phenomenon. You can stand on a metal stand that recreates the Kobe earthquake, which struck Japan several years ago; this is fun, although the real thing was not a laughing matter.

Other areas within the earth section show how tides happen and why, how valleys have been formed by glaciers, and many other fascinating facts. They really make the learning process interesting, and lots of the exhibits have interactive areas for kids of all ages.

One of the most recent exhibits is the Darwin Centre. Here you can walk down a long corridor and view 22 million glass bottles full of specimens. These include animals, birds, fish, insects, human body parts, and just about everything in between. If you are squeamish, then this is definitely not the place for you, but if you can bear to look, then it really is an amazing place.

I really think that if you are in London and have the time, you really should visit this museum, but make sure you allow plenty of time, as the place is huge, and although we were in there for a couple of hours, there were still areas we had to miss out on due to time constraints.