Short but Sweet in London

Some of the highlights of London for our family included visits to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, and the Cabinet War Rooms. We also enjoyed strolling around the city, through Covent Garden, along Whitehall, down to Trafalgar Square, and within London's lovely parks. Shopping at Harrod's was amazing, and a relaxing cruise on the lovely Thames is a must!

Quick Tips:

Dealing with jet lag: As tempted as you might be to take a nap after you arrive in London (our flight from L.A. arrived in the afternoon), do everything you can to stay awake as long as you can! We checked into our hotel at 2pm, dropped our bags, had a quick lunch, and took off. By the time we returned to our hotel at 9pm, we all fell asleep like logs and slept until morning.

Best Way To Get Around:

The TUBE (London's subway system) is fantastic. We got nearly everywhere using it. There are special discounts for families and for short stays, so make sure you check out all the options before you buy your tickets. London is also a great place to walk, so bring comfortable shoes. However, a visit to London is not complete without at least one ride in a taxi. London taxi drivers are like mini-tour guides, and the cabs are roomy and especially fun for kids! (Do not attempt to rent a car to explore London.)

Our "suite" (tiny by American standards) overlooked gorgeous Green Park. The hotel was beautiful and clean, the service was excellent, and there were many luxury amenities. However, other than sleeping and showering, we spent hardly any time in our hotel.

The hotel is very conveniently located in the heart of the city. Park Lane is also close to a Starbucks, which is great for a quick breakfast, and to the TUBE. We were able to get everywhere from the Tube stop, and walking around Mayfair was lovely. If you have plenty of time, long walks can take you all the way to Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Westminister Abbey, and the Parliament Buildings. I would definitely stay there again.

After exploring the Tower of London, our family of four needed to get back to the Westminster Bridge area. Next on our agenda was seeing Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings, and walking down Whitehall. We could have taken another cab or hopped on the tube, but instead we opted for a lovely cruise along the Thames. We bought tickets and boarded at the dock right in front of the Tower of London.

The ride was so serene and so beautiful! We enjoyed a great narration of the sights on either side of us with interesting historical backgrounds (as well as corny humor!). And... we got to sit and REST after a lot of sightseeing. It truly was an extremely pleasant experience. We got off at Westminster Bridge, rejuvenated, and were ready for more exploring!

There are so many wonderful museums in London, so you really need to narrow it down when travelling with kids in order to make it enjoyable for everyone. We chose the British Museum, or as one of our friend's son's pointed out, "The Museum of Stolen Artifacts."

The best way to see this museum with kids is to decide ahead of time what you want to see, go straight to see it, enjoy it, and leave. The museum has a great website, so you can check out what you're interested in and be prepared. (We had five kids with us, ages 14, 13, 12, 11, and 10--not all ours!) We all enjoyed the Egyptian wing with the mummies and the Rosetta Stone. We also enjoyed seeing the Elgin Marbles, as we knew were later travelling to Athens. It was all fascinating, andyet we were in and out within an hour or so. We knew we had many more museum visits ahead in our travels, so we wanted to make it meaningful and enjoyable for the kids.

Be sure to also check out the beautiful library in the center courtyard. We also enjoyed taking the Tube to Covent Garden and then walking to the British Museum from there. There were lots of places to eat, and it was great people-watching. We did get a bit lost, so it's good to have a city map with you.

We took this walk in the late afternoon on a weekday, so the hustle-and-bustle of London was lots of fun to watch.

Start at Westminster Bridge, enjoying the view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the middle of the bridge, and then walk back towards the city. The view up and down the river from here is gorgeous as well.

At Parliament Square, you can also get a glimpse of the two white towers of the beautiful Westminster Abbey (definitely worth a visit!) In Parliament Square, there's a famous statue of Winston Churchill and other important dignitaries.

As you start your stroll down Whitehall, you will see all the most important buildings in London--ministries of finance, treasury, etc. Stop at the Cenotaph, a beautiful monument honoring the dead of WWI and WWII. Depending on the level of security, you can also peek down Downing Street to see the prime minister's residence. You can also see the horse guards a little farther down.

As you walk, look occasionally back towards Big Ben. The views up and down this street give continually great photo ops.

We stopped for beer and fish-and-chips at Clarence Pub along the way. Delicious!

Soon you'll be at Trafalgar Square, where you can climb the lions, feed the pigeons, and people-watch. Soak it in!

If you're not too tired, you can head down up to Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. We walked down Piccadilly toward Green Park back to our hotel. There were many opportunities to buys souvenirs or stop for a snack.

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few." - W. Churchill
The War Rooms were Churchill's underground headquarters for fighting World War II. All the rooms are perfectly preserved, so you become completely immersed in what it was like from 1939 to 1945 in London. There is an excellent audiotape tour that takes about an hour. It gives all the interesting historical details you would want to know.

My husband and I took five kids to the Cabinet War Rooms (ages 10 to 14), and it was a big hit for everyone! We adults felt we experienced an amazing slice of history. The kids thought it was "really cool."