Visit London: The Queen's Walk

On our first full day in London, we decided to explore London by foot, so we followed The Queen's Walk path.  

It's a self-guided walk that is great for sightseeing, beginning at Westminster Bridge.  You walk along the south bank of the River Thames, passing by numerous iconic landmarks and historical sites.  

We lucked out with nice weather, and passed numerous historical buildings, landmarks, and cool shops.  

Fortunately, there are numerous benches along the way, which was much needed whenever I needed to have a break.  

I always enjoy checking out the different styles of architectures in cities.  

We visited the London Bridge, which was not as visually impressive as the Tower Bridge, in my opinion.  

We stopped at Mr. Whippy Ice Cream, the Borough Market, and other shops along the way.  

We walked at a very leisurely pace, soaking in all the sights, and with the stops, it took us about 3 1/2 hours.  

We took the bus back to our hotel since no one was interested in walking all the way back.

It was a great way to explore London!

Read More

Visit London: Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guards

We decided to check out Buckingham Palace during the Changing of the Guards.  We did not want to actually wait in a crowd to watch the Changing of the Guards - we simply wanted to catch a glimpse of it.

And we did, thankfully, because I had no intention of standing around with 100s of people waiting to see the Changing of the Guards.

There were obviously hundreds of other people who didn't mind waiting for hours to witness the Changing of the Guards.

This historical tradition takes place every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 10:45am. 

We got to Buckingham Palace at around 1030am, and I was just amazed at how many people were there.  

We walked around the area a bit, and at approximately 10:45am, we saw the Guards marching in.  

The entire ceremony lasts 45 minutes, and although we did not get to watch the entire ceremony, it was neat to see the Guards and be in the presence of the Buckingham Palace. 

If you want to watch the entire ceremony, get there very early and be prepared for crowds and to stand around for a long time.  

Read More

Visit London: Madame Tussauds London

Although our family had already visited a Madame Tussauds while in Las Vegas and San Francisco, we decided to visit the Madame Tussauds London location not only because we scored cheap tickets online due to a Fall sale, but also because it's the original location of the now famous wax museum chain.  

Madame Tussauds London is divided into zones, with numerous interactive experiences.

Throughout the different zones, you'll come across celebrities (Awards Party, Film, and Impossible Festival Zones), notable leaders (The Royal Palace Zone), movie characters (Star Wars and Marvel Hall of Heroes Zones), and even beings responsible for heinous crimes (Chamber of Horrors).  

It was incredibly crowded (whereas on our visits to the San Francisco and Las Vegas locations, the crowds were nearly non existent), and you had to wait a long while if you wanted a photo with certain figures.  

It was fun to guess who the wax figures were - many were easily recognizable, whereas some were harder to figure out.

I loved that there were many interactive experiences throughout each zone, where you could press a button to get music, or enter a phone booth to listen to certain songs.  

You could also get on the Spirit of London ride, which will get you through exhibits of iconic moments and personas in London's history while sitting in a black cab.  

The Marvel Hall of Heroes 4D experience was super fun.  It's just like other 4D experiences elsewhere, where you watch a 3D movie on the big screen, with the added elements of surprise throughout (feeling "punches" or "water"). 

Because we got tickets for a late time slot, that could have been the reason for the huge crowd, so I'd recommend trying to get tickets for an early time slot.  Lines were long to get in (they do a bag check), and to get from one Zone to another meant having to navigate your way through crowds.  

It was still a fun experience, and if you want to visit one of London's top attractions, be prepared for crowds!

Madame Tussauds London

Marylebone Rd

London NW1 5LR, United Kingdom

Read More

Visit London: Tower of London

On our last day in London, we decided to visit the Tower of London.  The Tower of London is a 1000-year-old castle that is home of the Crown Jewels.  It is steeped in history, with a Royal Armory, a palace, and even an infamous prison where torture took place. 

I heard that lines to get in could be really long, so we arrived about 30 minutes before the gate opened, and the line was no more than 3-dozen deep.

We went straight to see the Crown Jewels, since we read that a line could form there as well.  No photos or videos were allowed, but they were indeed a spectacular sight to see!  There were so many dazzling displays of jewels and the history behind them was just amazing.

We then went into the White Tower, where there were numerous intriguing exhibits, and even interactive stations that the kids can enjoy.

I was a little apprehensive about the number of stairs in the White Tower since I was limping around with an injury, but the stairs were not too bad, and crowds were not existent during our visit, so there was no need to worry about holding people up behind me.  If you need to sit down, there are numerous benches throughout the White Tower, as well as on the grounds of the Tower of London. 

We also visited other areas of the Tower of London, including the Bloody Tower, Royal Beasts, and The Fusilier Museum.

While at the Tower of London, you may come across the famous Ravens.  The Ravens play an important role in the history of the Tower of London, as it was believed that if the Ravens left the Tower of London, the kingdom would fall.

The Ravens are quite intelligent and can be pretty aggressive, so be very cautious if you are near them.

You get a nice view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.

I really enjoyed all the architecture and history of the Tower of London.  

Tower of London
London EC3N 4AB

United Kingdom

Read More