We did this one on our own, Mainly DD and myself, as it was a work trip for hubby. Lots of fun. The cold weather wasn't as bad as it's been in the past month from what I understand, and the huge upside was that we had every tourist attraction literally to ourselves. Breezing in to the see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London was like racing through the queueing area at Splash Mountain on an extra magic morning.
I haven't uploaded my photos yet, but here's what we did for the detail-junkies:
Museum of London - this was a great start to the trip, it gave a wonderful history lesson on the city from prehistoric times to the present, in an easy-to-follow format.
St. Paul's - this was only a few blocks from the M of L, so we wandered over afterward and were able to sit in on an Evensong service - beautiful!
Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross - our Harry Potter fan loved this, but if you're heading there soon, be warned, the area is under renovation, and just now it's really only a photo of a brick wall covering a construction barrier, with the luggage trolley embedded in it. Looks ok in the photos but definitely not as cool as when it was the actual brick wall. Which I assume will be back eventually.
British Museum - we ended up here pretty much all day on the Sunday for three reasons. One, it is huge and really awesome. Two, DH is a compulsive list-checker so we had to see each item on the History of the World in 100 Objects list; and Three, DD is an Egypt nut and they had a special, very involved, exhibit on the Book of the Dead. We could spend several more days and still have things left to see. The bus ride from Paddington Station to the museum was very scenic. We were in the front on top of a double decker bus, so had a wonderful view.
btw: I used the "Travel Deluxe" app for iphone that told me the best route to get from anywhere to anywhere, using trains, tube, bus, and/or walking. Anyone who is doing any exploring on their own and has an app-friendly phone should check it out. Saved us tons of figuring out on our own, and was always right, down to the minute of arrival.
Tower of London - awesome, and we were able to see soooo much because of no one else being there.
Then we walked through various neighborhoods, ending up at the Millenium Bridge to cross over to the Tate Modern. (Another cool HP scene, this is the bridge that gets spectacularly destroyed at the start of HP #6) Tate Modern is full of really modern art. Not early twentieth century or art deco modern art. More the kind of art that makes you go, "hmmm, if I hadn't cleaned up that paint I spilled on the drop cloth, I could have sold it as 'The Feast of Bacchus' and made enough to fill the college fund. Darn!"
Hampton Court Palace - I'm a huge fan of all Henry VIII history stuff, so this was awesome for me. It also had a lot pertaining to William and Mary. Beautiful, wonderful grounds, and again, it was so cool to be the only two people there. As we were staying in Windsor, I hired a driver to take us and pick us up that day. If you stay in London, it's an easy train ride from Waterloo station.
Then we were off to Edinburgh. Loved it! Our hotel here was exactly in the center of the Royal Mile, so no time was lost to travel. We just walked for a few minutes and were wherever we wanted to be.
Edinburgh Castle - A nicely led tour gave us a lot of history here. It's less restored than Hampton Court was, but still plenty to see, including Scotland's crown jewels and the National War Memorial (very moving.) If you've ever been to the castle in Salzburg, this is what it reminded me of the most.
St. Giles Cathedral - we're Presbyterian, so this is pretty much our mother-ship. We all went weak-kneed at seeing the actual Covenant from the 1600s. Even if that is meaningless to you, it's still a beautiful building with a lot of history.
Camera Obscura/The World of Illusion - this looks like a tacky tourist trap but may have been the 13-year-old's favorite thing on the whole trip. Right next to the Castle, the actual camera obscura is a couple hundred years old and does an amazing job of projecting its reflections of the city down onto the large white dish set up to catch them. We were there on a clear, bright day and were able to see about 5 miles all around. It helped, again, that DD and I were the only people in the room with the operator. She really took her time to give us a very detailed "tour" of the city, with interesting anecdotes about everything we were seeing, plus she let DD use little white cards to "scoop up" the people walking and the cars. If you did this on a summer day with a full room of whiny kids, it probably would not be quite so great. The rest of the building is devoted to the kind of fun "sciencey" interactive exhibits that seem to be fading away from science museums these days.
Holyrood Palace - this is still a working Palace, where the Queen stays in Scotland. The audio tour was great, and in addition to the rooms currently used for entertaining, we got to see the preserved areas used by Mary Queen of Scotts and Lord Darnley. This includeded the rooms in which Rizzio was murdered, and a detailed account of the incident was part of the tour.
Museum of Childhood - small, but interesting. Basically examples of toys and other kid-related items from the early 1800s to the 1970s.
Walter Scott Monument - there are 287 increasingly tiny spiral steps to the top of this thing. The views were awesome.
Museum of Scotland - prehistory to the present, anything to do with Scotland was displayed here, and displayed well within a lot of context.
National Gallery - this relatively small art museum was very well-done. The rooms were comfortable and just the right size. Since we were there in January, we got to see the collection of Turner watercolors that were bequeathed on the condition that they only be shown during that month.
Royal Yacht Britannia - we took another double-decker down the water front to see check out this ship. Again, what a great way to get a feel for a lot of the city. The yacht is shown just as the royal family used it up until it was decommissioned in 1997. Really fascinating, and left DD asking how exactly one becomes a queen...
And then it was time to come home, and back to real life. Which I am obviously avoiding by reliving my lovely trip here. I'll put up some pictures in the next couple of days. And happy to answer any questions if I can...
I haven't uploaded my photos yet, but here's what we did for the detail-junkies:
Museum of London - this was a great start to the trip, it gave a wonderful history lesson on the city from prehistoric times to the present, in an easy-to-follow format.
St. Paul's - this was only a few blocks from the M of L, so we wandered over afterward and were able to sit in on an Evensong service - beautiful!
Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross - our Harry Potter fan loved this, but if you're heading there soon, be warned, the area is under renovation, and just now it's really only a photo of a brick wall covering a construction barrier, with the luggage trolley embedded in it. Looks ok in the photos but definitely not as cool as when it was the actual brick wall. Which I assume will be back eventually.
British Museum - we ended up here pretty much all day on the Sunday for three reasons. One, it is huge and really awesome. Two, DH is a compulsive list-checker so we had to see each item on the History of the World in 100 Objects list; and Three, DD is an Egypt nut and they had a special, very involved, exhibit on the Book of the Dead. We could spend several more days and still have things left to see. The bus ride from Paddington Station to the museum was very scenic. We were in the front on top of a double decker bus, so had a wonderful view.
btw: I used the "Travel Deluxe" app for iphone that told me the best route to get from anywhere to anywhere, using trains, tube, bus, and/or walking. Anyone who is doing any exploring on their own and has an app-friendly phone should check it out. Saved us tons of figuring out on our own, and was always right, down to the minute of arrival.
Tower of London - awesome, and we were able to see soooo much because of no one else being there.
Then we walked through various neighborhoods, ending up at the Millenium Bridge to cross over to the Tate Modern. (Another cool HP scene, this is the bridge that gets spectacularly destroyed at the start of HP #6) Tate Modern is full of really modern art. Not early twentieth century or art deco modern art. More the kind of art that makes you go, "hmmm, if I hadn't cleaned up that paint I spilled on the drop cloth, I could have sold it as 'The Feast of Bacchus' and made enough to fill the college fund. Darn!"
Hampton Court Palace - I'm a huge fan of all Henry VIII history stuff, so this was awesome for me. It also had a lot pertaining to William and Mary. Beautiful, wonderful grounds, and again, it was so cool to be the only two people there. As we were staying in Windsor, I hired a driver to take us and pick us up that day. If you stay in London, it's an easy train ride from Waterloo station.
Then we were off to Edinburgh. Loved it! Our hotel here was exactly in the center of the Royal Mile, so no time was lost to travel. We just walked for a few minutes and were wherever we wanted to be.
Edinburgh Castle - A nicely led tour gave us a lot of history here. It's less restored than Hampton Court was, but still plenty to see, including Scotland's crown jewels and the National War Memorial (very moving.) If you've ever been to the castle in Salzburg, this is what it reminded me of the most.
St. Giles Cathedral - we're Presbyterian, so this is pretty much our mother-ship. We all went weak-kneed at seeing the actual Covenant from the 1600s. Even if that is meaningless to you, it's still a beautiful building with a lot of history.
Camera Obscura/The World of Illusion - this looks like a tacky tourist trap but may have been the 13-year-old's favorite thing on the whole trip. Right next to the Castle, the actual camera obscura is a couple hundred years old and does an amazing job of projecting its reflections of the city down onto the large white dish set up to catch them. We were there on a clear, bright day and were able to see about 5 miles all around. It helped, again, that DD and I were the only people in the room with the operator. She really took her time to give us a very detailed "tour" of the city, with interesting anecdotes about everything we were seeing, plus she let DD use little white cards to "scoop up" the people walking and the cars. If you did this on a summer day with a full room of whiny kids, it probably would not be quite so great. The rest of the building is devoted to the kind of fun "sciencey" interactive exhibits that seem to be fading away from science museums these days.
Holyrood Palace - this is still a working Palace, where the Queen stays in Scotland. The audio tour was great, and in addition to the rooms currently used for entertaining, we got to see the preserved areas used by Mary Queen of Scotts and Lord Darnley. This includeded the rooms in which Rizzio was murdered, and a detailed account of the incident was part of the tour.
Museum of Childhood - small, but interesting. Basically examples of toys and other kid-related items from the early 1800s to the 1970s.
Walter Scott Monument - there are 287 increasingly tiny spiral steps to the top of this thing. The views were awesome.
Museum of Scotland - prehistory to the present, anything to do with Scotland was displayed here, and displayed well within a lot of context.
National Gallery - this relatively small art museum was very well-done. The rooms were comfortable and just the right size. Since we were there in January, we got to see the collection of Turner watercolors that were bequeathed on the condition that they only be shown during that month.
Royal Yacht Britannia - we took another double-decker down the water front to see check out this ship. Again, what a great way to get a feel for a lot of the city. The yacht is shown just as the royal family used it up until it was decommissioned in 1997. Really fascinating, and left DD asking how exactly one becomes a queen...
And then it was time to come home, and back to real life. Which I am obviously avoiding by reliving my lovely trip here. I'll put up some pictures in the next couple of days. And happy to answer any questions if I can...
So yes, book soon. Apparently the airline CEOs all want new houses. Or rather, want us to buy them new houses! 
on it, we got into a long conversation with the owner of our most recent Italian restaurant and asked him how on earth England and Scotland had attracted so many great chefs from Italy. He agreed it certainly wasn't the climate, and told us a romantic story about coming to Edinburgh for one day while traveling Europe. He met the woman who would be his wife, and that was it. He's still there 33 years later. 
I just don't "get" them!
) Just take the ".th" out of the first link! (just before the .jpg) That took care of it!
)
How odd!
