Silly tourist question for London

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I know I'd like to view the rooms at Buckingham Palce and The Tower of London. Is there anything else there you would suggest if you never have been and would never get to go to London again?

I am pretty sure we will be limiting our trips in to only two full days.

I also need one thing you can do in England and nowhere else for DS 13th Birthday. He isn't keen on being away for his birthday so I'd like to do something memorable and extraordinarily British to make his day special.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Tea at Harrods (touristy but fun)
British Museum (see the Rosetta Stone and the mummies)
Trafalgar Square (unfortunately no more feeding the pigeons)
West End theater or a show at the National and you can have a picnic outside and watch the boats on the river. Also there are a lot of skateboarders on the waterfront there to watch.
London Eye (but get the narrated tour, it wasn't too thrilling without)
The Tower of London (Only in London! The Beefeaters take you on a tour and you see the ravens and the crown jewels. This might be the best!)

I'll keep thinking....

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Tea at Harrods (touristy but fun)
British Museum (see the Rosetta Stone and the mummies)
Trafalgar Square (unfortunately no more feeding the pigeons)
West End theater or a show at the National and you can have a picnic outside and watch the boats on the river. Also there are a lot of skateboarders on the waterfront there to watch.
London Eye (but get the narrated tour, it wasn't too thrilling without)
The Tower of London (Only in London! The Beefeaters take you on a tour and you see the ravens and the crown jewels. This might be the best!)

I'll keep thinking....

Yes to all of these and one other thing.
We took a long walk thru Notting Hill. What a great area. We were there on a Tuesday and they had all these vendors booths in the street like a farmers market. No sure if it is an everyday thing but lots of fun.

[Kay H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kay H]

I'm not 100% certain but if I remember correctly many of the crown jewels are housed at the tower of London. Maybe not interesting for DS but you will enjoy it. Mt sil and I walked on the tower bridge. Whenever I see pictures of it I remember.

[somerville Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close somerville]

You can't tour Buckingham Palace. I believe that it is only open once a year for limited tours.

I would recommend utilizing one of the hop on, hop off buses. You can buy tickets to some of the attractions on the bus.

Would your son like Madame Tussuad's or the Tower Dungeon. The dungeon is a tourit attraction near the Tower, but I have never been. It appeared to appeal to young people. There are about 400 museums in London.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

You can't tour Buckingham Palace, but you can go and see the changing of the guards. Once we also saw the troops parading over to Hyde Park? I think? You would probably love that, Lawren. Dozens of soldiers with busbys riding horses in formation, through the streets and across the streets and into the park. I don't know if that was a special day or if that's what they do twice a day.

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

I also need one thing you can do in England and nowhere else for DS 13th Birthday. He isn't keen on being away for his birthday so I'd like to do something memorable and extraordinarily British to make his day special.

Well, this doesn't meet your requirement that it be something you can't do anywhere else, but my 13yo and 19yo sons saw Wicked in London in June and LOVED it.

Sheila

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Keep those ideas coming!! I have one week to make up a loose itineiary <sp>

Buckingham Palace is open to the public in August:
The Royal Collection - The State Rooms, <br>Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace serves as both the office and London residence of Her Majesty The Queen, as well as the administrative headquarters of the Royal Household. It is one of the few working royal palaces remaining in the world today.

Today the State Rooms are used extensively by The Queen and Members of the Royal Family to receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions. During August and September when The Queen makes her annual visit to Scotland, the Palace's nineteen state rooms are open to visitors.

Which is why it up there in my number one slot. If I do get back to London it may not be in August.

Madame Toussad's sounds fun for DS.

I'd love to see Wicked but A) DS has already seen it with school <loved it> and B) DH is not a play person.

Is the Tower Bridge walk something a person terrified of heights can do? Don't tell me I never shared how I crawled off the Golden Gate Bridge! I never even made it to the first stanchion either.

You couldn't pay me enough to get on that ferris wheel. DS & DH can go do that one by themselves.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

Do they have one of those nightime "ghosts & haunted stuff" walking tours in London? I've been on a few in other places & they are kinda fun. Maybe a "Jack the Ripper" sorta thing. That sort of thing might appeal to a 13yo boy.

Just a thought

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Do they have one of those nightime "ghosts & haunted stuff" walking tours in London? I've been on a few in other places & they are kinda fun. Maybe a "Jack the Ripper" sorta thing. That sort of thing might appeal to a 13yo boy.

Just a thought

Oh, yes, that's a great idea! There are lots of narrated walks you can go on in London, including Jack the Ripper ones that I hear are good and crreeeeepy. They have ads for them in the papers and Time Out London, I think. And you can find them in travel guides.

You just meet up with the group at a designated spot, pay the guide, and go for the walk. DH and MIL went on a couple in 1998--not the JtheR one, though!

[chs225 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chs225]

Took my (at the time) 6 year old, 9year old and 12 year old to London. Their most memorable visits were

221B Baker Street
Churchill Cabinet War rooms Search Results
British Museum

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

Would your son like Madame Tussuad's or the Tower Dungeon. The dungeon is a tourist attraction near the Tower, but I have never been.

If it's anything like the "London Dungeon," don't go. It's no different from the cheesy display your local Kiwanis puts on at Halloween.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

And DH's parents took him to Madame Tussaud's back in the day; he must have been about your son's age, Lawren. He says it was pretty dull, they would have a display of Jack the Ripper in wax...but instead of murdering a prostitute, the wax Jack would look like an ordinary Victorian guy in a suit, just standing there in broad daylight in a fake Victorian parlor, looking like he was waiting for his tea rather than his next victim. Boooring! DH says.

I gather Madame Tussaud's has gotten a lot more theatrical than that now (our niece had a job acting as a come-to-life waxwork at the NYC one a few years ago), but I wouldn't put it under the heading of Only in London, Once in a Lifetime.

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

I had fun in going to the top of the church where Lady " D " and Charles got married. The Chunnel to Paris was aslo great.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Is the Tower Bridge walk something a person terrified of heights can do? Don't tell me I never shared how I crawled off the Golden Gate Bridge! I never even made it to the first stanchion either.

------------------------

I've never done it, but it doesn't LOOK that high. Still, if I had a fear of heights, I would stay away from anything like that. Why make yourself miserable. Oh, DH is here saying he's not sure people are allowed on the Tower Bridge walk anymore--he thinks they closed it quite a few years back, when he was still a teenager. Maybe that's why I've never walked it.

The big church on the London skyline, with the big dome, is St. Paul's, designed by Christopher Wren. Supposed to be a nice tour for anyone with an interest in architecture.

Diana and Charles were married in Westminster Abbey. Big tourist site, I haven't been there but the tours are probably good.

You used to be able to take a narrated boat tour ON the Thames, and I think you still can. We took the boat to Kew Gardens and walked around there in the 1980s. Very beautiful gardens. DS would probably enjoy the boat tour, but maybe not Kew so much.