Loving London

We've left England's first city for last in these sight-seeing descriptions, but it is certainly not least in our memories. As with Edinburgh, our trip to London started with a bit of reconnaissance. I spent a few hours in London myself back in January, and I enjoyed it so much I came back determined to bring the whole family there. This we did about a month and a half ago.

Central London is a huge area with lots to see, with history, culture, and architectural and natural beauty around every corner. We focused most of our attention on Westminster, partly because this is London's historic royal and political borough, and partly for very practical reasons: our cheap coach transportation dropped us off there. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace, primary residence of British monarchs since Queen Victoria in 1837. The Palace was certainly a favourite with the kids (pic 1). We made it there in time to see the last half of the changing of the guard, and even managed to wind our way through the crowds enough to catch the guards marching out of the main Palace gates (pic 2). Matthew has been playing "marching guys" ever since!

We also enjoyed beautiful St. James' Park (pic 3), one of several large, publicly accessible royal parks in central London. After a quiet lunch under the trees, we walked through Admiralty Arch (pic 4) to Trafalgar Square and watched the red London buses going round and round at Admiral Lord Nelson's feet. Walking down Whitehall, we paused by the Royal Horse Guards at Buckingham Palace's official entrance (pic 5) and peered down Downing Street, home of Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.

At the far end of Whitehall is one of the oldest areas of London: the Houses of Parliament (pic 6) and Westminster Abbey (pic 7). Westminster Abbey was established in 960, but most of the current building was built in the 13th century. The Abbey has been the scene of all English royal coronations since William the Conqueror in 1066, and it is the burial place of kings and queens, famous poets and military heroes. In the 11th century, prior to William's Norman conquest of England, King Edward the Confessor built a palace on the River Thames close to the Abbey. This palace, in various forms, was the London home of English royalty for centuries. Today it is the home of the Houses of Parliament, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, with most of the current structure dating to the early 19th century. The famous London landmark, Big Ben, stands at the north end, tolling the times over the Thames and Westminster Bridge.

Another highlight of our family trip was a river tour. This took us to the original City of London, originally an enclosed square mile established by the Romans in the first century as Londinium, the new capital of the Roman province of Britannia. While Westminster has historically been the royal and political centre of London, the City has continued to be its commercial and financial centre. Our time there was brief, just enough to catch a glimpse of two other famous London landmarks: the ancient Tower of London, with its central White Tower established by William the Conqueror (pic 8); and Tower Bridge, a symbol of the London Thames since it was built in the 19th century (pic 9).

There is so much more to see in London than we managed to squeeze in: the British Museum, the National Gallery, Kensington Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and much more. Maybe some day we'll make it back for a further exploration of this great city. Thanks for coming on our tour!