First trip to London

It’s been said many times here, but I’ll say it again, please check out London Walks’ website. I’ve had a good experience on every one of their historical walking tours. Entertaining and enlightening.

I’ve had lunch at the Methodist Central Hall—it’s in the Rick Steves London book. That’s my only Methodist suggestion.

Have a great trip!

London Walks has a "London Blitz" walk. With luck it is being offered during your visit; it's not one of their most frequently-conducted walks. Check so you know whether there's a time you need to block off on your schedule to take the walk.

Buy and read the RS Guidebook to London. Full of pertinent info that will make your first visit much simpler.

You are traveling at peak tourist time. You’ll simply have to deal with crowds.

As far as what you will enjoy given your interests:
Churchill War Rooms. Pre buy admission tickets and go early.

See if you can tour Parliament.

Westminster Abbey ( same thing, pre book)
Check to see if the Abbey and the War Rooms will Be on the 2 for 1 deal. Sites can change so check the website.

Imperial war Museum.

Museum of London.

Check the Buckingham Palace website for tours and check now!!!

And of course the Wesley House and Museum would be a must see.

Great city. Picnic in the parks.

Oh and use the search engine above. Getting into Wimbledon has been discussed

I recommend "Perfect London Walk" by Roger Ebert. Evocative and very well written.

Loads of John Wesley stuff in London. He was active in the Church of England at the same time he was starting Methodism. So you can find a lovely statue of him in the garden of St Pauls Cathedral. His church still exists, and the area where he built support, in the City of London. Don't know if it is still there but there used to be an exhibition at the Museum of London. If you did nothing more than explore Methodist roots you could be busy for days.

If Buckingham Palace is closed, you could do an easy day trip to Windsor. When we went to Imperial War Museum in Dec 2014, there was an exhibit about the impact ofWWII on residents' lives.

You could consider a day trip to Dover. The castle has a lot of significance to WWII as it was the planning spot of the Dunkirk rescue. The Dover Castle itself is beautiful and the cliffs are beautiful.

Two prime motivations for going to London is/are A) bucket list on
attending Wimbledon

I'm stopping right there. Did you buy your tix yet or what is your plan to get them as you want to minimize waiting on queues? I can understand that.

Since you want "...better understand the impact of WWII on residents...", google the Churchill War Rooms and the Imperial war Museum and see if either or both will interest you.

Yes, the original Wesley Chapel and his adjoining house in the City of London is an obvious choice. Nearby is Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, the only remaining cemetary in the City of London, which includes the graves of the Wesley brothers' mother Susannah, William Blake, and Daniel Defoe.

Do visit the Victoria & Albert museum- I'd put it more on the architecture & design side of things than 'art museum' and the inside cafe there has some amazing architecture and reasonable prices for decent quality food.

For neighborhood wanders, I'd look into some of the northern areas like Camden or St. John's Wood. Maybe a day tour to Salisbury (lovely small cathedral city, copy of the Magna Carta, decorative sheep nearby) and Stonehenge- while Stonehenge is decidedly touristy, it's interesting architecture in its own way, and we did have fun wandering through Salisbury proper.

As is typical in Europe, you're probably going to be caught up in the security screening lines at major attractions, though you can save some time buying tickets (either singletons or London Pass depending on how the schedule maps out) online beforehand and skipping the ticket-buying line. Do have any day bags set up so security can easily have a look into them- cross body inspection generally goes quicker than having them poke around in a backpack.

Given that you are Methodists, check out this link for a walking tour of Methodist sites in London: http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/londonwalkingtour.htm. I've done this several times and we started at Wesley Chapel at about 2.30 or 3.00 and made it to St. Paul's for Evensong at 5 (as you may recall, John Wesley went to Evensong at St. Paul's before going to Aldersgate and having his "heart-warming" experience). If I recall correctly, there are brochures at Wesley Chapel describing the walking tour. And, as mentioned above, I'd suggest going to Methodist Central Hall Westminster either for lunch or tea. I've been to worship services at both Wesley Chapel and Central Hall - wonderful worship spaces and quite good to worship with members of the "Mother Church" of Methodism.

Have a great trip!

The Wallace Collection is a lovely, less-touristy, and free museum in the Marylebone neighborhood. The restaurant in the courtyard is a great place to enjoy a light lunch and glass of wine.

http://www.wallacecollection.org

We are mobile, travel savvy and seek to create great memories of a journey.

Not for everyone, but definitely memorable:

Not long ago I climbed newly erected scaffolding to the top of Centre Point, a 380-foot skyscraper in the center of the city. I started climbing buildings while in college, clambering up small spires and saluting Oxford’s gargoyles, but this was different. It wasn’t the first skyscraper I had been up, but it was the tallest, and at its feet is one of the busiest streets in London. Even at half-past one in the morning, Tottenham Court Road still has stragglers: drunkards, shift workers and occasional police officers.

If you don't plan to return to London anytime soon, I'd strongly suggest the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament. It will be undergoing a complete refurbishment around 2025. It is expected to be closed for several years, and it may very well drag beyond that.

Take heart. London has wonderful museums that are not art museums. The V&A is one of my faves (open Friday nights). The British Museum is another - the Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian collection, ancient Assyria, all wows. There are 1/2 hour gallery talks throughout the day, so check the schedule when you get there. I haven't done it . . . yet . . . but I've seen others recommend having afternoon tea upstairs in their restaurant - not expensive, but a British indulgence.

You may want to pop into the National Portrait Gallery, where you'll find portraits of just about everyone from the pages of English history. The Geffrye Museum is a small museum with period rooms from the early 17th to early 20th century.

Consider a day trip to Bletchley Park, where they worked on decoding the enigma machines, to round out your WWII experience.

For an inexpensive but delicious food experience, go to Burrough Market, just over the London Bridge (south side). There are lots of tastings and the best grilled cheese sandwich ever created (or raclette) at Kappacasein. Best to go Thurs-Sat, since many stalls are only open then. Avoid the workday lunchtime crowd by going around 10 am or after about 2 pm.

Claudia has listed a number of excellent things to see for your WWII interests...I've seen them (although the Imperial War Museum has been totally re-done since I loved it) and strongly agree. But let me add one (actually two) more. The National Army Museum in Chelsea is really really good (and free!), very recently re-done, and much of it focuses on the impact of war on the people. And only because you're there, I recommend the Royal Hospital Museum, only a few feet away. Also free, and doesn't take much time at all. Enjoy!

There’s the Conversion Place memorial in the Barbican just outside the entrance to the Museum of London.