Well, Our plans have changed. Initially we were taking a cruise that went to parts of Spain, France, and Italy. The we were doing another 4 days each in Rome and Paris.
Now... we are re-thinking the cruise. We were talking about London, but there doesn't seem to be much to see. You can't go into Buckingham Palace... which is a disappointment to me.
So where after Rome and Paris should we go for another 4 days? London? Barcelona? Greece? Any thoughts?
Love the greek islands. what about Spain gold coast .what about venice italy's lake region. Lts of places to see It alll depends on why you go on vacation - sites, relax, the people
Frank II...great quote from Samuel Johnson...unfortunately, his lifetime foreign travel was limited to 1 trip to Scotland!
There doesn't seem to be much to see in London??????
I'll start by saying it's my favorite city. Every trip I make to Europe includes a stop in London?
Nothing to see? Are you not interested in history, literature, art, culture, castles, palaces, and more? You can go into Buck House during certain times of the year. But Windsor Castle, a short train ride outside of London, can be visited and in my estimation more interesting. (I've been to both). (BTW, Queen Liz prefers Windsor to Buck House as well.)
But back to your original question....the answer will come when you tell us what interests you? Do you like art? Then go to Florence. Do you like natural beauty and hiking? Then think the Cinque Terre or Sorrento/Amalfi. Do you like great food? Then think of Umbria.
You could go anywhere in Europe. But you need to figure out what types of things you want to see.
Someone (I forget who) once said something like (not an exact quote):
The person who is bored with London is bored with life, for London has all the things in it that life offers.
Now I don't know about that--but the point is that London is one of the great cities of the world. The first time I was there it was for more than a week, and we just scratched the surface.
I really wanted to go to London and had my heart set on it. Always wanted to see England. Just noticed that a lot of things weren't open to the public.
Can you tell me what there is to do and see there? We are into architecture and scenery, a bit of history and art. My wife loves the sweets and I like culture.
Also was thinking about Greece too... when London started looking iffy.
Here's some things we saw in London this summer:
Westminster Abbey: combination of architecture and history
Houses of Parliament: I think you can tour inside, but we didn't
Tower of London: history, and the crown jewels are great
Fabulous museums: we did the National Gallery, the Courtald Museum, the British Museum, the Tate Modern and the British Library. We could have enjoyed staying longer at every one, and there are plenty more we didn't get to.
St. Paul's Cathedral
The overall architecture of the city is a really interesting mix of very old and very modern. You can get great views from some of the Thames bridges, and the top of St. Paul's and/or the Tower Bridge. We never ventured outside London, but with more time there are other things to do/see not very far away (like Windsor Castle). Honestly, Buckingham Palace was pretty low on our priority list (we went and looked at the outside). It was actually open while we were in London (because the royal family was on summer holiday) and we decided not to take the tour. We went on a London Walks tour of Westminster Abbey, and I would have loved to do another walk, but we ran out of time. Our guide was quite good though, and they have a long list of choices.
We had tickets to Buckingham Palace, but we weren't able to go because they had just arrested terrorists that morning (thanks to them we can't carry liquids through security!). They offered to give us tickets for the next day, but we decided against it because we had already wasted the better part of one of our precious 5 days dealing with not knowing if we could get in or not. I don't regret our decision one bit. There is so much to see there and you won't have any trouble filling 4 days. I haven't made it back so far, but one of these days I intend to.
Kent...here's the actual quote:
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
— Samuel Johnson, September 20, 1777
(For those of you who haven't heard of Johnson, he was best known for the "Dictionary of the English Language"--the first of its kind. )
Now, back to Steve....I agree that you should look in London Walks since they offer guided walks all over the city and its outskirts each geared towards a different subject or area. What besides Buck House isn't open?
Additionally, within an hour or so train ride you have the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge, you can take a tour up to the Cotswalds, you can take a short cruise or tube ride to the Naval College and Museum at Greenwich, and short train or boat ride to Hampton Palace and its famous maze, there's the Imperial WAr Museum, great theater, and on and on.
Not much to see in London? Egads! We lived in London for a whole year. We took day trips almost every weekend that we didn't go away. We've been back several times, and there are still things we haven't seen or done. You like castles? Visit Windsor and take in Hampton Court on the same trip. Great churches, art museums, historic buildings, Roman ruins, beautiful parks, theater, fabulous restaurants, amazing department stores . . . London has it all, and in such profusion it makes one's head spin.
That's right Norm...he traveled with his friend James Boswell, who was originally from Scotland.
BTW...the quote I referred to in a previous post was Johnson's response to Boswell when he asked Johnson if he should move to London.
Of course, in those days, there was no Eurostar, Ryanair or Rick Steves.
Exactly Frank.....he even wrote a travelogue about it. To pick London over Edinburgh!?!? ;)
Lots of good ideas already, but here's something else to throw in, unless you've already been there. Spend four days in Tuscany, in particular Florence and Sienna, and then take the night train from Milan to Paris. Open jaw travel into Rome and out of Paris makes it easy and efficient.
If you've been there, London is a great destination. If you can't find something to see and do in London, you haven't done your homework. You might contact your local library to see if they have any Rick Steves DVDs. Many do in sets, and you may find several on London itself, and others he's done about easy side trips in to the countryside. We actually took a relaxing boat ride on the Thames from downtown London to Greenwich and the Royal Naval College. Well narrated and lots of information.
You can't go wrong with either of these destinations and I promise you they will both better than "cruising" the Med from port to port. Good luck.
London's great, Tuscany too...I'd also suggest the Burgundy region of France as well as the Loire Valley. Your library my have Rick's guides on London/France/Italy, check those out and see what appeals to you.
London is a wonderful city. We have been twice and would love to go back again. London Walks is great. We did 2 different walks including their Jack the Ripper and even our teenage daughter really enjoyed them.
Easy day trips also. Windsor is a great day trip as are Bath and Salisbury (for Stonehenge).
Tour of London....great history and an interesting piece of architecture. Depending on when you go, you might be able to catch a Shakespeare play at the new Globe Theatre (something else we enjoyed). And even if you can't get into Buckingham Palace, it is a great spot to watch the specatacle of the Changing of the Guard.
Steve, while staying in London, we took a day trip by train to Bath. It has AMAZING Georgian architecture, and the baths go back 2,000 years. You can see the original pagan baths, sculptures, etc., then the Roman baths, sculptures, etc. built on top of those in about the 3rd century, and then you can see the Turkish additions put on in about the 9th century.
We had lunch in a tea house that has been in operation since the 1600's; the secret recipe for their rolls transfers with ownership of the property, and you can go down to the original bakery in a cellar underneath the restaurant that dates back to the 1200's.
It turns out Bath is the 2nd largest shopping mecca in England outside of London. I could have stayed a week.
You could also take the train from Paris down to Amboise in the Loire Valley for a couple of days where there are many incredible chateaux you can tour, including Chenonceau, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci's home for the last 3 years of his life--we loved seeing that, and several of his inventions have been built and can be seen and even used on the park grounds surrounding his home.
