London, England

Hi Miss B!!!! London is AWESOME. I love Covent Garden- the vendors are different each day, so we usually stroll though it as often as possible. Camden Locks is good too. Portobello Road is ok- but if you are really antiquing you need to be there EARLY on Friday or Sat. morning.

One of my favorite things to do in London is to go to Kew Gardens. We have been in July and in Nov/Dec. I can only imagine how beautiful is must be in May/June. Well worth a good half or even a whole day. They have a very good shop also. Have you "done" the Tower of London yet? If not, a Beefeater tour is great fun. Go early one morning before lines form.

Windsor also makes a great day out. Take the train from Paddington- tour the castle if you haven't done that before and walk around the gardens and down the Long Walk a bit. Wander over to Eaton then take a short Thames cruise- you get differnt views of the castle.

Consider this route for your full trip- London with 1 or more day trips, then train to Cardiff Wales- 1 or 2 nights, train to Betws-y-Coed (or similar village) in the Snowdonia area for 2 nights, then train to Glasgow- 1 night, then Inverness- 3 to 7 days, train to Edinburgh 1 or 2 days, train to York 1 or 2 days, then train back to London to fly home. Or fly home from Edinburgh or Glasgow if time is limited. Keep us in on your plans/fantasy. I miss traveling so much I HAVE to enjoy it through you luck people!

We hit the "big" sites our first trip and now enjoy looking for new things to do as well. Some of my favorites:

If it is a nice day, I like to walk out to the lake in Hyde park and have tea outdoors. There is a cafeteria style place on the south side of the lake. I also love to run in the park (I am a runner and running in unique locations when I am on vacation is fun for me)

We have done a couple of the walking tours and really enjoyed them. There were so many that looked good, it will take us many trips to exhaust this option.

Going to the theatre was another highlight. We got really inexpensive tickets for Les Miserable once. It was wonderful.

Portobello Market on a Saturday is great. I've been to a couple of the outdoor markets, but that one is my favorite.

None of these are unusual or unheard of, but all of them were fun. Have a great trip. (wish I were going too)

Miss B, It would help to know what you saw on your first trip. Some of my favorites (that don't always show up on everyone's must sees) are the Cabinet War Rooms, British Library, and Regents Park.

James Smith & Sons Umbrella Store started in 1830 and is still owned and operated by the family. They maked umbrellas, walking sticks and canes. Fun to see. Holland Park, Queen's Gallery, Royal Mews, St. Margart's Church, St. Paul's Church (the actors church) by Covent Garden, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Palace, Victoria & Albert Museum, and just walking thru the beautiful parks St. James Park, Hyde Park, Holland Park, Green Park.

Robin, Thank you so much for your suggestions. I think we missed all but one on your list. I'll add these places to our list of things to do and see. Keep emailing me at home with your other suggestions. I have the Day to Day in London which was a GREAT help on our trip in 2008 and all three RS 2010 books.

Not sure if it is my favourite thing, but something nobody has mentioned is HMS Belfast near Tower Bridge. If you are interested in Naval history or ships in general, it is a good tour.

By Falkirk Canal I assume you mean the Falkirk Wheel. Well worth a visit. We got there by private car, not sure about public transport. It is an ingenious creation to move barges up a distance which once required, I think, 15 locks.

Thank you to all for the continued comments of what we should see on our next trip to London. I am making a list of all of it. We are thinking of extending our days in London so we can spend a day at Windsor Castle and Kew Gardens, then we will spend days doing the other suggestions. I know people say we can go back but I think this will be our last trip. So sad. We "should" have gone to England several years ago rather than going to Ireland for a third time but we don't regret any of our trips to other countries. Keep your suggestions coming. I was surprised that someone posted a question on the Falkirk Wheel. We plan to go there too. I hope you all are having a good day.

Interested in gardening? The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is scheduled for May 24 to 28 2011. We spent a long day there in 2009 and it was extraordinary. Only the last 3 days or so were open to the public, the first 2 reserved for RHS members. We bought tix online before we left home. Sensational!

My favorite things to do are long walks around London. It really is a walkable city.

My favorite is a walk along the South Bank to or from Borough Market.

If you go to Kew Gardens don't forget to visit Kew Palace while you are there.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/KewPalace/stories.aspx

Trouping of the Colours was fun. Had a front row view