London is a great city! I stayed for a week with a cousin of mine who lived there for a few years. The city is very easy to get around. You can easily visit surrounding countries for the day by train, which is super cheap! My advice while walking around the city, triple check BOTH ways to make sure that there are no cars if crossing the street! It can take a few moments or so to get used to the fact that they are driving on the opposite side of the road! Just a heads up…

London is very spread out, so you may find yourself taking “the tube” a lot. It’s a very simple transportation system that they use, it’s super easy to follow. There are so many sections to London. Westminster is where you’ll see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey just to name a few. South Bank has the London Eye. Kensington has, well, Kensington Palace of course! I toured inside the palace and saw Princess Diana and Queen Victoria’s dresses. Go in there! There’s lots of stuff to see! The city of London St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Tower of London which is a must see!! The Crown Jewels are in there (just jaw dropping) and even the tower itself is a great sight to see! There’s also Tower Bridge, and in my opinion, is the prettiest bridge I’ve ever seen. I think they should make it the London Bridge as the real London Bridge looks more like an overpass on the garden state parkway…

There are so many tours that you can take that meet up outside certain hotels or train stations. I took what must’ve been at least a 10 hr bus tour outside of England and it was 100% worth it! We went to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. Windsor Castle is beautiful! It’s a great tour inside and out on the grounds as well. It’s where the queen lives when not at Buckingham Palace. They tell you that if the flag is up, she’s there. And guess what.. The flag was up!!!! No sightings though. We watched changing of the guard and headed to Stonehenge. It’s odd that nobody knows how those rocks got there. The place will just always be a mystery I guess. Then we headed to Bath. It’s where the Romans came for vacation. It’s a hot springs. It’s fabulous to see!!!

I took the Channel tunnel into Paris for a full day too. It’s about a 2 hour tunnel ride. As I tell people here in NJ, it’s basically like being in the Lincoln Tunnel for 2 hours! When I arrived there, I took a cab over to the Eiffel Tower. Then saw Notre Dame and walked around eating pastries. I went to the Louvre, but guess what, they are closed on Tuesdays!! Now I know for next time! I also walked around the Moulin Rouge area. I enjoyed just taking it all in and eventually worked my way back over to the train station. I was glad I got to see the Eiffel Tower in one day at least!! Well worth it..

There is so much more to London, I’m actually going back in the spring time! Stay tuned for more!