surfmom

Ceremony of the Keys - I'm sending my request now for late April/early May for tickets. Hoping that I'll get them... has anyone else had luck or no luck ?

Big Ben - I've read the 'official' website where it says there are no tours for overseas visitors. Since I know fodorites have many tips and tricks... any ideas how we could tour Big Ben ?

what else should I be pre-arranging for our trip ? Visiting both London and Paris.

kraines

Like you, we did Ceremony of the Keys. I had no problem getting the tickets for the 5 of us and it was certainly worth it. That is really all that I can think of that you can pre-arrange. I will get out my travel journal and double check. Kathy

Margo_Chester

We had good luck wth our request for 4 of us to attend the Ceremony of Keys - so glad we made the effort!

nyse

Re Ceremony of the Keys, I mailed our request Dec 3 and rec'd a very lovely "invitation to attend" two weeks later.
Our dates are in March and we rec'd our first choice.

[The only International Reply Coupon I could easily obtain had an expiration date of Dec 31, so I gambled and mailed just the one.]
I hope you have equally good luck.

yk

<i>any ideas how we could tour Big Ben ?</i>

See: http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visitingandtours.cfm


<i>what else should I be pre-arranging for our trip ? Visiting both London and Paris.</i>

1) You're taking the train between the 2? Set your calendar for the first day you can buy Eurostar tickets in order to get the lowest price.

2) Are you interested in attending shows in London or Paris? Musicals, concerts, plays etc?

flanneruk

"any ideas how we could tour Big Ben ?"

Move to Britain and get yourself onto the electoral register (for which you don't need to be British, or even entitled to vote.). There is no other way.

Strictly speaking, MPs aren't supposed to request tickets even for their own visiting relatives, if they're not on a UK electoral register.

In the media's current "find an MP doing something he shouldn't" mania, no MP is going to risk breaking the rules between now and the election. The closest you MIGHT get this year is to see if there are any Big Ben related talks or exhibitions in Pasrliament's contribution to this coming September's London Open House (www.londonopenhouse.org)

surfmom

k, margo, and ny, glad to hear you had good luck! I'm going to the post office tomorrow to get it in the mail.

yk, thanks for the reminder about booking my tickets. Good idea to just write the date in my calendar.

Shows, plays? probably not. We're dealing with little people here and since our time is relatively limited in London, I'd rather save the time for doing other fun things. With regards to night, we're one of those 'go to bed early' families... kids are in bed usually by 8 during the week and we try not to deviate too much on vacation.

flanner, thanks for the heads-up. I guess in some ways, it makes it easier... since the decision is made for me, we'll make other plans!

Cholmondley_Warner

pedant's corner: Big ben is the bell in St Stephen's Tower.

But Flanneur is right - you need an invite from an MP. To be honest you're not missing much.

The best way to see Big Ben is from Westminster Bridge, not from inside.

avalon

With little people you'll want to ride the Eye, if they are boy's the Imperial War Museum usually has a children's exhibit. Even if they daon't there are suspended planes and all sorts of boats and vehicles you can climb up on and see in.

Cholmondley_Warner

Kids tend to like the Natural History Museum (real Dinosaurs!) and the Science museum which has loads of stuff you can interact with. They're very close so you can do them together.

DancingBearMD

Have you looked into whether the London Pass, Paris Museum Pass, or perhaps even the British Heritage Pass make sense for you? Or the London Travelcard vs. Oystercard, or the Batobus ticket options, etc.? Not necessarily something you have to buy in advance, but definitely takes some advance thought to determine whether they are worthwhile for you, and to get the most benefit out of them.

For example, the Paris Museum Pass runs for X consecutive days once you first use the card, so we made sure to visit lots of Paris Museum Pass locations over those days, and "save" other sights that aren't included in the Pass for other days. Also we got a lot of use out of the Pass by looking at where the sites were located and how we could group them together to get the most value.

Not sure of your kids' ages, but another thing you could plan in advance is a Fat Tire Bike Tour. We did Versailles this way (with a 6 year old) and had a blast.

alanRow

<<< Have you looked into whether the London Pass >>>

It's very hard to make the London Pass work if you are adults, it's impossible if you have children.

For adults the best option for paying attractions (remembering that lots of London is FREE) is to buy a Travelcard at one of the main TRAIN stations in central London which then allow you to use the offers on www.daysoutguide.com or just look at the offers on www.discountbritain.net

You might want to have a read of http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...n_England.html to compare costs

janisj

"<i>Have you looked into whether the London Pass, Paris Museum Pass, or perhaps even the British Heritage Pass make sense for you? Or the London Travelcard vs. Oystercard, . . . </i>"

The London Pass is generally a rip off. The Great British Heritage Pass is terrific, but not that useful in London -- mostly for other parts of the country. The Paris Museum pass may or may not make sense for the adults, depending on how many of the sites you plan on visiting.

the "travel Card vs. Oyster" is a bit confusing. The distinction is <u>paper</u> travelcard vs. Oyster. A 'travelcard' is just a multiple day transport pass which you can get as a paper ticket OR loaded on an Oyster. alanRow explains the advantage of a paper card - the 2 for 1 offers.

surfmom

C_W, thank you for correcting my English which stinks. (anyone know the movie reference ? I'll give a clue... Eddie Murphy delivers the line)

avalon, C_W thanks for the ideas. We're def planning on doing the Cabinet War Rooms - I hadn't thought about the Imperial War Museum. Better than doing it in Paris - my dh has a philosophical problem with viewing a war museum in France since all they do is.... never mind, I'm just going to get myself in trouble.

dancing, We will mostly likely do the Paris Museum pass. We did it before and it is nice with little people since I view it as a fixed cost, we just go into a museum and we stay 30 min, 90 min, or use the facilities. Thanks for the reminder about the bike tours - we did them in Paris, but I think we may also try them in London, too.

alan & janisj, I'm overwhelmed with the transportation thing. We actually aren't in London that long - here is tentative itinerary:

Th - arrive 11am Heathrow. rent car. drive to hotel, change clothes (important for my sanity). drive to Roald Dahl museum in Missenden, back to Windsor for dinner and see the castle from outside.
hotel: http://www.principal-hayley.com/venu...e-oakley-court
(need to book it, but I think they have availability)

Fri - drive to Hampton Court. Spending morning there. **drop off car *** (need location), check into hotel.

Fri afternoon/Sat/Sun - figure out plan : )
Mon am - take Eurostar to Paris

we are staying at Marriott County Hall - I was able to book a river view, Executive Lounge access using points (woohoo!).

My musts:
- Westminster Abbey
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Princess Diana playground in Kensington
- Cabinet War Rooms
- London Eye (I will wait and book timed tickets as we get closer so I can make sure weather works)
- Ceremony of the Keyss
- Tower of London
- Tower Bridge

we may do a bike tour if time allows. may not have time...

honestly, those things may fill up our time. If we can manage it, we will add some museums and things. I'm sure the little people will want to do the double decker bus tour, so we'll probably do the hop on hop off tour (if they still have that ?) I need to read up on the options to understand it better to figure out what makes sense. In Paris, it is easy, since we will be there a Monday - Sunday - so I'll just get the weekly pass.

thanks all and any more feedback is always appreciated!

surfmom

another question: how long should I plan for to be at London St. Pancras on a Monday morning for the Eurostar ?

ie. if we took the 9:30 train, what time should I be departing the Marriott County Hall ?

Cholmondley_Warner

Better than doing it in Paris - my dh has a philosophical problem with viewing a war museum in France since all they do is.... never mind, I'm just going to get myself in trouble.>>>>

I've been. Your husband is correct in his assumptions.

Also Diana playground? Why oh why do you want to see this?

Don't you have parks in America? It's a trek and not an attraction - it's just a playground for brats.

DancingBearMD

We have a lot of playgrounds near our home, but I can tell you we have many fond memories of watching our son in the playgrounds in the Tuilleries, behind Notre Dame, and in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and even in the sandpit behind the Rodin Museum. If nothing else it's a break for the kids and a chance for them to interact with the locals.

Cholmondley_Warner

a chance for them to interact with the locals.>>>

If by "locals" you mean children of russian gangsters, then yes......

DancingBearMD

Well, that could be interesting.

surfmom

mixed thoughts about playgrounds... they are important to managing the energy level of kids and giving them a chance to blow off steam.

When we were in Paris, we stumbled across them enough to give the kids a chance to run.

I'm getting the sense that the Diana playground is just that... and not something to divert for ?

In Paris, our girls favorite things were the black and white pillars in Palais Royal for them to run around and jump on. They can't wait to take their brother there!

okay, back to the questions. should I book at 9:30 train from London ? What time will we need to leave the Marriott ?