If you haven't wrote to go on the Clock Tower Tour here is their email address [email protected] I found this on the US Embassy for the UK site. http://www.usembassy.org.uk/ukbigben.html I just received my conformation letter from them for August. It took about a week and a half for them to respond. I heard about it from reading this post. Thank You samejia!

While this list is an ambitious one, everything on the list is worth seeing. But everyone on this thread is correct- this is too much for just 3 days. I would prioritize and select a couple things to do each day and save the rest for another time. I think you would get a lot more satisfaction out of your trip.

I have a list of things I would like to see and do and I just go down the list and check off. And I am not surprised to see more to add to the list. I did not know about the Clock Tower Tour.

I agree with rickmay about the National Portrait Gallery. It is definitely worth a visit. My personal favorite is the portrait of Shakespeare which is the first portrait NPG acquired.

Well, everyone, thanks for your advice on my ambitious itinerary:-)) I received both my Ceremony of the Keys tickets for Friday night and my Clock Tower Tour confirmation for Friday afternoon... Now, all I need to do is figure out which play to get tickets for and book dinner at a nice place for at least one night. I've been researching this forum for restaurant ideas for which there are many. As far as the play goes, is it "safe" to get tickets for the Unabridged World of Shakespeare when we get there. I'm concerned about waiting for half price tickets for June or finding out that we can't get 3 seats together.... Thanks again for everyone's help.

I'm still wondering if anyone "out there" has taken the clock tower tour. My daughter is very excited about it so we're definitely going to do it. Was just wondering what to expect? Or, maybe it's nice to be pleasantly surprised about something rather than overplan everything:-)) Susan

Well, it's been 2 months since I reviewed this post in detail. Since my trip is next month, I need to get in planning mode again. Do you think I need to tour the Tower before going to the Keys Ceremony? I was thinking of saving the Tower tour until after we do the Keys Ceremony (which is on our first night) so I can go see an Old Baileys Trial without feeling rushed before our 4pm flight. I only have 2 business days for touring since my other business days of the week will be spent at Wimbledon. Thanks, Susan

samejia: Just fit the Tower in where ever you can. Going to the Tower before or after the Keys Ceremony really doesn't make that much difference.

Ideally, you'd do a daytime tour of the Tower prior to attending the Ceremony -- but neither one will spoil the other for you.

The Yeoman Warder who explains the ceremony will provide a minimal explanation of the history and layout of the Tower - but the daytime tours are MUCH more comprehensive.

Susan, It sounds like we will be in London at the same time. We, too have tickets to tour the clock tower. I haven't been to it, but I've heard nothing but great reviews from others who have taken it.

Kayb95, my sister-in-law arrived in London today. She's going on the clock tower tour on Tuesday. I'll let you know how she likes it. She's going to try to email me once while she's gone. Susan

Well, I'm leaving in 2 days and am finally trying to make sense out of what we can "fit" in. My baby's been sick so I haven't been able to devote too much time to planning. Anyway, this seems to be a futile attempt but any recommendations would be great. It's quite frustrating realizing we can't fit it all in.

Thursday - Arrive at 8pm. Hotel in S. Kensington.

Friday

Prebooked a 11am Westminster Abbey verger tour. Lunch followed by a 2:30pm clock tower tour. My sister-in-law just came back and said the clock tower tour was fun, but exhausting! I'm tempted to squeeze in the cabinet war rooms after this but I think we'll be too tired. Might be a good idea to grab a hop on/hop off bus for an orientation. Is it too late to hop on the bus at 4pm? Don't they stop running at 6pm? 9:30 pm Ceremony of the Keys.

Saturday

First thing, Tower. Boat ride up to Westminster Pier. Lunch. Cabinet War rooms assuming we didn't do it on Friday. Rest of afternoon shopping with teen on Oxford Street. 5pm Complete Works follwed by dinner and possibly the London Eye or a walk along the south bank for sunset.

Sunday

Changing of Guards following recommendation of poster with inside tips.
Hampton Court Palace
(maybe squeeze in Kensington when we return but probably not enough time)
8pm Dinner at The Ivy

Monday

Banqueting Room, 10 Downing Street, walk through St James Park to Buckingham Palace, Royal Mews, Apsley House. (How long will this take up to here???) Afternoon, maybe Kensington Palace, Harrods. Dinner at Tate Modern then walk along south bank to Waterloo Bridge for sunset. Or, London Eye if didn't do it on Saturday night.

Tuesday

Wimbledon - centre court tickets in hand
Late dinner back in Knightsbridge

Wednesday

Either Old Bailey or Highlights Tour for British Museum. I'm going nuts trying to fit these in earlier in the itinerary but can't figure out where. 4pm flight back home.

Thanks to everyone who gave such great advice. I've been plowing through all the info which in itself can be overwhelming. Susan

Samejia: Since you have done so much research, I assume you know the Cabinet War rooms are practically next door to No. ten and the Banqueting House and a very short walk from B'ham Palace, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

You seem to be going back to the same neighborhood day after day after day. Maybe you can group these sites on the same day(s) and not spend so much time to-ing and fro-ing all over the city.

Janis, that's what I was trying to do but I didn't think we'd be able to squeeze all those places in after we get out of the Clock Tower Tour at 3:45. I thought we might be too tired after climbing up and down 350 or so steps. You've certainly got me thinking. I was trying to see alot but do it at as a relaxed a pace as possible so my husband doesn't complain. So, basically, combining as you suggest, opens up all of Monday morning.... I could push the Tower to Monday am and then do the Old Bailey for the afternoon session then head back to Kensington. Oh, this gets so confusing after looking at this for soooo long. Thanks for all your input. You've been great. Enjoy your trip. susan

I just returned from London with a 13 year old and a 15 year old and they really liked the Cabinet War Rooms and were bored by the Imperial War Museum (go figure).

They thought Hampton Court Palace was okay. (They liked the maze the best.) They enjoyed seeing Romeo & Juliet at the Globe Theatre. I don't know if they would have liked it nearly as much if it had just been a tour. On our last visit, they really liked the Tower of London and the London Eye.

If you're there for such a short time, I'm not sure if I would take the time to go to Hampton Court Palace. How about Greenwich? Walking the hill up to the Royal Observatory is nice. My kids liked that more than their visit to Hampton Court Palace.

Have a great trip.
-Susan

Bellairegirl, I have ruled out the Imperial War Museum and the Tour of the Globe. Romeo and Juliet won't be playing while we're there. I hadn't even given Greenwich any thought. I'll have to research that. My husband and I went to Windsor on our last trip so I was trying to do something different this time by going to Hampton Court. My daughter really wants to go shopping so I have to plan in some time for Oxford Street. I heard the TopShop was the place to go for teens. Did you do the Changing of the Guard with your teens? Susan

Susan,

No; we didn't try to see the changing of the guards (mostly because most posters to this forum didn't think it was worthwhile).

I heard Topshop is a good place for teens to shop. Unfortunately, since I have 2 boys, my shopping with them consisted mostly of shopping for soccer jerseys. You should make sure you also stop at Lush (there's several locations).

If you're looking for good, moderately priced restaurants that's good for teens, let me know and I'll tell you what my kids liked.

Susan

I would be very interested to know what restaurants your teens liked. We will be leaving in 2 weeks and food is a concern for them.
Thanks for the help.

My teens found that they really like the pizza in London - good, thin crust wood-fired pizza. Their favorite place to get pizza was at Pizza Express and Ask Pizza & Pasta (both of which we found around town).

They also liked to eat at Italian restaurants. One Italian restaurant that we all really liked was La Bersagliera (at 372 King's Rd, I believe) in Chelsea. It's a tiny place, so be sure to make a reservation. (If you take the tube to the Sloane Square tube station, you can catch the #11 or #22 bus down King's Rd.)

They also enjoyed Belgo Centraal, a Belgain restaurant in Covent Garden on Earlham. One son loved their rotisserie chicken & frites and the other loved the mussels & frites. They liked it so much and it was so reasonable, we ate there twice. They have a "Beat the Clock" special on weekdays where the price you pay is the time (i.e., if you go at 6:30 pm, you pay 6.5 GBP for chicken or mussels and frites and a soft drink or beer or wine). They also have a lunch special for 5.95, I believe.

For really wonderful gelato, check out Gelato Valerie on King's Rd (at Duke of York Square).

They also liked the croissants, crisps, yogurt & fruit and sandwiches at Pret a Manger (which is all around town).

I understand some kids like Wagamama too, but mine weren't into that. Also, I couldn't get them to go for Indian food, as they didn't want to pass up an opportunity to eat the pizza for something they weren't sure they'd like.

All in all, since the prices were generally expensive, we were pretty careful about where we ate, and I did a lot of research in advance. With 4 of us, I didn't want to blow $100 on a meal the kids didn't even like.

Have a great trip!
Susan

How was the Clock Tower Tour?

Buzzybuzz, sorry for the delay in responding to this. I've actually been trying to do a trip report but haven't been able to have that much time. Anyway, the clock tower tour was well worth it. My 14 year old daugther and husband both enjoyed it. We were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top (about 340 steps). The climb is broken up into three segments. Hearing the history and being up in the tower when the bells tolled at 3pm was cool. They offer ear plugs or you can use your hands as we did. We have some neat pictures of behind the clock face even though the website states no photos are allowed. We were all able to take photos. The tour lasts about 1/2 hour. Susan

Thanks for the info. I'm going on the 2:30 tour also.

Let me know if you liked it. We got a kick out of looking up at the clock during the rest of our stay and commenting that "we were there". Enjoy, Susan.

We really enjoyed the clock tower tour, too. It was a very cool experience - well worth the climb. I was standing right by the hammer and watched (and heard) it strike 3PM. Our guide even took us into the chapel in Westinster Hall after the tour. That was also really cool.