Hi Everyone!

Just got the pictures back and had to write a report to let you know how the trip went and to thank you for all your tips.

DAY 1: (Saturday)
Arrived 7am in London. Bought a weekend travelcard at Heathrow Airport for zones 1-6 to get us to our hotel and around for the weekend. Took our bags to hotel--Millennium Bailey's Hotel at Gloucester Rd. tube station. Thanks to you all who recommended this hotel. The location was perfect, and the area and hotel had such a nice English feel to it. We dropped our bags off in baggage storage (a plus at the hotel!), and off we went.
First, we went to Houses of Parliament (Westminster Palace) to get on line for a tour. No problem with lines at all. We got on the 10:45am tour. It was fabulous. I highly recommend this tour. It was 7GBP and well worth it. Now when I watch House of Commons debate on C-SPAN, I'll know exactly where those people are! It was great for a lesson in history and government. The tour was about 75 min., and we ended up eating lunch at a nice little cafe they have in Westminster Hall.
Next, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, there's alot of construction going on, and we decided to forgo the 6GBP entry fee to go inside. There's a nice courtyard outside, though.
Next, we went to Harrod's. It's quite an overwhelming place with lots to look at, but we didn't buy anything. The food courts were amazing with tons of food. It was extremely crowded here. We had to get to it on this day (Saturday) since it's closed on Sundays. I'm glad I finally got to see it.
At 6:30pm, we went to the Royal Albert Hall to get on line for same day tickets to a Proms concert at 8pm. The tickets are only 4GBP for arena area, which is right in front of the stage and you stand during the performance, or for the gallery, which is the top level and no chairs. We ended up getting the gallery, where people brought their own food and blankets and set up little picnics to listen to the music. It was a great concert and so incredible to be there after watching it on PBS. If you're in London in Aug. or Sept., definitely try to get tickets.
We left after the first half, which ended at 9pm, because we were exhausted and had not eaten dinner (don't forget, we just flew in at 7am and had been going non-stop!). So we went back to Gloucester Rd., picked up some food at a grocer's store across the street, and ate in the hotel room.

DAY 2: (Sunday)
First, Catholic Mass at the Brompton Oratory at 8am. (Thank you fodorites for suggesting this church. It was truly amazing!) The architecture is amazing and definitely worth a stop for anyone.
Next stop, the British Museum, which opens at 10am. It was right next door to the church, and was free. This place was amazing. I'm not a museum person, but I really enjoyed this place and could have stayed all afternoon. There are wonderful exhibitions on Egyptian, Greek, and other art, not to mention the big exhibits of the Elgin marbles and the Rosetta Stone. There was supposed to be a tour, but the tour guide got caught up in traffic, so we did one ourselves. We spent about 2 hours there.
Next was the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. Again, this is free. We spent about 2 hours here as well.
Next, we went to Kew Gardens. Based on everyone's comments here, we knew it was impossible to do Hampton Court Palace with our time frame, so we just concentrated on the gardens. We got there at about 3pm and walked straight to Maids of Honor, which was recommended here as a great place to have English tea. Unfortunately, after walking all the way down there, we learned that it was closed on Sundays. We hurried back to Kew Gardens and managed to hop on the last tram tour. The gardens was around 7GBP, and the tour was 3.5 GBP. Considering how many acres the gardens cover, I highly recommend the tram tour. It was great! Plus, you can get on and off, although at the end of the day, it's best just to stay on. We tried to eat at the Orangerie, but it closed, so no food there. Again, lots of people bring food and blankets and just enjoy the gardens and scenery. It's very peaceful and beautiful.
After touring the gardens, we had late lunch/early dinner at a little restaurant called Kew Gardens Greenhouse or Kew Greenhouse. Great food--I had shepherd's pie with coleslaw and bottled water for about 7GBP. Can't beat that! There was outdoor seating to enjoy the view of the streets and people. The town is really very quaint, and had we had more time, we would have explored the neighboring town of Richmond, which is also supposed to be very quaint.
It took about 30-40 min. to get back to Gloucester Rd. station. Again, we picked up food at the grocer's store and ate in our room. It had to be an early night because we were getting up at 4am for our trip to Paris.

DAY 3: (Monday)
Up bright and early and at the Waterloo station by 5:30am for the Eurostar trip. Unfortunately, the company never notified us that the 6:30 train was postponed until 7:30 because of the bank holiday. You can imagine our frustration on losing an extra hour of sleep.
Other than that, the trip went smoothly, and we enjoyed Paris immensely! We bought a package through Eurostar called Free and Easy Paris (although at $190, I'd hardly call it free). It included the train fare and a ticket on the hop on/hop off Les Cars Rouges open air bus tour of Paris. We also got a 1-way metro ticket to get us back to the train station at the end of the day. The day was great!! We immediately went to the Eiffel Tower and got on line. I know this went against everyone's advice about waiting until the end of the day, but since this was the absolute 1 thing we wanted to do, we were worried about leaving it to the end of the day and then not being able to do it. But we followed the advice to go to the North Tower line, and that worked out well. We got tickets to the very top (10 euros) and it was a great view. After that, we hopped back on the bus and visited the Louvre. Since we got there after 3:15pm we only had to pay 5 euros. We ate a late lunch there in the cafe, which was so-so. The museum itself is a work of art, with the architecture of the buildings. We saw the highlights, like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Next we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral and wandered through there. Finally, we ended our day at the Toulieri Gardens near the Louvre. It was beautiful there and we finally got some authentic French food--chocolate crepes! We hopped on the metro at the station nearby and got to the train station with a little time to spare. We bought some sandwiches, chips, chocolates, a baguette, and water for the 3 hour trip home. It was a great day. I can't describe in words the feeling of seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triompe in person after seeing them in movies, etc. It was extremely exhilirating! The only thing we didn't get to do that we planned for was a river cruise, which would have been possible had we left at 6:30am. Oh, well. It was still a great day, although very long.

DAY 4:
We did some last minute shopping before heading to Victoria station to pick up a transfer to Southampton for our transatlantic cruise back to the States.

All in all, the trip was fantastic. As you can tell, we're really not into eating at great restaurants. We spend all our time touring and sqeeze in a meal when we can. We end up eating lots of triangle box sanwiches. But we're really there for the sights, not the food. Our efforts to get to English tea failed, which happened on our last trip to London. That was our only regret regarding food. I do really appreciate everyone's advice in helping to plan this trip. The tips were great and helped things go smoothly. I know 2 days seems so short a time to be in London, and 1 day in Paris, but it is possible to see and do alot of great things in this short amount of time.
Thanks again for all your input!!

I'm exhuasted just from reading this but I am glad you had such a good time and managed to fit so much in. I think I'd have slept the next 3 days on the cruise tho after all that.

Amaazing amount of things you squeezed into such a short visit. I LOVE the Proms - it has been more than ten years since I was in London

I am confused about one thing - the Brompton Oratory is nowhere near the British Museum. It IS practically next door to the V&A - but the museum you describe is definitely the British.

Oops - that should have been "more than ten years since I was in London during the Proms"

Sorry! I was wrong about the museum next to the Brompton Oratory. It was the Victoria Albert Museum that we went to after church. But we did go to the British Museum after visiting St. Paul's Cathedral. Both museums were amazing!!

Just a footnote on the Proms. The BBC website does a lot of internet relays and replays of its programmes, and the Proms are no exception: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/listen/

Hi jon,

Wow. Great idea to come back by ship after that whirlwind visit.

Thanks for the report, Jon! Sounds like you had a great time.

I can relate to what you mean as to seeing so many famous sites and monuments in real life, vs. "reel life" and photos. It's like "wow!" Am I really here?

Just wanted to add some other thoughts on topics that I came across on this site.
First, I read somewhere that backpacks were not allowed in Harrods. We actually saw quite a few people with backpacks and no one seemed to care. So I wouldn't worry about this.
Second, there is alot of discussion on clothes, shoes, etc. While there weren't alot of people in shorts, even though it was warm, lots of people, both Londoners and Parisians, wore sneakers/trainers, in a fashionable way, of course, either with nice capris or nice pants/jeans. So I would opt for comfort when doing alot of walking. You won't feel out of place.
Finally, as for the people in Paris, we only ran into one instance in the Louvre cafe where the wait staff was aloof toward us when we tried to ask them questions in French. All other locals we encountered were very nice. We made it a point to ask first in French if they spoke English, and most did. We didn't want to just assume they spoke English. Lots of "Bonjour" and "Merci" and smiles, and everything worked out.

If anyone has any questions, just ask!