UK August- October 2013- St. Paul's Cathedral

If I could impart one tip for visiting London, it would be to plan ahead. Dan and I decided to "Wing It", which led to a lot of wasted time and money. We had a general idea of the things we wanted to see, but didn't make an actually plan.

On the second full day of our trip, we decided to get The London Pass. If you are planning on hitting a lot of the major attractions and you're up for cramming in more than one thing in a day, then The London Pass might be your best bet.

The pass can be purchased for a single day or multiple days, with the per-day price declining with each additional day. We picked a two day pass for sixty-four pounds a person. The pass includes entry to a majority of the big tourist attractions, plus a lot more. The pass comes with a booklet explaining all of the attractions and it was a helpful guide to figuring out the best way to use our passes.

Again, I would highly advise going to The London Pass website prior to your trip and seeing what they have to offer. Plus, you can purchase the pass in advance and save time on having to buy it at an office in London. Vacation time is precious, don't waste it!

The London Pass Official Site

We purchased our pass early in the morning and headed straight to St. Paul's Cathedral. Dan had been to St. Paul's before and wanted to make sure to arrive at opening to hopefully miss the big crowds. As we were finishing up, the Cathedral was swarmed by bus loads of tourists.

St. Paul's is gorgeous and simply unlike anything that I have ever seen in America. It's absolutely massive.

The Cathedral was completed during the reign of Queen Anne and there is a statue of her in the west- front of St. Paul's.

Photography is not allowed inside the cathedral. Although I wish that I had been allowed to take pictures, I probably had a better visitors experience without worrying about my camera. I often find myself so concerned with taking pictures, that I miss out on giving myself over fully to the experience.

St. Paul's is opulent and grand. The entire building, inside and out is a work of art. There are sculptures, paintings and murals absolutely everywhere. It was overwhelming.

Below the main level of the Cathedral is the crypt. When I think of the word "crypt" the imagery that comes to mind is of a dark and foreboding place. A closed off, tight space. The crypt at St. Paul's is located adjacent to the cathedral's cafe. It's light, clean and even a bit sterile. It reminded me of where my mom is interred at Forrest Lawn Glendale, except with a lot more sculptures! Like Forrest Lawn, there are famous people buried here, including Lord Nelson and Lord Wellington.

If you are physically capable, then you must climb to the top of St. Paul's.

The climb comes in three stages and is not for anyone with limited mobility. The first climb, from the Cathedral Floor to the Whispering Gallery is the longest, but easiest. If you are moderately fit and can climb stairs, then you can make it.

The Whispering Gallery is a circular viewing area of the interior of the Cathedral. There are benches around the circle and if you whisper, people sitting on the other side of the circle can hear you. Fun with acoustics!

The second climb is from the Whispering Gallery to The Stone Gallery, an outdoor viewing area. The climb to The Stone Gallery is more intense, with narrow passageways and uneven stairs. This is not for the claustrophobic.

The third climb is up to the Golden Gallery, the highest outdoor viewing area. This is the most intense climb and is on a metal spiral ladder. If you are going to attempt any of the climbs from the Cathedral Floor, make sure to wear supportive shoes. Heels and sandals would be a terrible idea!

The views are amazing and worth the effort.

UK August-October 2013- The London Eye

There are some tourist trap experiences that you just have to do. It seems like every time I host a first time visitor to Los Angeles, their two must-do's are Hollywood Blvd and Venice Beach. It's useless to try to convince them that those two landmarks are really not the best of what So. Cal has to offer. It's a lesson that every visitor must learn for themselves.

The London Eye is a beautiful tourist trap. Certainly, it's better than Hollywood Blvd and Venice Beach combined, but it's still not something that would be in my top-ten London must-dos.

I feel like we experienced The London Eye the '"right way". We went early on the first morning of our trip, when the city was virtually unexplored. The best thing about The London Eye is the amazing views that it affords of the city. We lucked out and visited on a clear day with blue skies. It was ideal.

The tickets are pricy and not really a good value for the experience. Dan's parents arranged our tickets in advance and they did a smart thing by getting us Fast Track Tickets. The FT Tickets allowed us to skip a majority of the line and walk through a separate entrance. This was a huge time saver on a busy day. Judging by the queue, The London Eye is an attraction that every tourist hits!

Save time, pick Fast Track tickets for The London Eye

Our ticket package also included a viewing guide.

Here's the thing about the Viewing Guide...it's more for a souvenier than it is for practical usage while on The London Eye. It's detailed, but it's also cumbersome when you pull it out and try to use it. The carriages of The London Eye are crowded and it's just not worth fiddling with a giant map. Also, the carriages are all equipped with computers that have the same information as the viewing guide. I felt like this was an extra that they tacked on to the upgraded ticket price, that really didn't add to the value.

What was the ticket price?

Just shy of thirty pounds per adult for the Fast Track Tickets. The tickets also included a 4-D Cinema experience. The term "Cinema Experience" is a debatable one. Like the viewing guide, this was an unnecessary extra thrown in to justify the expensive admission.

The film is a complete gimmick and super cheesy, showing a family visiting The London Eye. About a week after we visited The London Eye, we went to Blackpool and had another "4-D Cinema Experience" that was roughly the same film, but replaced with Blackpool landmarks. It led us to wonder how many other videos the company has made for tourist traps all over the UK.

Even though you paid for it as part of your ticket package, I highly recommend skipping the film. It's not worth your time.

Price aside, there are reasons that you should check out The London Eye. The views are magnificent and it will give you approximately thirty minutes of incredible photo opportunities. The London Eye itself is a marvel. I've never seen anything quite like it and it's hard to imagine that it was originally supposed to be a temporary structure. It's beautiful.

Check out the official attraction website for updated visitors information.

The London Eye- Official Site

UK August-October 2013- London Duck Tours

Last night, we were sitting in our London hotel room, watching the news and we were surprised to hear about an accident with one of the boats on the London Duck Tours.

BBC News London Boat Tour Accident Story

About a month ago, on the second day of our epic UK vacation, we took a London Duck Tour.

Besides the obvious lure of riding in a vehicle that goes on both land and water, the London Duck Tours are a great way to see the city. In ninety minutes, we drove past many of the major London landmarks and got a lot of Historical information from our guide, Nathan.

We rode on an amphibious bus named Rosalind. All of the vehicles in the fleet are named after Shakespearian characters. The one involved in the recent accident was named Cleopatra.

I love the rubber ducky on the front of the vehicle.

The seating is done on a first come-first serve basis (arrive early) and we were able to board first. We grabbed a prime spot right at the front of the boat, next to the guide.

Rosalind is seventy-one years old and is one of nine ducks in the fleet. She weights 9 1/2 tons ( Big Ben Bell is 13 1/2) and can be seen in movie Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger. Yes, that the title of an actual movie and here is a link to the trailer, in which Rosalind is prominently displayed.

Our guide, Nathan, was awesome, giving us tons local History, stories and facts. My favorite story was about a homeless man who managed to sneak into Buckingham Palace and into the queens bedroom. Security didn't detect him, so he ended up having a lengthy conversation with the queen, before he was finally escorted out. She treated him like a guest, rather than an intruder.

The land portion lasted an hour and we drove past many of the major tourist sites. The duck tour would be a great starting point for a London vacation, as it provides a quick overview of the city and helps get you oriented to the layout.

Nathan had us making quacking sounds and flapping our arms every time we passed another duck vehicle. It was frequent and kept the tour fun. I felt like Nathan did a wonderful job at keep our group engaged and participating. He even walked around the boat to greet everyone, to take picture and answer questions.

Our driver, Steve, was also a delight. As we were sitting up front, we interacted with him a bit. Unfortunately, Steve was not authorized to drive the duck on the Thames, so when we got to the river portion of the journey, he switched out with another driver. The driver for the river portion was very surly. He never even cracked a smile or engaged with the group. He left my only negative impression of the experience.

It was fun to have the duck go from land to water. The launch into water is pretty exciting, because it moves fast and you just don't know what to expect. The launch area is a bit downhill. so it's a bumpy ride into the water. They play the James Bond theme during the launch, so it feels covert!

I was worried about getting wet, but the boat has a plastic tarp that can be lowered to prevent splashing. I didn't lower the splash guard and as I was sitting by the window, I only got a few drops on my arm. We went when the water was calm. It probably would have been a very different experience on a choppy day. The Thames is not the kind of water that you want to have on your skin.

Here we are, happy on our London Duck Tour!

The London Duck Tour is a must-do for anyone visiting the city. Dan worked in London for many years and still had a great time on the tour. He even learned new things about the city. It's not just for London newbies, like me!