UK August-October 2013- Tower of London

Prior to visiting the Tower of London, my idea of what it must look like came from cheesy Historical Novels, namely those written Philippa Gregory. In Gregory's novels, nothing good ever happens at the Tower of London. I also heard of my aunt and uncle's visit, where my uncle refused to enter the buildings because of "ghosts". He was superstitious like that and I'm not. My poor aunt ended up touring by herself, while he sat outside. In conclusion, in my imagination, I pictured the tower to be a dark and foreboding place.

A little, but really not so much.

We arrived at the Tower of London in the late morning, after touring Saint Paul's Cathedral. As tourists with limited time, there are only so many attractions that we could visit first thing in the morning, effectively beating the rush. We should have done the Tower of London first. It's very popular and although they manage the crowds like pros, it's still a mad house.

Our first stop was the Royal Mint to look at some really old coins.

Next, we did the Wall Walk, which is a one way walk around the stone defensive perimeter with viewing the exhibits in each of its towers. We saw examples of Medieval living, wall carvings by prisoners and examples of period weaponry.

My favorite exhibit involved animals that used to live at the Tower. The tower was once home to all types of exotic animals, including a Polar Bear that would go for swims in the Thames. There was a gruesome story about a visitor, who was mauled to death when a lion decided that he didn't want her stroking his paw. Around the grounds of the tower, there are animal sculptures to show where the real animals used to live.

We got some great views of the Tower Bridge from the perimeter wall.

We ate Tower of London chocolate coins to keep us going as we headed to the White Tower to tour the Royal Armouries.

A very cool fact about the Royal Armouries, is that it holds the distinction of being the World's Longest Running Visitors Attraction. That's impressive.

Truthfully, I felt like I was at Medieval Times, the part before the show, where you can look at all of the replica medieval weaponry and costumes. I have no doubt that the creators of Medieval Times visited the Tower of London, so that they could recreate it for their dinner show. Could I tell the difference between fake and the real deal? Probably not.

We went into the Beauchamp Tower, where prisoners were held. It was fairly cheery.

The most popular attraction at the Tower of London are the Crown Jewels. We waited over an hour in a line that snaked around the front of the building. So tip, if you visit, do this first! The line was long and it was a rare, scorching hot day! It's a quick exhibit, as a some of the more popular pieces are viewed as you are standing on a moving walk way. It's just so busy and popular, that it's not a place that you are allowed to linger. The Crown Jewels are opulent and a sight to see, but seeing them once is enough. It was probably the least interesting exhibit in the tower.

As we walked out, I found a few of the animals.

This is my favorite shot, showing old and new London.

Visit early and be prepared to do a lot of walking and standing.

UK August-October 2013- Victoria and Albert Museum

Founded in 1852, the Victoria and Albert is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. It has 145 galleries organized by themes ( like theatrical arts and sculpture) and by regions of the world. It's so expansive, that it is impossible to see it all in a day. It's probably impossible to see everything, even if you visited for a whole month!

I didn't plan my visit, so I did what all of the other tourists were doing and I started with the exhibits right at the front entrance. There is no fee for the museum and the collection starts immediately upon entering the building. A few steps in the door and I was immersed in ancient sculptures. The giant statue of Neptune and Triton is by famed Italian artist, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Years ago, I wrote a paper on the sculpture for an Art History class and it was exciting to see it in person. It's very imposing!

I quickly realized that with so much to see, I would need to focus on the things that I was most interested in and I found a directory. My next stop was a display of fashion through the decades.

I paid a small fee to go into a special fashion exhibit called Club to Catwalk, which highlighted fashions of the 1980's. This exhibit was worth the extra fee. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed, because I saw some really crazy outfits that need to be seen to be believed. The most memorable, were outfits by designer Chrissie Walsh, that looked like they were stolen from the ride operators in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. Look her up, because this is clearly where they got the idea for the cast costumes!

As I walked through the museum, I peeked through the closed doors of the Art Library.

My favorite part of the museum was the Theatre and Performance section. I spent a few hours looking at costumes, watching performances on a giant cinema screen and reading through their playbill collection.

I love the creativity that goes into set design and the museum has a wonderful collection of set design dioramas. I managed to get a decent shot of one for a production of Sweeney Todd.

My favorite parts of the collection were a giant rhino puppet from a production of Ionesco's Rhinoceros , masks from a production of The Oresteia and costumes from The Lion King. If you love Theatre, this gallery should be a must-do when you're visiting London. I was really happy to have visited alone, as I could take my time and fully enjoy the exhibits. I could have spent all day here.

I ended my trip to the Victoria and Albert with a walk around the beautiful center courtyard. The dining hall was very busy when I visited, but it was huge with all types of food options offered. Many people took their lunches outside to sit by the reflection pool. If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the crowds, I would have done the same.

The Victoria and Albert has a wonderful collection and with a free admission, it's an easy choice of an activity to add to your London sightseeing list. I look forward to a future trip, when I can explore more galleries.

A special Thank You to my in-laws for giving me cab fare, so that I would get to the museum safely! I got my bearings fairly quickly, but that first day alone in London would have been a little scary without taking a cab!

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