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    London. Foreign but familiar. The worlds most popular city. Sure, they drive on the "wrong" side of the street (before cars, horseback riders passed each other on the left since most carried their weapons in their right hands ), eat lousy food (not any more since probably every cuisine on the planet is available at every price level, and many chains that are in the US are here - and they taste the same) and drink "warm" beer (don't picture a can of Bud left out on the picnic table, but a cellar-temperature "real ale", hand pumped up to the bar and offered in addition to "normal" beer in many pubs),. We are different, but similar. Then there's all that royalty stuff we aren't used to but can't get enough of....

    Different cities are known for different things in the USA, but England has one super city that has it all. Whereas the U.S. has Washington DC for the government, New York for the financials and theatre, LA for the tv/movie biz, Boston and Philadelphia for the history - London performs all of those functions and more for the United Kingdom. Remember, the English started the "industrial revolution" and subsequently dominated world economics while their broad political control allowed them to boast "the sun never sets on the British Empire". It was that reach that makes their museums so vast and varied today; they were "acquiring" art and artifacts from around the planet during their influential peak and brought them to London to show off.

    London is about as big and  important as a city can be. Yet it feels comfortable and trustworthy, in an aunt and uncle sort of way. With the vast, people moving "Tube" (subway) running beneath the surface of the city, you can wander to your hearts content, or even get a little lost. When your ready to get back to the hotel, ask the nearest waitress, shopkeeper, minister, usher, bartender, policeman or just about any person on the street and they can direct you toward the nearest access. Refer to the map at the entrance, hop on a train, and you are on your way.

    "He who is tired of London, is tired of life..."- Dr Samuel Johnson (famous for publishing the first comprehensive English language dictionary). London is a perfect "unpack once" city. This is my "must see" list, the core of all my London tours.

• British Museum -Step right up, folks and witness the greatest museum in the western world. There is no such thing as "wasted time" at the BM - its all here and its all good. I'll show you their greatest hits in an hour or so and then you can focus on your favorites. Pace yourself and/or plan on coming back.
• National Gallery  - Popular paintings from around the planet. Art lovers go crazy here, and non-art lovers still get a little silly. All the biggies under one roof. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Rubens...you get the picture.
• Westminster Abbey - Miraculously untouched by WWII bombing, this place has been royally famous for nearly 1000 (one thousand) years and is still going strong. If someone's English and you've heard of them, there's a good  chance they're buried here.
• British Library - This is the best hour you can spend in London. Really old maps, the earliest Bible (350 AD!) and a Gutenberg, a Magna Carta, Da Vinci's notebook with its inside-out, backwards writing, Shakespeare, Beatles, Dickens, Chaucer, etc. Documents that helped shape and define the world as we know it.
• Tower of London and the Crown Jewels- This fortress is where you went if you were bad to the crown. Anne Boylen and Lady Jane Grey lost their heads here while others just had a miserable time. Witness actual jaws dropping and hear audible gasps as you visit the crown jewels in a massive walk-in safe deep inside the compound.
• Visit a pub -Stop by your "local" for a decent meal, a pint, or just to see how your neighbors are doing. If you are not a "bar person", don't worry, its not like back home. In a " Public house", everyone feels, and is, welcome.

 London continued - click here