Looking forward - London

Tim and I were talking today about our trip (yeah, it's pretty much the hot topic for us right now), and he had a wonderful suggestion: blog about the research I've done for the locations we'll be visiting and include the links for the info I've found.

We'll start with London today.

Tim has been to London, I haven't. Even so, with the exception of the British Museum, he's only seen a few things in the early morning hours and only from the outside. Of course, I want to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster and Parliament, but I want to get to know London, not just the tourist hot spots. Here is some info I've found:

To start, I looked up available day tours:
http://www.viator.com/London/d737-ttd

I like Viator as a source for specific areas of travel. It is user friendly and has some great information, especially on the typical tourist things to do. Here, I was reminded of places such as Stonehenge, White Cliffs of Dover, Highclere Castle, Windsor Castle, Cotswold, Stratford on Avon and more.

Then I found http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Welcome.html
Sounds fun, right? Very simple website filled with fun information from walking tours to statues to event calendar. Did you know that London has a statue of Abraham Lincoln? Actually, there are two of him in Britain (that I've found online anyway). It was "presented to Britain by America in 1920 to mark 100 years of peace between the English-speaking peoples." This site has a listing of "secret" walks in London, which take you through areas of wonderful and sometimes scary history, garden walks that are hosts to animal statues, etc.

Other links I found interesting:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-does-london-vocabulary-compare-with-us-english.html?utm_source=Lifehack&utm_campaign=c7b252a800-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_983e966a3e-c7b252a800-414733985

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/17/londons-best-pubs_n_4114120.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-food

http://www.buzzfeed.com/americanexpressuk/21-amazing-secret-places-to-find-in-london#.avMARdGP1

http://eatyourworld.com/destinations/europe/england/london

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/street-feast#.ulv6eRkNa

I look forward to trying some new foods, hearing the vocabulary and visiting some fun locations as well as historic ones. We won't see and do everything there is, we just won't have time, but it is most certain we'll enjoy everything we do get to see and do. I'll leave you with this today: