Tourist Attractions in London

   London is one big city of tourist attractions.  I am not even sure where to begin actually.  Big Ben is of course one of the major tourist attractions in London.  Knowing very little about London, I was not even aware that it was connected to the Parliament. Now I know. Right across the river from Big Ben is the new London Eye.  In a sense, it is as it appears to be, a giant ferris wheel.  It takes the traveler in a big circle for a bird's eye view of the city. It is pretty fun and does offer a great view. The picture on the left is Big Ben with the London eye to its left, the one on the right is the view from the London Eye

Another tourist option is the famous Tower of London. It was once called the bloody tower and held prisoners, now it is a  big museum offering a variety of displays including things from World War II, a medieval look at London and of course, the crown jewels.  The Tower of London is a prime tourist spot with several gift shops all throughout the castle. Of course right there on the river Thames is the London Tower Bridge.

An important ceremonial tourist attraction is the daily changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  It begins at 11:30, but come early if you want a good seat.  The Changing of the Guards consists of both a parade into the palace walls and an elaborate showing of marching and moving guns about once inside the gates.  Although at first interested, I later found it to be quite tedious and recommend it only if you are truly interested in royal ceremonies and such.

There is a multitude of touristy things to do in London.  Other than the above mentioned, and not including museums and churches, there is also the various London Walks and guides through the city, each with its own theme.  Also, shopping a Harrod's the world famous department store is a great thing to do, or at least experience. Something else of interest to me at least was the London Dungeon, which includes a scary boat ride, live actors trying to scare you and lost of replications of murder scenes and scary people.  You will find Jack the Ripper here as well as Bloody Mary, it is a fun place to visit, if you are in to that sort of thing.  I really enjoyed it.