Holly:  The London Eye is a ferris wheel of giant proportions 135 meters above the River Thames. It is across the river from Big Ben between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, you can't miss it.

The ride lasts about thirty minutes. Lines can be long for tickets and they are not cheap. However, we went late in the afternoon around 5:00pm without any lengthy wait.

Customers can book their "flight" on ba-londoneye.com in advance and then collect their tickets from automated ticket collection machines located in the ticket hall a few steps from the Eye.

There are about fifteen people per ride capsule. The views are astounding, the ride is certainly novel and our children loved it.

44-0870-990-8883 or email customer.service@ba-londoneye.com.

Sandy:  Expensive, but sooo worth it! The guide books indicate you can make reservations, but we went in the evening and walked right on, with no crowds or lines, and only one other family sharing our air conditioned ‘pod’.

The single rotation takes about a ½ hour, and the views are incredible.

Buy the handy pod-shaped flip page guide, which points out landmarks from every angle. Our boys loved it – as did we! Price for family of 5 with guide book is £47.50.

The website is a great London resource, too! www.ba-londoneye.com. Click on "Eye View" then "Photo Gallery", and also "About the Eye" then "Vision" for good info.

The kids enjoyed a glimpse of the crown jewels as they zipped by on a conveyor belt; locating the place of execution for Henry the VIII's wives and enemies; clambering about on the castle walls; and of course the requisite ice cream cone.

Sandy:  Very large, various rooms to see: one area set up with historically correct bed and décor, one full of jewels, one full of armor and weaponry. Big cobbled courtyard to wander. There is a free tour option, with a dressed up guide, but the group waiting for the guide grew to about 25 people, and I knew the kids would have a hard time understanding the strong accents, so we toured on our own.

Kids were very bored – mildly liked the water entrance where prisoners were brought by boat, mildly liked the weaponry displays. Thought seeing the space where a guillotine used to be was lame (they wanted to see the actual guillotine!) They did enjoy watching the video showing the changes in the buildings over 100s of years.

Visit http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/ and click on "Plan Your Visit".

Open to 6pm weekdays – huge building with many floors, and wide marble staircases. Some displays had hands-on features, such as comparison of building materials, and creation of your own computerized rocket.

But kids still like to zip through faster than grownups, who like to thoroughly read all the information. BUT – in the basement, is a kid-zone that has lots of VERY active science concepts – a balance beam, a gyroscope, and such.

Our kids LOVED the bean lever and pulley system. It had many stations for kids to scoop, crank, pull, lift and lower quantities of small plastic bean-ish things.

Our oldest took over, and turned the operation into an exciting mission for his brothers and many other kids. They couldn’t wait to return the next day! Best of all, it’s all FREE!! www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

We arrived by rental car but there are many tour buses going there. The grounds leading up to the castle were green and lush, various birds including peacocks were wandering about. The whole scene was picturesque as confirmed by our numerous photos.

The moat/lake surrounding the castle fulfills all medieval romantic expectations. Leeds Castle is steeped in history having been inhabited at one time by Henry the VIII.

The castle tour was interesting - be sure to ask the docents questions - they are full of information.

Children may enjoy the dog collar museum, certainly an oddity. There is a snack bar in one of the out buildings. Watch the peacocks they are beggars. One of them honked at us when he wasn't getting enough attention.

The perennial gardens are beautiful and satisfying for the green thumbs of the party.

For the children, the maze beyond the gardens is the piece de resistance. It is huge and roomy with a park attendant (think 'Catcher in the Rye') standing on a small hill directing lost parents and giggling kids to the center and grotto below. www.leeds-castle.com

Tiny, tiny shop, about the size of my kitchen, with video playing of Beatles interviews (would have liked it better with their music playing!), some old records for sale, and LOTS of calendars, mugs, key chains, mouse pads, thimbles (maybe I’m exaggerating) with Beatles photos.

A friendly elevator guide tells you a bit, then directs you on your way. You enter the first tower and view a short video about the tower, then exit into the upper walkway, where there are more interactive computerized displays, and telescopes, and a great view.

Continue walking to the next tower, see another short video on the making of the tower, then whenever you’re ready, another elevator down to the control area. See re-created scenes from the tower’s coal-operated days, with recorded sounds and plastic figures of workers with voices telling details.

It was a cold, drizzly, London, summer day, but we marched off confidently to the Westminster pier. I initially asked the ticket booth operator for a roundtrip ticket to which that wise man said we would be satisfied with just the one way ticket returning by train instead. Bless him.

Our boat soon loaded. It was a long narrow affair that could snugly seat about one hundred inside. Since, it was raining we all packed into the cabin on the benches. The sightseeing windows promptly steamed up from all the warm bodies – so much for a window seat. Never the less off we went, the tour guide confidently listing off all the famous building we were passing but unable to view through the fogged windows.

Hampton Court has a wonderful history. Read up on it before you go. It is supposed to be haunted. The children were particularly intrigued by the old indoor “tennis courts”. The chapel unexpectedly had a service while we were there which allowed the children to observe a high church processional. The gardens were beautifully manicured and empty compared with the building -- except for the maze. It takes some time to get through the maze and you can become separated. So keep track of little ones. There is also a grapevine enclosed in a greenhouse dating back some 400 years. All in all, we loved visiting Hampton Court ...  just don’t take the boat.

This is THE most fantastic museum – kids and adults loved it.  Very high quality displays of the history of cruise ships, the Arctic explorer expeditions, hands-on computer navigation and weather models, and a great kid-zone, to experience Morse code systems and wind effects.  We spent a couple hours in here, and it was FREE! 

There is a café area, but it smelled funny, sort of like old carpet, so we didn’t try it.  Down the hill, right off the train, is an old school that houses an information center.  This one is very large, with brochures and maps, and had great prices on lots of souvenir items.

www.nmm.ac.uk The website has a handy link to Time Out London. Click galleries for photos, click latest visitor info to get best times to visit.

Docklands Light Rail - spotless and quiet.
A nice ride to Greenwich.

Steep path between Museum
and Observatory

Our kids loved this – a small building with displays about the history of humans’ understanding of the universe, the life of a professional astronomer who lived there for decades, and the invention of the clock.

See the huge telescope, and learn about Greenwich Mean Time. Stand on the Prime Meridian – 0 degrees longitude.

We spent another hour here. FREE!

Same website as Maritime Museum - www.nmm.ac.uk Click on the Time gallery for observatory stuff.

See inside the crew’s cabins and captain’s loft.Our kids thought it was horribly boring.

Though mock 'sailors' sang sea-faring tunes, still not worth the time, only because stopping here cut into our time for the fabulous Maritime Museum and Observatory, where we wish we had more time before it closed for the day.

www.cuttysark.org.uk Click History and Collections, then History for good info.

Hever castle is surrounded by a humble moat and beautiful flower gardens. The castle was purchased and restored by William Waldorf Astor ca. 1903.

Despite the violent end to Anne Bolyen’s life this castle had a lovely tranquility about it. The various hedged and walled flower gardens were some of the prettiest we saw on our trip. They include a water maze which is a huge hit with the kids on a hot day.

The castle and gardens are not overwhelmingly large making it an easy half day excursion.  The docents inside the castle were friendly and informative.

Finally, we were on board a plush, clean, new, roomy train for the 35 minute journey to Windsor. The Legoland shuttle bus stop was kitty corner, across the street from the train station. Bus driver didn't manage the crowd well, and we had to contend with rude passengers.

It was raining hard and the steamy windows blocked our view on the 15 minute ride to Legoland. When we arrived, we were told we needed to exchange our tickets bought at the train station for Legoland tickets. Good thing there were no lines.

It was 1:30 when we entered - only 3.5 hours to closing. Saw Miniland, had fun on 3 rides, ate lunch, mastered driving school, and boating school.

It was drizzling some, so we bought rain ponchos on the way to the water log ride.

Park closed at 5, had to wait in the rain, under a very crowded bus shelter for 40 minutes to get back to Windsor. Then the train ride to London, then a taxi to hotel - long day!

If we did it again, we'd buy our combo train trip/Legoland ticket a day earlier, and catch the earliest possible train to Windsor to avoid the long line at the train ticket counter, then investigate requesting a taxi to take us from Legoland back to the train station. (Unless they've improved the shuttle bus management recently.) The Best Day Trips from London book lists two taxi companies in Windsor. See our book reviews section.

From the quantity of set-in-the-woods paved parking spaces available, looks like it can get quite crowded. We went about an hour ‘til closing, and there weren’t crowds, however we were all disappointed to just have missed an archery demonstration. Maybe call ahead for demonstration times that day – I think there are other types of shows to see, too.

The ancient castle is GORGEOUS, the setting is lush, and it is awesome to think of how the place was used over thousands of years. There are sections to see all over the castle, from a dungeon, to fancy living quarters. There is some sort of movie area that you can pay extra to see, but we didn’t.

There are 2 or so cafes, a sit-down restaurant, and a couple of snack kiosks. Only one kiosk was open when we were there, so we bought some chips.

Then we went outside to the peacock garden, with squares of boxwood and fountains and caterers readying a nearby large glass room for an evening event perhaps.

There were probably 10 large, colorful peacocks, calmly wandering or resting, and two fanned their feathers to a height of 5 feet, and shook them – a fantastic sight! www.warwick-castleco.uk

We were guided to take a staircase down underground, then into a small movie-theater-ish room to see a video that comically instructed us to imagine traveling far back in time.

Then we were ushered onto a tram car that could hold 6 in two rows of three, and so our family of five occupied one whole tram.  The tram wound its way back and forth, hovering above scenes of wax figures depicting Vikings over hundreds of years, with recorded narration via in-seat speakers.  To me, the scene with a guy squatting in his outhouse was quite offensive.  And the whole place did smell musty and foul just from being in the ancient underground, I suppose.  I would recommend it, a learning experience, very interesting tram technology, but we were glad when it ended. 

After the tram ride, you enter a display area, with a couple of hands-on items, dressed up workers to demonstrate hammering money or answer questions, and glass-enclosed maps, skeletons, and artifacts. 

They provided a wonderful kids’ brochure, which highlighted interesting tidbits for kids to locate. We used the very nice restrooms, and sat in the middle of the sunlit floor, waiting for the clock to ring.

www.yorkminster.org

We explored the place very leisurely. The kids can climb aboard many of the trains, and there are some hands-on items to play with. It is very spacious, and there are many, many trains and other areas to see showing repair areas, royal coaches through history, and video displays.

The gift shop is very big. The restrooms were run down and the men’s room was so smelly, our twins came in the women’s with me.  FREE!!

www.nrm.org.uk