<p>NorthMinnesota - Honestly, I wouldn’t have done anything different. I just kept searching “top things to do in London” and made lists from that. I did the same thing for Paris. </p>
<p>Everything, except Hampton Palace, was very close to a subway stop. So, we bought the 7 day travel card at Victoria Station. You have to use a passport photo, but I did my own online using the British size (which of course is different than the US size). We then could print out at home 2 for 1 tickets to many attractions. I’m pretty sure you can get those for any number of days and it pays if you go to the Tower of London, Hampton Palace, and any other attractions on the website. Just search "London travel card 2 for 1). There’s a lot of information out there. You have to buy this travel card at a train station because it was set up to draw the English into London using the train. It is a paper ticket with the train logo and a separate ID card. It’s well worth the little bit more money than an Oyster card because of the 2 for 1 deals and you can use it on the tube, buses, and local trains within the travel zones you pick. We picked travel zones 1 and 2 and that was fine for us. The only thing outside was Hampton Palace and that is in zone 6. You don’t want to pay the extra for all the days just for one day outside of the main travel zone. Actually, we didn’t go outside Zone 1, but there is no option to buy just zone 1. Also, with the travel card you can travel during peak times with no increase in fares. It’s really convenient because you can ride as many times as you want and just swipe the card. </p>
<p>You will love the Eurostar. You can buy a carnet aboard in the dining car, before you get to Paris. A carnet is a pack of 10 tickets that you can use on the subway, buses, or RER trains. You use one ticket per person per line. So, for example, if you travel from the train station to your hotel on the 42 bus, you can get back on the bus and ride to the next stop or further using the same ticket. I’m pretty sure that you can use the same ticket for the entire bus route. Getting the carnet on the train eliminates the need to figure out how to use the ticket machine in the Gare du Nord station. The subway is underground beneath the train station and it’s very easy to get to the Louvre, which is where we started from. </p>
<p>I cannot stress enough the need to watch your possessions. We didn’t see any police in the train station and there were definitely young girls watching us when we were near cash machines. Make sure any men in your group keep wallets in their front pockets or hidden elsewhere. Only take credit cards and cash that you can afford to lose. leave the rest in the hotel safe. We also made copies of drivers licenses and passports in case they were stolen. Check out the trip advisor forums for Paris. There are posts about all of the tricks pickpockets use and we saw them all. I didn’t mention in my last post, but my husband had his wallet stolen while getting on a subway train at the train station. (my husband still gets embarrassed because I had warned him of just that very trick) He had given me his Pounds to exchange for Euros because the ATM wasn’t working and out of habit stuck is wallet in his back pocket. When we went down to the subway train my daughters and I got on and he was last. Two girls pushed ahead of him then stopped as soon as they got on the train, forcing him to turn sideways to squeeze past. One grabbed his wallet and threw it off the subway car to two other girls waiting on the platform. He realized right away but it was too late. We spent the next two hours at the Louvre canceling credit cards while our daughters walked around. Luckily, he had no money and only were able to charge a small amount before we got the cards cancelled. I carried a cross body bag that had a flap over the zipper (too much work for them). Not a fun way to start a trip! </p>
<p>One last thing, get the Frommer’s Day by Day books for London and Paris. Great info on the things you will want to see and a handy map in the back that you can take out and carry easily. That map was all we used to get around both cities. Subways are signed really well, the buses were harder to figure out. I had downloaded travel apps to my iPhone and never even looked at them. </p>
<p>A couple of fun things we did was pictures at Abbey Road, London Walks - Jack the Ripper Walk, Sherlock Holmes museum. I also researched Harry Potter sights and we found some of those. There is a Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station with a cart halfway through a brick wall and we walked across Millenium Bridge (Harry Potter) to see the Globe Theater. The British Museum and Natural History Museum were nice and worth a stop if you have time. There is so much and it really depends on what you like and who is going. We aren’t big into art so we missed the Tate’s. It’s funny but we all had certain things we wanted to see and I can’t think of one thing that we all didn’t enjoy. For example, my D12 said absolutely she wasn’t interested in history stuff and yet she thoroughly enjoyed Hampton Court Palace. My D15 thought Jack the Ripper was going to be boring. She ended up buying a book from the tour guide and getting him to autograph it for her.</p>
<p>I hope you have a great time and if I can give you anymore info just let me know.</p>