We arrived at Heathrow at 6am. If your trip was not too long you could go straight to your hotel and leave your luggage until you return later in the day when your room is ready - have you noticed that your room is never ready until the afternoon even if the hotel has been half empty for a week? Our trip took 24 hours so we paid for the day before the day of arrival so we could have showers, put on clean clothes and generally recover for an hour or so before hitting the streets at 9am.
Our accommodation in London was a self contained apartment in St James, 5 minutes from both Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace. The apartment was excellent - spacious and comfortable with great views and round the clock security.
Time for breakfast - to many travellers breakfast is the best meal of the day. You need to build up energy levels that will last the distance. Just as importantly a good breakfast means you don't have to worry too much about lunch when you only need something light. Breakfasts in hotels, cafes, etc provide the full range you would expect - eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomato, toast, cereal and pastries. The cafes are by far the best for breakfast!
We think that on your first day you should see some of the best known sights to really get that feeling you are in London. Our first destination was Parliament Square, where so many London landmarks are located. In front of you is Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, which overlook the Thames, to the right is Westminster Abbey and to the left is Whitehall.
The Abbey was open from 9.30 so we went there first. This was one of the highlights of our London visit - just about every monarch has been crowned here and quite a few such as Elizabeth I are buried here. Be prepared to spend at least two hours here.
The Houses of Parliament are more likely to open in the afternoon and evening - check the times before you arrive as they do vary. Around Whitehall are the War Cabinet Rooms, Downing Street and lots of other sights that the guide books will tell you about. At Parliament Square don't miss the Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln statues and St Margaret's Church.
Our next stop was Trafalgar Square. You soon realise that walking all day is simply too slow. You will need to catch trains, buses and taxis to give you more time and to save the legs.
Lunches vary a lot from pubs with bistro type food (be warned - there are pubs that only do pizza hut pizzas) to cafes with general type food (ie bacon, eggs, sandwiches, fish and chips) or Italian and other nationality flavours. There is also a plentiful range of restaurants if you have the time.
At Trafalgar Square we took in Nelson's Column, Admiralty Arch and St Martin-in-the-Field Church.
We also toured the National Gallery (we allowed an hour and a half but you really need two days to do it justice). The audio guides that you carry give such detail that the first three paintings we looked at took 15 minutes to listen to.
Quickly now on to St Paul's Cathedral where you should try to spend another two hours. Like the Abbey there is so much to take in particularly down in the Crypt, but you can also climb the stairs first to the Whispering Gallery and then on to the top of the Dome for the best and highest views we got of London.
This is a big day so don't try to walk between the three locations. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the apartment - especially when we did the grocery shopping at a nearby Sainsbury's on the way back. But we had a great first day and we soon warmed up over a nice light meal and a bottle of red while watching British TV - you will find you are already familiar with a lot of programs.
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