Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour of London

Our first time to London we took a tour on one of those Big Red buses. I didn’t love it because you spend a lot of time in stop and go traffic. If you are comfortable riding the tube (subway) I would recommend that.

We stayed near Paddington Station on Sussex Gardens so we had easy access to the underground and the train system. After dropping off our baggage we jumped on the underground and headed for the Westminster stop. It is a pretty amazing experience when you step out of the underground. It is one of those WOW moments when you are greeted by this handsome guy – Big Ben

Big Ben and House of Parliament

This is a sure sign that you are really in London. Be sure and get the classic jumping photo in front of Big Ben

Right next to Big Ben is the House of Parliament which is the seat of government in England.

Be sure to walk across the Westminster Bridge that spans the Thames River. On the other side you will find the London Eye.

Red Telephone Box

You will fine these iconic phone booths at various places. They are the perfect spot for a photo.

Buckingham Palace/Changing of the Guard

No trip to London would be complete without a visit to Buckingham Palace, the home of Queen Elizabeth.

Be sure and time your visit to see the changing of the guard. The schedule varies throughout the year so be sure and check it before your trip.

Westminster Abbey

Another must see in London. This is where kings and queens are crowned, weddings and funerals happen and hundreds of famous people are buried under the floor of the abbey. You will find the graves of Charles Darwin and many others. This is where Prince William and Kate were married.

Trafalgar Square

A public square where you will find many demonstrations and celebrations. It is the home to Nelson’s Column and the National Gallery.

Platform 9 3/4

If you are a Harry Potter fan be sure and visit Kings Cross Station where you can take your photo on Platform 9 3/4.

Tower of London

Be sure and take the tour here given by a real live Beefeater. The Tower of London dates back to 1066 and is was a prison and a royal residence.

Tower Bridge

Right next to the Tower of London you will see the iconic Tower Bridge not to be confused with London Bridge. You are able to climb one of the towers to get a good view of London.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

A world famous cathedral that was the wedding place of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. It is also featured in Mary Poppins movie. Built in 1697 it is a beautiful cathedral.

Millenium Bridge

Made famous by the Harry Potter movie take a walk across this pedestrian bridge which crosses the Thames River. At the other end of the bridge you will find the Globe Theater.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

Originally built in 1599 the Globe Theater was demolished in 1644. Today, a replica stands in it’s place. You can take a tour of the theater of watch a show.

The British Museum

This is a wonderful museum and you could spend days there. You can see parts of the Parthenon, Egyptian mummies and the Rosetta Stone. One of our favorite exhibits was the Beatle’s exhibit with all kinds of memorabilia from the band and their music.

Afternoon Tea

This is a tradition and must do in London and our favorite place to have tea is at The Orangery in Kensington Gardens.

Abbey Road

My husband is a big Beatle’s fan so this was a must visit for us even though it was a bit out of the way. Of course we had to take the famous stroll across Abbey Road.

Camden Market

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is found in the West End and is a great shopping area with lots of good restaurants. It is fun to walk around, watch the street performers and enjoy some yummy food.

Borough Market

This is the place to eat! It is a giant food market with different foods from all over the world. Go hungry!

Portobello Road Market

One of my favorite places to visit in London. The houses that line the road are so pretty, the market has great antique shopping and lots of delicious food booths! It is only open on Saturdays so plan your itinerary around it.

London Theater

London has lots of great theater so enjoy an evening at the theater one night.

English Football

Top of my husband’s list was a “football” game – that’s what they call soccer in England. We went out to a suburb to catch a game.

Enjoy your visit to London. There is so much to see and do! Check out my Day Trips from London post for even more things to see.

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Seine River

Take a walk along the Seine in the day or evening. We also love to take a cruise in the evening to enjoy the sights and lights. Make sure to time it so you can see the Eiffel Tower twinkle on the hour.

The Louvre

The Louvre is world’s largest art museum and you could spend weeks visiting all it’s exhibits. We made a quick trip into to see the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory which will take an hour or so. Book tickets ahead of time online or buy a Museum Pass if you plan on visiting other museums.

Palais Royale

Just across from the Louvre pay a visit to the Palais Royale, one of Paris Insider’s best kept secrets. Visit the former home of French royalty. Be sure to visit the inner courtyard to see the black-and-white art installation Les Deux Plateaux as well as the surrounding arcade shops and restaurants.

The Musee D’Orsay

This is my favorite museum in Paris because of it’s wonderful Impressionist exhibits. They have all my favorites including Monet, Manet, Gaugin, Degas, Renoir and others. It’s an old train station that has been converted into a museum.

Saint Chapelle Chapel

Just around the corner from Notre Dame is the gorgeous cathedral with what is considered one of the world’s best stained glass displays. It is definitely worth the wait in line.

Notre Dame Cathedral

One of the oldest cathedrals in the world. The stained glass is amazing and a trip to the top to view Paris with a gargoyle’s view is the best. (My visit was before the tragic fire)

Ile de la Cite

This is the small island in the center of Paris and the home to Notre Dame Cathedral and Saint Chapelle. It is the heart of Paris and also the home to my favorite ice cream shop, Berthillion and many other darling shops.

Sacre Coeur

The Sacre Coeur Basilica is located on one of the highest points in Paris and has an amazing view of the city. Tour the basilica and then enjoy the view.

Montmarte Neighborhood

After your visit to Sacre Coeur wander the hilly streets of Montemarte neighborhood which is home to many artists. You can even watch them paint at the Place du Tertre. Have lunch in one of the cafes on the square. Check out the Wall of Love near the metro stop.

Eiffel Tower (Day and Night)

Paris’ most famous landmark is the top of everyone’s list of things to do in Paris. Be sure and visit in the day and take a trip to the top and then return at night to watch it twinkle. We like to watch it twinkle from a boat on the Seine River. Be sure to book your tickets to visit the tower ahead of time as lines can be hours long.

Place de La Concorde

The Place de La Concorde is a roundabout between the Tuileries Garden and the Champs-Elysees. It is where Marie Antoinette and King Louis the XVI were executed by the guillotine.

Tuilleries Garden

The Gardens are perfect to stroll through on your way from the Place de la Concorde to the Louvre. Sit by the pond and relax and do a little people watching.

Arc de Triomphe

At the top of the Tuilleries Garden sits the Arc De Triomphe. You can look down the Champs- Elysees from the Arc all the way to the Louvre. The Arc is a triumphal arch and an iconic symbol of French national identity and took 30 years to build.

Champs -Elysees

One of the most famous streets in the world. It connects the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Lots of shopping and people watching.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

We ended up at the cemetary because we were in Paris on a holiday and everything was closed. It ended up being one of the highlights of our trip and I highly recommend a visit. The tombstones and mausoleums are beautiful and they will give you a map of all the famous people that are buried there when you enter including Charlie Chaplin, Chopin and Moliere.

Luxembourg Gardens

The perfect spot to take a stroll and enjoy the flowers. You can even sail a wooden boat on the pond in the garden.

Angelinas

After your stroll through the gardens stop at Angelinas for a cup of their amazing hot chocolate!

Le Marais

This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Paris. There are good restaurants and I love visiting the many antique stores found in the Village St. Paul in heart of Le Marais.

Shakespeare and Company

The famous bookstore that was started in 1919 by Sylvia Beach that was frequented by Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other famous American authors living in Paris. This is not the original location.

Eat a Crepe on the Street

You will find crepe vendors throughout the city. It’s a perfect snack or lunch on the go while you are out and about town.

Boulangerie

Visit as many boulangeries or French bakeries as you can to enjoy a daily croissant or baguette.

Macarons

Visit the famous Laudree for delicious macarons!

Sidewalk Cafe

Be enjoy a meal or two or at least a drink at one of Paris’ many sidewalk cafes.

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Living in Portland, Oregon we are able to spend a lot of time at the Oregon Coast.  We recently returned from our family’s annual week at the beach in Manzanita, Oregon.  One of the top things on our list to do each year during our time at the beach is eat as much fish and chips as we can.  We definitely have our favorites but we always look for a new place or two to try.  Today, I have compiled a list of our all time favorites, the ones we go back to time and time again.  We even drive over an hour from our beach house to enjoy one of them!

Our list includes places from Astoria, Oregon at the north end down to Tillamook, Oregon on the southern end.

Where to Get Fish and Chips on the Oregon Coast

From North to South:

The Bowpicker, Astoria, Oregon  1634 Duane Street, Astoria OR 97103; 503-791-2942

If I had to pick our favorite fish and chips on the North Oregon Coast the Bowpicker may be it.  Don’t look for a restaurant, the Bowpicker is actually an old boat parked on the corner.  They use albacore for their fish and the only thing on the menu is fish and chips and once they sell out they are closed for the day.  There is always a line and sometimes it wraps around the block so get there early.  Their hours are 11-6 pm or until they sell out.  No indoor seating but there are a few picnic tables next to the boat.  We’ve been there in the rain before (there won’t be as long of a line) and eaten it in our car!

Bell Buoy, Seaside, Oregon, 800 South Roosevelt Drive, Seaside OR 97138; 503-738-6348

You will find a selection of different fish for your fish and chips here including halibut and cod.  I prefer the cod but the rest of my family usually gets halibut.  They have great clam chowder as well as salmon and chips, clams, crab, tuna and other seafood.  Fish and chips are served with waffle fries. The restaurant is right next door to their seafood market so you can also pick up some fish to cook at home.  There isn’t much seating inside but you can sit outside on the deck looking over the river.

Ecola Seafood Market, Cannon Beach, Oregon, 208 North Spruce Street, Cannon Beach OR 97110; 503-436-9130

This is a family run market and restaurant.  The family is out catching the fish and then serving it up in the restaurant and market.  Doesn’t get much fresher than that!  Their menu includes not only fish and chips, but fish tacos, fish sandwiches, melts, chowders and salads. They also have a kid’s menu and a non seafood lovers menu.  My family enjoyed the chowder too but said it was more like a potato chowder.  Their fries are nice a crispy, just the way I like them.There is indoor seating as well as some seating on the patio.

Riverside Fish n’ Chips, 35915 N Hwy 101, Nehalem, OR 97131

You’ll miss this one if you aren’t looking for it.  Tucked away behind an antique store in the tiny (don’t blink or you’ll miss it) town of Nehalem, Oregon.  It is actually a food cart that sits behind the building.  The fish and chips is amazing and maybe my second favorite one on the list. The fish is fresh and crispy, just the way I like it. You will also find fish tacos on their menu, as well as grilled cheese, hot dogs and pulled pork so there is something for everyone!  No indoor seating but there are picnic tables where you can enjoy your delicious fish and chips while looking out over the Nehalem River.

Old Oregon Smokehouse, 3800 US-101, Tillamook, OR 97141; (503) 842-2383 and a location in Rockaway, 120 US-101, Rockaway Beach, OR 97136; (503) 355-2817

The Tillamook location is right across the street from the Tillamook Cheese Factory so we usually have lunch at Old Oregon Smokehouse and then head over to the cheese factory for a little cheese tasting and ice cream for dessert.  Old Oregon Smokehouse also has another location in Rockaway that is right on 101 that goes through the town.  This is our favorite place for clam chowder on the North Oregon Coast and their fish and chips are great too.  They have a lot of different seafood to choose from for your fish and chips including, halibut, cod, prawns, oysters, and crab cakes. On our last visit we had Rockfish Fish and Chips which were delish!  They also smoke their own meat and have delicious BBQ Beef or Pork.

You may have noticed that I did not include Mo’s on my list of favorite fish and chip spots.  Mo’s is pretty much an institution in Oregon and you will find them scattered up and down the Oregon Coast. We use to eat there often when our children were growing up (one bonus is they had chicken and strips for our non fish eaters) but we have since discovered so many other more amazing fish and chip options that Mo’s is no longer on our list for the best fish and chips on the North Oregon Coast.  Sorry, Mo’s!

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The second stop on our Viking Scandinavian Cruise was Berlin, Germany.  Wee took a 3 hour train ride from the cruise port in Rostock to Berlin.  The tour was one of the Viking included tours (there was no extra cost).  Upon arriving in Berlin we took a motor coach ride through the city, driving past some of the more famous buildings including the Reichstag, the heart of Germany’s government.   If you are not with a tour I recommend starting at the Reichstag and using Rick Steve’s Berlin City Walking tour that starts in front of the Reichstag and then continues to the Brandenburg Gate.

Brandenburg Gate

Our next stop was the Brandenburg Gate which is one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks.   It is the former border of East and West Germany.  It is the last remaining survivor of the original 14 gates that were part of Berlin’s city wall.  The Goddess of Peace drives the chariot of horses that sits atop the gate.  The gate has become the symbol of Berlin since the Cold War and Berlin’s reunification.  Between 1961-1989 the gate was stranded in no-man’s land between East and West Germany.  The landmark was off limits to both sides.

Checkpoint Charlie

We then headed over near Checkpoint Charlie where the bus dropped us off and we were free to wander the city on our own for the rest of the afternoon. Checkpoint Charlie was something I wanted to see since I have a photo of my dad visiting Germany in the early 70’s and he is standing at the original Checkpoint Charlie with a machine gun pointing at him!

Checkpoint Charlie was where Westerners  crossed over into East Berlin during the Cold War.  The original checkpoint is long gone but you can pay a few dollars to have your photo taken in front of this reconstructed guard station.

Berlin Wall

Sections of the wall still remain in the city.  You can visit the Berlin Wall Memorial and also the Topography of Terror to learn more about the story and history of the wall.

The Berlin Wall was originally 96 miles long and encircled West Berlin.  The wall stands 12 feet tall and is made of concrete and rebar and topped with barbed wire.  I wish we had had more time to spend in this area but we enjoyed reading the displays at the Topography of Terror which is right next to a stretch of the Berlin Wall which was once the nerve center for the Gestapo and the SS.  Rick Steve’s walking tour will also take you to the “Death Strip”, the Documentation Center and other historic sites connected with WWII history in Berlin.

You can also follow the path of the original wall by following the bricks in the ground that have replaced the wall.

Be sure and enjoy a pretzel during the day while in Berlin.  You will find street vendors in various places throughout the city.

We enjoyed walking the streets of Berlin.  The city is an interesting collection of architecture.  Much of the city was bombed in the war but there are still many beautiful old buildings left to enjoy.  Berlin is home to several wonderful museums.  Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit Museum Island.

We ended our quick tour of Berlin in Gendarmenmarkt Square,  in front of the beautiful Berlin Concert house where we were to meet our bus to take us back to the train station for our ride back to the ship.

The concert house sits in a square with two beautiful twin churches.  The square is surrounded by lots of sidewalk cafes and ice cream shops so stop for a treat.  We had a fun time watching the bubble man  and even bought a bubble wand!

We were only able to hit the highlights of Berlin, but we got a taste of the city.  And we look forward to exploring it again someday.

Continue reading Things to Do In Berlin. This post is from Your Homebased Mom. If you are not reading it from our feed, it has been STOLEN. Please contact Leigh Anne Wilkes to let us know. Enjoy the posts.

Today I am excited to start sharing with you the different places we stopped on our recent Scandinavian Cruise with Viking Cruises. We were on the Majestic Fjords and Vibrant Cities Ocean Cruise.  We visited Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway, cruising through the North Sea.

Our first port and where the ship left from was Copenhagen, Denmark.  After 30 hours of travel and no sleep we hit the ground running to be sure we were able to enjoy this pretty city and do everything we wanted.  At noon, we arrived, checked into our beautiful ship, the Viking Sea, and then headed into town.  We spent our first day in Copenhagen exploring on our own. Rick Steves Scandinavian and Northern European Cruise Ports guide book helped us plan out our day.  There are always has great walking tours outlined in his books that you can follow.

Things to do in Copenhagen Day One

The top of our list for Copenhagen was to go to the Cathedral of our Lady.  The church was rebuilt in 1807 after the British bombing. The outside of the Cathedral looks like a Greek Temple.

The nave is lined by statues of the 12 apostles done by the great Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.  A replica of the Christ statue can be found in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Visitor’s Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  It is a beautiful church. It is an active church and they were having a rehearsal for an upcoming confirmation ceremony.

From there we walked through the streets of Copenhagen taking in all the pretty!  Lots of tulips and lilacs were in bloom and there were lots of bikes so keep your eyes open!

Tivoli Gardens

Also at the top of our list was a visit to Tivoli Gardens.  Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in Europe and was built in 1843.  The park includes rides, restaurants and beautiful flowers.  We went for the flowers, not the rides.

We didn’t ride any rides but I can’t pass up the chance to take a picture of a pretty carousel.

Copenhagen is the home of Hans Christian Anderson and where he lived when he wrote several of his stories including The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid.  His statue sits across the street from Tivoli Gardens so don’t miss it.

Christiania

A friend had told us about the Christiania community so we wanted to check it out.  In 1971, 700 Christianians established squatters rights in an abandoned military barracks, two generations later they are still there living in their “free city.”  It is a community of hippies, idealists, potheads, cats, dogs, and horses!!  Rick Steves says there are even some Willie Nelson type seniors living there among the remaining 180 residents.  It is an interesting and colorful place and we walked around for about 15 minutes and then had had enough and we were a little afraid to inhale too much!!  Rick gives you lots more info in his book if you want to explore the area more.

Copenhagen Day Two

It was a rainy our second day in Copenhagen but we managed to see a lot.  We took a walking tour that was provided by the cruise ship in the morning and then spent the afternoon exploring on our own. We enjoyed learning more about Copenhagen and the country of Denmark from our local tour guide  The Danish people are extremely kind and easy going.  The majority speak English as they go to school in English so language is not a problem.

Little Mermaid Statue

The first stop on our second day was a visit to the famous Little Mermaid Statue which is located right near the cruise ship dock.  The Little Mermaid statue, based on a story written by Hans Christian Anderson and then turned into a movie by Disney was a gift to the city of Copenhagen and inspired by a ballet performance of Anderson’s story.

Amalienborg Palace

Our next stop on the tour was Amalienborg Palace and Square.  It is the home of the Queen of Denmark and her son lives just across the square.  You can watch the changing of the guard too.

Because of the rain, we we skipped over some of the other historic buildings on Rick Steve’s walking tour but we did explore Nyhavn which was my favorite part of Copenhagen.

Nyhavn

Nyhavn means “new harbor” and was basically the sailor’s quarter of the city built in 1670.  Today it has lots of trendy restaurants, clubs and tattoo shops.  It is one of the most picturesque spots in Copenhagen, even on a rainy day.  Be sure and cross over the canal for the best photos. You can also take a canal boat ride for a better view of the area if you like.

Hans Christian Anderson lived here in Nyhavn and wrote his first stories while living in the red building.

Even though it was cold we had to check out the local ice cream and stopped into Vaffelbageren for a cone.  You can have your ice cream topped with “cream” (sour cream) and jam.  I ended up scrapping off the sour cream but liked the addition of the jam!

Copenhagen is a clean, beautiful city and very easy to walk around and enjoy on your own, even in the rain.  It really is, as the song says, “Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen,
friendly old girl of a town.”

Next stop: Things to Do in Berlin, Germany

To see what and how I packed for our Scandinavian Cruise check out this post.

Continue reading Things to Do in Copenhagen {Scandinavian Cruise}. This post is from Your Homebased Mom. If you are not reading it from our feed, it has been STOLEN. Please contact Leigh Anne Wilkes to let us know. Enjoy the posts.