Tourist Attractions and Parent Visits

My family took turns visiting me because I wanted to make sure I could give everyone the attention they needed. I definitely don’t call my family as much as they would like. It is just hard with a significant time difference and my family are people who like to be busy. They don’t have time to talk everyday either. That is why I was very happy to have my mom come visit. She came for five days while I was having reading week (I didn’t have any class for the week). Which was perfect. I definitely recommend family coming during your reading week so you can spend as much time as you can with them.

Two of the greatest things about having your family come is, first, you can get nice food and, second, you can go to all the really cool tourist attractions that cost money. My mom loves history and I had many cool places I wanted to see that she would love. We started at the Winston Churchill War Rooms. The experience included going underground to see all the actual rooms Churchill used during the war. It included conference rooms, bed rooms, map rooms, kitchens, and so many other rooms. There were audio devices for everyone that are necessary to understand every room. The audio devices are free and are given right before you walk into the war rooms. It is very interesting and really cool to walk through the actual war rooms that were used, it felt like I could have been there myself.

The next stop was Westminster Abbey. This was one of my favorite part. I find UK history really interesting, probably because the country is way older than America. There is just more history. Also the monarchy has always been interesting because of the structure and the politics and how it was about family yet about allies and enemies. Westminster Abbey is gorgeous of course but to be able to see the tombs of all of the past royal family made my day. Queen Elizabeth I was there and Mary Queen of Scots and all the King Edward’s. The tombs are beautiful in general but I can’t believe those are the actual burials and tombs. The next surprise for me was that there was a new exhibit called “The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries”. It was on the top portion of Westminster Abbey. We had to walk up the West Tower and got to be on the balconies of the building. It was another payment but definitely worth it.

The Tower of London was the next amazing stop in the tourist attraction experience. I had done some research on the space. It was used as a fort but then turned into a prison for the royal family. Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I’s mother, was a famous person who stayed there as a prisoner and was actually executed there on order by her husband, the king. There are ravens everywhere and it is said that if they ever leave it would be the fall of the monarchy. The crown jewels are also kept there. You get put onto a conveyor belt so people don’t stay too long. On the conveyor belt, you are able to pass many crowns. The torture devices are there (mostly replicas) and the prison rooms.

The week after, my dad came for the weekend. We got to go on the London Eye. It was beautiful. The London Eye goes really high in the sky and you can see very far away. All across London. One thing to note is that the ferris wheel doesn’t really ever stop. Only occasionally. So when you get on the pod, it’ll keep going so get on fast. It was also fireworks season when I went on the London Eye, so there were fireworks all across London.

All in all, make sure to save all the cool tourist attractions that you need to pay to get into for your family. Especially if your mom is a history buff.