First of all, plan to spend the day at the Tower o...

First of all, plan to spend the day at the Tower of London. The entire complex is much bigger than I expected and you can spend hours touring the various buildings. I was in awe of how much access you get to all the buildings - it's hard to wrap your brain around that fact that the construction of some of these buildings began soon after the founding of England in 1066. When you are climbing staircases and touching the stones that make up the walls of the buildings, you're touching 1,000 years of history; it's a pretty neat experience for an American who's only used to maybe 300 years of history, at the most. Touring with a beefeater is highly recommended and they are very entertaining men and extremely funny. The Crown Jewel exhibit is, of course, extremely popular and tends to be crowded most of the day, although the line seems to more rather quickly. And there's plenty of opportunities to eat and the food offerings are quite good for a tourist site. If you're visiting London for the first time, this is a must-see site.