Royal London Tour with City Wonders!

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to win a prize, through Two Monkeys Travel Forum, of two complimentary tickets to the ‘Best of Royal London Tour’ provided by City Wonders. As I, and my partner David, would be in London during July, this was a great gift to receive!

So let me tell you a little about the tour.

Starting at the Tower of London, the tour enables early entry into the Tower ahead of the queued crowds waiting outside. We were provided with a summary of the key history of the site as well as advice which part of the extensive Tower precinct were not to be missed, then we were free to explore using the provided map.

Entrance to the Tower of London

First stop was, of course, the Crown Jewels which includes a number of crowns and other royal accouterment from various periods giving some insight into the monarch of the time.

The White Tower was next. This Castle within the keep houses a beautiful 11th century chapel as well as the Royal Armouries, a magnificent collection of Royal armour including the armour worn by various kings into battle including those of the Tudor and Stuart lines of Kings. The total number of pieces exceeds 70,000 so it can take some time to see it all. The White Tower also holds an original headsman’s axe and block used to execute prisoners in times gone by.

There are a number of other sights to see within the Tower of London and one could spend a whole day exploring its various areas. But we moved onwards with our tour onto a cruise boat along the Thames River. For this our guide provided each of us with headphones so we could move around the boat while still hearing him introduce the variety of significant sights we passed on the way to the end of our river journey at Embankment.

Thames River and The Palace of Westminster a.k.a Houses of Parliament ( House of Commons & House of Lords

At this stage we left the boat and continued on foot towards Buckingham Palace.

Along the way we were perfectly positioned by our guide to take full advantage of seeing the horse guard parade. This tradition where the horse guards protect the official entrance to St. James and Buckingham Palace has been in place since the time of King Charles II in1660.

Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall

A short walk later, during which we heard more stories about the significant area we were walking through, we were positioned well to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

This ceremony attracts thousands of visitors every day, so can be very crowded, but even so is a great sight to witness. Our guide continued to provide entertaining and insightful commentary throughout the ceremony and answered numerous questions at its conclusion.

The Buckingham Palace

This marked the end of our tour. Total time was just over 4 hours but it felt much longer than that due to the wealth of experiences we had enjoyed along the way. A great way to see some of the most interesting and unique parts of London without using lots of time finding your way around, with the added benefit of a knowledgeable local guide to provide background to what you are seeing.

Thank you Two Monkeys Travel and City Wonders for making my first ever visit to London such an unforgettable one.

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