Fortunately Susie was okay with visiting some royal palaces including Kensington Palace and Hampton Court. Both were a lot of fun. Kensington Palace had a modern, theatrical, exhibit about various princesses who had lived in the palace and told some interesting stories. Hampton Court was a lot of fun. It was a nice day trip and we were able to learn about how Henry VIII fed his court with a tour of the kitchens which was complete with scents of the food that would have been prepared in that area (including the fish storage area, nice touch). There were also tours of the Tudor apartments as well as the more modern, William and Mary and Georgian apartments. The gardens were fantastic. There is a maze there (which Susie found every single dead end in). And we got to see the world's oldest and longest grapevine, which was pretty impressive. We also were patrons of the arts while in London. We went to the Globe and fortunately our seats were covered so we didn't get drenched as we watched Much Ado About Nothing. It was a great show. Susie and I also had front row seats in a box (two away from the Queen's box I must add) for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. We also saw Andrew Lloyd Weber's Wizard of Oz with Michael Crawford as the wizard. We also saw Harry Potter while in London. Very broad spectrum of entertainment.
Susie and I also enjoyed some of the culinary and shopping delights that London has to offer, including high tea. We enjoyed a high tea service across the street from the royal mews (it just sounds better than the royal stables), actually, lets just say we were across the street from Buckingham Palace! We enjoyed some typical British pub fare, including warm beer. We also went shopping at Harrods, Portabello Road, and Covent Gardens. The toy kingdom at Harrods did not dissapoint!! I also made sure to find my favorite ice cream, a mint Cornetto. I love those things, and you can only get them in Europe.
Of course we hit the standard things, Westminster Abbey (one of my favorite spaces in the world), British Museum (they put the Rosetta Stone behind glass...I remember when I got to touch it, that was like 20 years ago though), checked out Big Ben and Parliament, I saw the London Eye and Millenium Bridge up close for the first time, said hi to Nelson in Trafalgar's Square, as well as Buckingham Palace (where the Queen was hosting a garden party, if we had some fascinators I'm sure we could have slipped in). 
Probably my favorite thing that we did was go to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This is a museum that I had never been to, and I don't know why. It is a museum for all things beautiful and pretty. Literally. Prince Albert conceived of the museum as a place to better the public's taste. The architecture exhibit was amazing. They had the original models that architect's presented for historic structures including St. Martin-in-the-Fields (look this up too). And they had original drawings by famous architects, including drawings by Wright and Wren in the same drawer, how amazing is that! The wrought iron and the glass exhibits were amazing. From ancient to modern this museum houses all things beautiful. Jewelry, textiles, costumes, fashion, sculpture, everything. I could have spent a couple more days just exploring this place. 
