London in day

In Open Top Bus Tour of London, I got the best seat on top of the bus without a wait with my e-ticket. With centuries of wonders waiting at every turn of the head, open bus tour is the finest way to get a complete overview of the city.

There were entrance fees at many stops. There is no-fees museums, from the massive Tate to the quaint Pollock Doll's Museum, the British Museum, the National History Museum etc. A London Pass booked online for just $46 made it all free and free from long queue waiting.

Wonderfully familiar

I knew from many Wodehouse books that Regent Street was that one - going off Piccadilly Circus. That after cutting across Oxford Street, I'd soon be at Hyde Park, just like Sherlock Holmes had, following a suspect. Or of I went past Trafalgar Square under Napoleon's majestic gaze and onto Charing Cross, I'd find myself near Covent Garden, where young Eliza Doolittle had sold flowers with Dickens was Charles' Old Curiosity Shop?

People were paying $28 to get into the tower of London, while my London Pass waved me in free. Soon we were in a boat for a free Thames cruise, and coming into sight was London's best-known clock, named after one Mr.Benjamin - the Big Ben. Thank goodness his name wasn't Richard, with a pet name Dick, said our guide.

Cathedrals, castles and abbeys went by - each enticing us to jump off, even as the sheer fun of staying on board the bus kept pulling us back in. After the awe-inspiring St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey comes Tower of London. An added bonus at Kensington Palace was an exhibition of rate pictures of Diana.