Originally Posted by
sig05
You're right, I wasn't being very helpful in my request. Here is a better effort.
As a first-timer, we want to see the most popular sights. What's important to us is seeing Big Ben, Parliament, changing of the guard, London Eye, a few museums, westminster, do some shopping.
If I had to pick three main points of high interest for us, they would be monuments, museums/galleries, and food.
What we don't care about are guided walking tours because we want to be flexible. A plan for allotted time at specific locations is nice, but we're the type of couple to bail on something very quickly if it doesn't excite us and spend a few more hours exploring something that does.
We do not plan on renting a car or taking a day trip out of the city if that's helpful.
I will be there the first week in Oct. 2016.
Ah, now we've got something to chew on, thanks.
Well, you can tick off a bunch of those by going up the London Eye
It has a great view of the Houses of Parliament. You can then walk from the Eye to the front of Westminster, and there's a convenient tube station there too. I recommend pre-booking the Eye, though at that time of year the queues for a walk-up should not be too long.
The Changing of the Guard is at a fixed time, so consider getting there early.
You might like the Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason's, if so also book in advance. Nearby is some shopping.
The main museums for you might be the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Imperial War Museum. There is also the RAF Museum at Hendon, in the northern part of the city, and the Maritime Museum at Greenwich. (check out the awesome Soviet pendulum clock there - a pendulum in a vacuum with accuracy comparable to that of early quartz watches)
Oxford street is an obvious place to go shopping, but there are many places in London for that. I suggest googling around for the type of shops you want to go to.
The British Museum often has interesting exhibits on, if so, also consider buying tickets beforehand as they are usually timed entry. The restaurant in the BM's Great Court is quite reasonable.
Consider Covent Garden for shopping, because it has the London Transport Museum, where you can divide yourselves between shopping and urban transport history
You go in the museum while she shops.