The Tube

You either hate it or love it. But no question, the Underground is London. The best resource is Transport For London on this link, which gives you the most up-to-date map in English and many other languages from Arabic and Bengali to Urdu and Vietnamese.

Kensington Palace

The Big D aka "Lola" (Granny in Filipino) spent Christmas with us in London. We toured Kensington Palace on a rainy afternoon. The palace was the birthplace of Queen Victoria and was once the home of Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales. We were able to tour some of the rooms that served as their private apartments. There was also a special exhibit of Diana's photographs by Mario Testino and some of the gowns she wore for the photo shoot. Very beautiful and indeed also sad. Afterwards, we had a nice hot meal at Wagamama, one of the city's trendy food chains, soon to hit the US. You heard it here first.

The Money Shot of Trafalgar Square

The best place to get Trafalgar Square with the Christmas tree, Nelson's Column and Big Ben in the background is by standing on the balcony of The National Art Gallery opposite. The Christmas tree on the Square has been donated by Norway to London yearly since 1946, in recognition of the city's aid to Norwegians during the Second World War.