Hi Bonnie

Great to see that you are coming over to visit the UK in October. Sounds like you have a great itinery planned already. Lille and Paris are the main two stops on the train from Waterloo in London. The other is Brussels, but these are different trains. When you go to Brussels I would recommend a trip to Bruges, if you have time. It is about an hour away on the train. It is a lovely city and I fell in love with it when I went for a few days a couple of years ago. I think that there is more to see there than in Brussels. Here is a link to a Bruges website: http://www.visit-bruges.com

Back in the UK there are all the touristy things to do in London, like the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, etc, etc.

When you are down near Dover, you might want to go across to Canterbury. The place where Chaucer's pilgrims were heading to. The city and cathedral are very nice.

Other places that many Americans visit are Oxford to see the various old university colleges, Stratford-on-Avon - for Shakespeare, Bath for the roman baths and pump room. If you have time it is worth visiting Scotland, particularly Edinburgh. If you like scenary and walking then the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales are great places to visit.

As already mentioned the National Trust do a book of all the places that they own. Sizergh Castle which I went to on Monday belongs to them. There are some great historic places there.

I hope that that gives you a bit more flavour. Any more questions, just ask, and if you would like to set up a meeting, I am sure there will be some of us who would love to meet you.

Happy holiday planning.