Schedule
First day: Arrive 11a, 12p to get money and Oyster card, and travel to city. Arrive 1-2p and check-in. Natural History (?), Science Museum (?), Victoria and Albert Museum (open until 10p), Harrods, Hyde Park. British Museum open until 10:30p (crowded on Sunday).

One day (Westminster) (Sunday, Monday): start Westminster bridge (optional), see Big Ben and Houses of Parliament (Friday 9:30a-3p or Monday 2:30p-10:30p), Westminster Abbey (open 9:30a, avoid mid-mornings), Buckingham Palace (Changing of the guard 11a daily and 10a Sunday, get better views at circular Victoria Monument), Cabinet War Rooms (9:30a-6p), Trafalgar Square, National Gallery (10a-6p)

One day (The City and Bankside) (Saturday): start Tower of London (crowded Sundays, go for Crown Jewels first, buy tickets at TI ahead of time), City Hall (optional), London Bridge (optional), Shakespare Globe Theatre, Tate Modern (crowded on weekend days, open until 10p on Fri-Sat), St. Paul's Cathedral (8:30a-4:30p), Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street, Royal Courts of Justice, Twinings Tea, Somerset House and Courthauld Gallery (optional, free on Monday until 2p)

One day (West End) (Monday): start Leicester Square, Covent Garden, eateries, Oxford to Picadilly Circus walk, British Museum, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery if missed on other day, West End show (Billy Elliot)

Sites
Maps: From British Airways, saved Google Maps.

Must:

• Tower of London
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• Westminster Abbey
• Buckingham Palace
• Houses of Parliament, Big Ben
• National Gallery, British Museum, Tate Modern, Cabinet War Rooms
• Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History, Science Museum, Harrods Department store
• Trafalgar Square
• West End Show

Good:

• Imperial War Museum 
• Shakespeare's Globe
• London Bridge
• Museums: Tate Britain, Courtauld Institute Galleries (impressionist paintings)
• Covent Garden
• Borough Market
• Tower Bridge
• Hyde Park
• Geffrye Decorative Arts Museum

Optional:

• British Airways London Eye
• Madame Tassaud's, British Library, National Portrait Gallery, Kensington Palace
• Wallace Collection, Sir John Soane's Museum, Somerset House
• Old Bailey, City Hall
• Oxford to Piccadilly Circus shopping, Portobello Flea market

Shows

• West End Theater District
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
• Comedy Store
• Well-known jazz, classical, and world-music artists perform Saturdays in the National Theatre foyer, on the South Bank, around lunchtime and before theatre performances. A few doors down, in the foyer of Queen Elizabeth Hall, there are free lunchtime performances and "Commuter Jazz" most Friday afternoons at 5:15. You can also hear free lunchtime concerts of classical music most days at St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Martin's in the Field, and St. James's Church.

Eat

• Veeraswamy
• Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
• Earl's Court near hotel, Mor-ish Cafe on Earls Court Road and King's Pub on Hogarth Place

Money
HSBC locations near hotel

Hotel
Premier Inn London - Kensington 
11 Knaresborough Place 
London SW5 0TJ 
T: 0870 238 3304

Transportation
3 off-peak Travel cards for 15.30, 3-day Travel card for 16.40, 7-day Oyster card for 23.20
Options for Heathrow to London and travel within
Best to get Oyster card and load for roundtrip travel to Heathrow (Zone 6 to 2 and 3 to 6) and one or two trips for the first day: 2*1.80 + 1.50. Load it up for day trips for Zone 1 (5.30), Zone 1-3, and Zone 1-3 (5.90).