An American Student in London: The Best Places to See London's Skyline

From above, you can meet a city on its own terms. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York, buildings that let you look down on a city become often iconic. London too has its iconic building, the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster (better known as Big Ben, technically the name of its bell), but unfortunately it's closed to the public. Luckily, like any good city London's got plenty of options for a tourist or a student to catch a bird's eye view.

Winston Churchill made no secret of his opinion about London's premier building. As the Blitz threatened, he told his fire chiefs to save St. Paul's, the city's 300-year-old cathedral, at all costs. And they did, sacrificing large parts of the City in the process (A note on terminology: when applied to London, "The City" refers to the oldest part of London, the square mile originally settled by the Romans. It's now London's financial hub, with ultra-modern skyscrapers filling gaps left by WWII bombs. Here, I'll always capitalize "The City" to distinguish it from "the city," meaning London generally.).

Today, you can still go up to the cathedral's dome and see London from its very heart. As a bonus, the building itself, built over the course of 40 years by London's Great Designer Sir Christopher Wren, ranks as a near mandatory tourist attraction. Admission costs about £10 though and it's still a working cathedral, so make sure you time your visit around its services and special events.

Another view with history and Christopher Wren on its side can be seen from "The Monument," formally "The Monument to the Great Fire of London." Designed by Wren in 1669 to commemorate the fire that destroyed nearly all of London three years earlier, "The Monument" is a 200 ft. tapered column. However, it's going to be closed until December of 2008 for renovation.

A less musty place to see the city is the London Eye, a huge Ferris wheel built to commemorate the Millenium. It's quickly become the most popular and well-known place to check out London from the sky. The Eye isn't cheap - nearly £15 - and the lines can get very long, but if you're willing to spend the money and time, its closed capsules offer a luxurious and intimate experience. A stroll down the nearby Jubilee Walkway along the Thames features some of London's best panhandler and street performers in good weather.

A word needs to be said about the Thames and aerial views of London. The river takes a sharp turn twice as it runs through the city, so it can be hard to know what's on what side of the river. Someone could stand on the South Bank, next to the Eye, facing North, and have to turn around to see Westminster Palace, even though that's on the North Bank. For vista-hunters, this means two things. First, nearly every view of London you find will be a different (until you start to get out towards the suburbs at least), and second, the bridges themselves all offer noteworthy views of different areas. A view from the Jubilee Bridge next to the Eye will include Westminster and the Eye itself, but Tower Bridge, one of London's most well-known attractions, will remain hidden.

The view from the top of Tower Bridge itself isn't bad either, but again, it'll cost you money. Instead, just soak in the view from the bridge itself, which sports wide pedestrian walkways. Nearby, the OXO Tower offers what used to be regarded as one of London't finest views, replaced by the Eye, - and it's free, though inside a restaurant.

Some of the best and most gloriously free views of London can be had from parks in its outskirts. In the north of Regents Park lies Primrose Hill, with a dramatic open-air viewpoint that lets you look down over both Westminster and the Eye due south and also the City's skyscrapers to the east. Regents Park is one of the classiest urban parks in the world and, packed with open space for football and rugby, it's definitely worth a visit. A little farther north and a little more suburban, you'll find Hampstead Heath. The park itself ranks as outer London's prime attractions, and a sunset over the largest city in Western Europe ends a day at the park nicely. South of the city in Crystal Palace, Westow Hill provides a pretty comprehensive view from the other direction, and Highgate Hill is said to be the absolute best place for views of the City.

With all that choice, it's hard to miss the Clock Tower too much. Some corporate buildings, like the Telecom Tower in Bloomsbury, would offer breathtaking views if they were open to the public, but like Parliament, they choose privacy. None of these views can quite claim to be "iconic," although the Eye is getting close, but they all get the job done. Just wandering the city and taking in the views as they come never hurts, so long as you make sure to introduce yourself to London properly at some point.