The Monument to the Great Fire of London, or the Monument for short, is in London, of course, at the northern end of the London Bridge (not the one that was moved to Arizona).

The Monument is impressive from the outside, but this spiral stairway from inside the structure is rather impressive in its own right. The staircase has 311 steps. The monument serves as a scientific instrument and a mount for a panoramic camera system overseeing the city, both of which make it one of the more practical monuments out there.

This post is part of Uptake’s Monday Museums, Monuments and Memorials Series.

Photo: David Barrie via Flickr

These holiday lights over London’s Regent Street in the famous West End are a simple blanket over the busy town. Many of London’s popular tourist attractions are located along Regent Street and the yearly Christmas light display is a London tradition dating back to the end of World War II when it was safe to be bright again (the decorating began during the war, but consisted mainly of trees and not lighting).

If you find yourself on Regent Street, anytime of year, check out Piccadilly Circus (not an actual circus) and All Souls Church. If you find yourself there during the holidays just look up. That should suffice nicely.

This post is part of UpTake’s Family Friday Series. This month the emphasis is on holiday lighting. If you see a display worth mentioning send us a photo via the contact link in the sidebar.

Photo: fotologic via Flickr

It looks like Christmas windows in London, England aren’t that different than what we have here in the United States. There’s glee and jolly, and a ton of Disney/Pixar characters. Nothing says “happy holidays” like Santa Woody.

I’m only kind of joking. I do love me some Toy Story.

This month we are featuring Holiday Window Decorations! Normally on Tuesdays we run the UpTake Tuesday Roadside Attractions Series. If you have a photo of an odd, funny or interesting roadside attraction that you would like to see featured here please submit it via the link in the sidebar with subject line: Roadside.

Did you miss me? Of course you did. Don’t fret, gentle reader, it’s time to get back on the super information highway and pick up all the travel-related hitchhikers you can carry. Don’t get greedy.

Here’s how this works, over the past week we have “carefully” considered all of the emails (see link in sidebar) and tweets that we have received, and we’ve picked the most interesting (i.e. fewest words for me to type) for you to click on. That, my friends, is how we do it up in here (the virtual here).

And now is the part where we link to the deals and the news and the stuff.

Why travel to the stars when you can travel with them? Lonely Planet drops names.

Hilton has launched the Hilton Huanying program in 13 countries. Did yours make the list?

Travel talk with kids and teens at a Kid’s I View.

Check out the lobby of Disney’s soon to open Aulani Resort in Hawai’i over at Disney by Mark.

Safaris are a trip of a lifetime according to CNN Travel.

Three small towns, three road trips — via Gadling.

Las Vegas has its eye on you, London. And Vegas’s Ferris wheel is even bigger.

Workout in your hotel room! Overhead Bin tells you how.

The Disney Blog gives some good tips on Orlando vacations and weather-related safety.

Real people are sharing real travel stories at TravelerVoice.

Bonjour Paris has news of a hot new vending machine — the heat is from the bread.

Looking for all things cruise-related? Look no further.

There you have it, all of the online travel news that is fit to print (but don’t print it because of the trees and stuff).  Happy travels!