London and Paris

I've noticed that some of the blogs I've been reading are written by individuals living in London and the UK. I don't want to call anyone out but I'd love some help from you guys!

This summer my two friends and I are planning a trip to London and Paris. We are not doing this through any travel company as we have done our own extensive road trips in the past and have been successful. We have a place to stay in Paris, (around the second week of July) but are a little dumbfounded as to what to do in London.

The original plan was to use our credit card points for a hotel but it is just not worth it while in Europe; our 13,000+ points would only get us one night in a decent hotel. This brings me to my question, what do you recommend? Living in a touristy area myself I know that it's hard to list off hotels but if you know of any alternatives to staying in one (or a hostel, we've checked) I'd love to hear it.

Also, activities and travel! We're planning on hitting the touristy spots because it's our first time in either of these cities but would love to get some ideas for places off the beaten path or even dining suggestions. We have a vegetarian with us and would like to keep it within a moderate price range. We were considering taking a train from one city to the next, any suggestions here?

As a side note, I found this during a google search for images and thought I'd share. It's a replica of London made entirely out of food!


A better look at the image can be found at : http://www.nowpublic.com/eat_london_a_model_of_london_made_out_of_food_

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!