lizzie_in_a_kayak

The Preparations:
I was bringing a full suitcase, but I wanted to have room to bring things back if I wanted to. I carefully chose four outfits (two with pants, two dresses) with the plan of doing laundry halfway through the trip. My bag weighed about 20 pounds when full, I felt this was manageable for the subway and left 30 pounds of leeway for purchases.

Goals:
My mother and I visited London together in 1996, so obviously a lot has changed since then. On the previous trip I wanted to see the grave sites of famous poets and authors (I had a guide book called Permanent Londoners) so we used that as a sort of reason to go to all sorts of different corners of London.

This time my mother wanted to see textiles and fashion and I was interested in some of the newer architectural things there and of course I love chocolate and the new London food scene. I designed an itinerary for us that had a little of both each day. We were also a little budget minded. The plane tickets were close to $1K each, and the room as $1,600 ... I hoped to get by on about $50 a day after that.

The Travel:
My mother and I traveled from LAX to London via Virgin Atlantic on a Friday night. It's a long flight - about 11 hours or so. The flight was manageable, after some negotiation once on the plane, my mother and I were able to sit next to each other. (The layout in the back of the plane is 2-3-2, so we had a set of window-aisle which was roomy enough considering.) I didn't sleep, which is completely normal for me, though my mother must have dozed for 3 or 4 hours.

We arrived in London mid afternoon Saturday and had no trouble with passport control (though my suitcase was very late coming off the belt - about 10 minutes after all the passengers were gone but we tag teamed using the ladies room to freshen up while we waited).

It's a long walk from baggage claim to the Underground Piccaddilly, but after sitting on a plane, it was rather welcome. We bought two one way tickets for cash - 5.70 each. Getting on was super easy, as the platform was rather even. The ride to the Holborn station mid-Saturday isn't overcrowded and we were able to put our luggage in the spot on the train and sit next to them.

When we got to the station, there is a big gap/step down off the train, which I noted for the return. Then a half a flight of stairs down ... then two flights of escalator to the surface. Our hotel, the Citadines Prestige Holborn was a mere half a block away.

Check in was flawless, got our keys, scouted the complementary coffee in the lobby and then went to take a shower and check out our space.

Citadines is an Apart'hotel. We had a simple studio which was very well suited to us - small kitchen, full bath, twin beds, small desk and a couple of chairs. The ceilings are high and plenty of storage (so we could stow our luggage out of the way) so it didn't feel cramped at all. After taxes, I believe it was about $196 per night for 8 nights.

We took a walk up to Euston to get our travel pass with National Rail to take advantage of the 2 for 1 but ran into trouble finding the right ticket counter ... so instead of fussing we just walked to St. Pancras up the street and used that one instead. It was quite simple, we provided our photos and purchased our two zone 1-3 passes that started the following day.

It's a beautiful station and we ended up finding a cafe where we had some soup and split a sandwich. I took some photos. Then we walked back to the hotel, stopping at the Waitrose across the street to pick up a few things for breakfast to keep in the fridge. I just wanted some black bread, a little goat cheese and some sliced pineapple. We also got some cookies for that evening.

Back at the hotel we got ourselves unpacked and organized for the following day. The wifi worked well enough that I could skype without any issues and caught up on my email. Then we went to bed a bit early - 9 PM.

I didn't find it easy to sleep after being up for so long. Strange noises, and unfortunately there'd been some game that night and some football fans came up and down the hall singing a few times between 2 and 4 AM. Luckily that was the only night we experienced that. (My mother slept through that.)

Next up ... our first full day in London.

TPAYT

I'm along for the ride.

thursdaysd

Can't resist the title.

europeannovice

Looking forward to reading more.

lizzie_in_a_kayak

Sunday - Day 2

I wanted this day to be a modest start, in part because the weather was supposed to be wet and also because we were just getting acclimated. On the itinerary were the Museum of London and some shopping at Selfridges.

We had breakfast in the room, nice and simple.

We hopped on the underground to St. Paul's and took a walk around before heading up to The Museum of London with a little diversion to look at the old ruins nearby. We planned to arrive around the time they opened and then stay until lunchtime.

The Museum of London was running a special exhibit of the Cheapside Hoard, a cache of jewelry probably lost in the great London fire in a basement of a goldsmith. It was a great exhibit and we used the rail 2 for 1 for the tickets. We got there early, so it was easy to move around and spend time with any of the items. About the time we finished it was really filling up.

Then we looked at some of the fashion items from the permanent exhibits. Then a little lunch in their cafe. We're vegetarians and were already finding it very easy to get nutritious, fresh food that fit our diet. Even with one lunch portion, which we shared, we couldn't finish it, so they wrapped it to go. (The cafe is run by Benugo, which is apparently the cafe service in a lot of museums. It worked for us.)

Then we went back to the hotel since it was on the way and dropped off a few souvenirs and stuck the food in the fridge then back out to Oxford Circus.

We started at Liberty. I'd never been to their shop, though I own a few of their fabric items. We were interested to look at the textiles and their shirts. It was unlikely that we'd buy anything, but it was fun to see it in the classic store setting. I was also happy to see their William Morris collection.

Then we headed to another textile designer, Marimekko.

It was drizzly and a bit cold and there were lots of people out on the streets. My mother was having some trouble with her boots, which was odd since she'd been walking a few miles in them every day for the weeks coming into the trip. So we stopped and bought her a new pair ... why not, we were in a prime shopping district. She put them on before we left the store and I carried her old boots. We pushed on.

Selfridges food halls were overwhelming ... I really enjoyed all the chocolatiers, especially since so many were generous with samples. I bought some things, finding a few that I'd never be able to get in the States. Then we went to find some dinner (stores close earlier on Sunday). The deli counters were looking a little bedraggled, the food didn't seem quite a fresh as what we were hoping, but we did end up with some soup and a nice cheese that we'd never tried before.

Back to the hotel. Even with the new shoes, my mom's feet were unhappy. So she put them up, as we all know it's no good to start off a week long trip with bad feet.

We had a little soup and cheese plus lunch leftovers and some of our breakfast bread, plus an apple from the lobby.

Mom rested and I went off to St. Pancras to fix my travel card, which got demagnetized after its first use. It was raining by then, but I also took my mother's and used hers to get up there. Unfortunately the system was down and the ticket agent said there was nothing she could do, I would have to show my ticket to someone at the station to get in and out and then come back the next day.

I wanted to stop at a store nearby so I braved the rain, only to find out it was closed ... because it was Sunday. I went to get on the tube at Russell Square only to find that now both cards were demagnetized and no ticket agents at all. Even though it was raining buckets, I walked the last third of a mile back to the hotel. This was when I was grateful for the excellent trench coat I got at Eddie Bauer before the trip. My knees were wet (I was wearing boots) but everything else was comfy and dry.

Coming up next ... the weather clears and our first big dining experience of the week.

europeannovice

On our first trip to London, I was wearing shoes I wear at home with no problem but for some reason on the first full walking day I developed blisters. We were in desperate search for compeed for my feet.

lizzie_in_a_kayak

Dang, I love Compeed! They're so hard to find in the States, I definitely turned my mom on to them and I always stock up on them when I'm in Europe. I even bought more on this trip even though I had no blister issues.

Cathinjoetown

Like this report and re-visiting an area of London where I often stayed.

bilboburgler

on for the ride

dreaming

Enjoying your report!

raincitygirl

Really enjoying this lizzie and waiting for more!
I love London. (and Selfridges, could spend days in there)

Mathieu

Could the discomfort for your mother's feet possibly have been the result of some swelling from the air pressure changes from the flight ? It's a common inconvenience. Seems odd that both the new and the old boots wouldn't feel right. Nice report.

europeannovice

I also stocked up on Compeed the last time we visited. They just don't use the same formula here in the states and what they sell here is not as effective for relief.

Enjoying your report and waiting for more.

lizzie_in_a_kayak

>>Could the discomfort for your mother's feet possibly have been the result of some swelling from the air pressure changes from the flight ?<<

Honestly, I think part of it was that, though she did wear compression stockings. The other thing that I think might have caused issues is that she wore heavier socks in London than here in SoCal. She also put some moleskin in there, which probably makes it tighter and creates more pressure.

I wore my trusty boots, which I've taken to Europe several times already but did put new insoles in them a few months ago. I fully tested all socks before as well. I brought a second pair of shoes that have also been field tested on many miles of cobblestones. Both pairs are Clarks, which work for me though I admit they're not the sexiest looking things. (But hobbling is also not sexy either!)

lizzie_in_a_kayak

Monday - Up Close with Culture

This is the day that I have to thank this forum for. When I was researching how to format my itinerary, I read someone's trip report, I don't remember whose and they mentioned going to the British Museum prints & drawings study room and requesting some paper mosaik botanicals by Mary Delany. I looked this up and I was astounded at the story.

Mary Delany began her new style of collage works at the age of 72 and completed more than 1,700 of them. My mother has a great love of botanicals of all media (embroidery, photography, pen and ink). As my mother also turned 72 shortly before our trip, I gave her a book about Mary Delany and when the museum opened we went to the study room and checked out a folio of 10 plates to examine in person, up close, no glass between us.

It was a wonderfully intimate experience to see both the great works and some lesser ones (they let us see two folios total as there were two of us). They had magnifying glasses and gave us as much time as we wished. Each looks like a botanical print at first glance, on black, but each line, leaf and berry is a different piece of paper, applied with homemade glue. Some of them showed evidence of how she had moved or removed pieces.

When we finished there we went off to see some other exhibits on our list. I'd been listening to the BBC podcast "History of the World in 100 Objects", so there were a few items I wanted to make sure I saw, and along the way we looked at some others. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese rooms and their pottery.

We both get weary of taking in too much at the museums, especially when they're crowded, so I'd booked our first nice meal of the week for lunch that day.

We went to the Ottolenghi restaurant, NOPI, in Soho. It would be our most expensive meal but we've been cooking from his books for several years and I wanted to try the real thing. (It's a sort of Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean style with lots of herbs and unusual grains.)

It was everything I'd hoped and we got away for only 62 pounds including a cocktail for Mom (Sumac & Pomegranate) and dessert/coffee at the end plus enough leftovers for dinner later.

The meal was nearly two hours, a bit longer than I'd scheduled but we were really refreshed by the enrichment of our tastebuds after the enrichment of our minds with the museum.

We then headed to a fabric store called Shaukat which was known to have "more Liberty than Liberty" to see if we might want to actually buy some of that fabric at a slight discount. We got a little turned around after some bad directions from a local who thought when we said we were looking for Brompton, we wanted to meet up with it at Harrod's. Anyway, we found the shop, looked around but didn't buy anything.

Off then up the road to Victoria & Albert, I'd scoped the buses and it was not a long wait at all. Unfortunately I didn't get the closing time right for the museum. (It's 5:30, not 6PM) so we really only got to see the William Morris rooms (fabulous, with a great context for their pieces and the time periods before and after). We then went off to look at some of the ceramics before we got tossed out.

We headed up to Harrod's, a short walk, to look for some new gloves for Mom (not a necessity, but she thought it was a good thing to shop for in London as SoCal is not really a great place to get such things). The store is simply too upscale for us, I felt better able to afford the antiquities at the museum than some of those purses and other items. So we abandoned that and went to the Food Halls. We found some bread to go with our leftovers from earlier, I bought some chocolate covered candied orange and we headed back to the hotel.

Overall, a lovely day and though it was still only about 7PM, we were pretty tired and ready to relax.

We ate a few leftovers in our room, watched an episode of Endeavour (we'd seen it before, of course) and went to sleep.

Next up - A Little Time on our Own

aussie_10

Enjoying your trip report.
Thanks for sharing.
We will be in London in 6 weeks!

latedaytraveler

Hi Lizzie,

Really enjoying your report. Interesting about the Mary Delaney exhibit at the British Museum.

Curious to follow how you can do London on $50 a day. Good luck!

lizzie_in_a_kayak

Tuesday - Greenwich

This was a day where my mother and I went our separate ways. I wanted to see Greenwich, but she'd been there several times and she wanted to go to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery (which I also would have liked, but I had to prioritize).

At first I planned to do an all day on-off boat ride, but decided just to take the DLR to Greenwich instead. Though it was threatening rain in the early hours, it was perfectly lovely out. The DLR was fantastic, it goes past all the Quays and marinas running above ground most of the way. I also found if you sit in the very first car at the front, it's all glass with a great view of it all. It gave me a great perspective on the development and use along the Thames downstream from the central city.

Greenwich was very nice, I went to the Queen's House, partly because it was free and partly because it seemed less touristy than other destinations there. I spent about an hour wandering the halls, mostly admiring the architectural part of the exhibits (there's both art in the rooms and descriptions of how the rooms had been used throughout its history). When I was done there I hiked up the hill to the Greenwich Observatory. It hit the top of the hill at exactly noon, which would have been great timing, I suppose, for a solstice, but is only notable because I took a picture of the clock there at noon Greenwich Mean Time.

I didn't pay to go into the exhibit there, but wandered the rest of the grounds, got a coffee and croissant and watched the people. There were some mounted police that I saw while walking across the green and they were up there later. There was a group of schoolchildren, probably about 8 years old, most had what I think was cerebral palsy and had walkers, they were extremely excited by the horses and the police were quite amiable, introducing their horses and gently telling the kids how to approach a horse. It's funny, I think those kids were probably on a special outing to see the observatory but will probably go home and tell their moms about the horses and the nice officers.

After I saw what I saw, I headed back down the hill and back onto the DLR. I got off at the Cutty Sark, but that station was having some work done and we had to walk the 5 flights up the stairs to get out ... I didn't relish the walk back down, so I got on at the central station instead ... which meant I walked through town a bit more.

As I mentioned earlier, having scouted it on the way out, I got in the first car, and though I had to wait until a few people in front left, I sat in the front row to get a better view of this part of London.

It was a little drizzly when I got off at Bank to check out Laduree for a few macarons (I have a special weakness for them and was picking them up wherever I could).

Back at the hotel, my mother and I found ourselves back at the same time. She'd found her leather gloves, at Marks & Spencer of all places. They were very nice and probably less expensive than a similar item in the States. We visited for a bit and made plans to have Indian for dinner later, so I made reservations at Rasa W1.

I went off to Fortnum & Mason as it was their Marmalade Festival. I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, but I'm a huge marmalade fan and make my own from my citrus in the yard. I read on their website that they do a marmalade tea service, which sounded right up my alley.

The tea room is very nice, I had a view of the little street around the side and was served and excellent pot of Earl Grey and my "marmalade sweet cakes". This was a little tower of plates with a breakfast cake (basically an orange poundcake), two vanilla macaroon with lemon chantilly filling, and two Seville orange marmalade madelienes. Honestly, it was too filling for me, especially being all sweets. It was a pricey little outing, at 13 pounds, but I was in London and this wasn't something I'd get in California. Since I couldn't finish the cake or madelienes, the fellow packaged them up in a delightful gable box (which I brought home) and even added a couple of scones.

The macarons, by the way, were probably the best I had in London. They weren't too sweet, and were extremely fresh and didn't feel "overhandled." I don't think they'd traveled far, as most of the macaron shops that don't make on site, but I think Fortnum & Mason makes their own.

I really wanted to try their marmalades, but none of the menu items included any. It was all about their strawberry.

I shopped the store, which is all teas and jams and chocolates upstairs, while the basement is more of a traditional high-end grocery store. I bought a tea sampler for my husband and a chocolate bar for later. As much as I wanted some marmalade, it's heavy and hard to take back in a suitcase ... and I've seen it for sale in the States.

I wandered around a bit more, stopping by Charbonel et Walker, I've had their champagne truffles a few times, and while there they sampled a banana caramel which was nice but too sweet for me.

I pushed on, finding a shop called Capo, which was a Greek place that served as a coffee bar and had heaps of nuts and chocolate items on display. I picked up some chocolate figs and chocolate orange peels. It was very affordable when I compared it to Harrod's or Selfridges, I think I spent about 10 pounds there.

Later Mom and I went out for our Indian meal. It was in the Southern Indian style, which is far spicier than I'm used to. As it was Fat Tuesday, we opted for a starter of a fritter that looked like a donut. Mom had an eggplant thing and I had a korma (which I knew would be milder). The lemon rice was fantastic. Dessert was a banana pancake thing with ice cream. Also wonderful ... but after my tea of cakes I was quite stuffed. We took more than half of our food back to the hotel for later.

I was wonderful to get out and walk in the park and greenery around Greenwich, it was very restorative for me after the bustle of the central city.

It was also one of my more expensive days, though Mom paid for the dinner (but it was only 40 pounds). I think I spent around 50 pounds on top of that.

Up Next - The Grand Bankside Adventure

bilboburgler

"Shrove Tuesday" in the UK. Normally we eat pancakes.

The Marmelade festival must be due to the time of year, Seville Oranges are in the markets in January so its a bit late but hey its ok for marketing but not a UK festival just nonsense http://www.dalemainmarmaladeawards.co.uk/

thursdaysd

Well there is marmalade and then there is marmalade.... The "real" stuff in my lexicon is only made with bitter Seville oranges, not always easy to find in the US. And I don't count it as afternoon tea if there are no scones and clotted cream, lol.