Trip Report: London with a day trip to Paris

Tuesday – Had cookies(biscuits) and tea in the room for breakfast. Took the #9 bus to Royal Albert Hall were we had tickets to take the tour. We were a few minutes early so were milling about, taking photographs and were a bit concerned when we saw a large force of London policemen searching through the bushes. We found out later that the police often use RAH for security training because there are so many “hiding places” throughout the hall and grounds. The tour was very interesting and lasted about 45 minutes. We got to see the Queen’s box, her receiving room and even got a peak at her private loo. RAH is a beautiful facility that has hosted such a variety of events (from tennis matches and rock concerts to operas and the Proms.) They were testing the props for the opera Carmen while we were there. It was very interesting seeing the behind-the-scenes activity.

After the tour, we walked through Hyde Park to the Orangery for lunch. We were a few minutes early for lunch, so we ordered a pot of tea to warm up from our blustery walk through the park. Mom ordered the carrot soup and bread and I had open-faced roast pork and apple/clove chutney sandwich. We then finished our tea and each had a scone with clotted cream and jam. Yummy! Since we were near Kensington Palace, we went into the gift shop to look around (I bought a matted print of London landmarks.) We then walked back to the hotel to drop off packages, rest a few minutes and Mom changed into warmer clothes.

We then took the tube to Victoria and walked to the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The Queen had lots of nice stuff. Loads of important paintings, jewels, Fabrege, Sevres, gold and china dinner pieces. I’m sure she throws very nice parties. There was also a very nice exhibition on Dutch paintings – very nice with audio tour. Visited the gift shop afterwards – lots of pretty things. Bought a Christmas ornament, a postcard of Gerrit Dou’s “Girl Chopping Onions” for my sister Cheryl (who despises onions and thinks she had a horrible onion-related job in a previous life) and a Paddington Bear at the Palace book for my niece and nephew.

Next we walked over to the Bag O’Nails pub for dinner. I had fish & chips and a pint of Youngs’ Directors Courage. Mom had gammon & chips with egg (one of her England favorites.) After dinner, walked back to Victoria to catch the #24 bus to Leicester Square. Lots of traffic so it was a slow go. Found St. Martin’s Theatre without much trouble (it’s across the street from the famous Ivy restaurant.) We had purchased tickets to see Agatha Christie mystery The Mousetrap. It’s the longest running show in history and the show we saw was the 21,761st performance. A good old-fashioned whodunit that’s been running for over 50 years. At the end of the performance, they ask that you don’t tell anyone whodunit. Took tube back to hotel and relaxed with a drink and cheese & crackers (white cheddar with chive and onion we had purchased from Marks & Spencer.)

Wednesday – We got up late this morning so just stopped at Pret a Manger and split an egg and cress sandwich for breakfast. We then took the #10 bus to Oxford Street and walked to the Wallace Collection. Got the audio guide and tour the collection They had a Dutch painting exhibit, but since we’d toured the Dutch paintings at the Wallace Collection. They have a beautiful collection of paintings and I absolutely love the house. It’s exactly how you’d picture a Regency-era mansion. We decided to have lunch at the café, even though there wasn’t a menu posted. We weren’t overly pleased with it. The menu was pretty limited and pretty pricey for lunch. I had the lamb shank and mash (£14) and mom had a chicken terrine. It was OK, but not great.

We then walked to Selfridge’s food hall and looked at all the interesting foods. The Yo Sushi restaurant is very interesting – conveyor belt sushi. Then took the tube to Green Park for some shopping at Fortnum & Mason. Bought a stash of my favorite breakfast tea (loose) and lemon curd. Came back to the room and rested a while since we were planning to take a London Walk – had a light snack of cheese and crackers to tide us over until our late dinner.

Took tube to Holborn for the Old Bloomsbury Walk with Brian – very interesting. Learned a lot about Bloomsbury and the writers and scholars who flourished there. Brian was an excellent guide – very knowledgeable. Stopped at the Queens Larder Pub and had ½ pint of Strongbow Cider. After walk, which ended at the Museum Tavern, we walked over to Il Fornello for a late dinner. I had spaghetti with salmon and cream sauce, lettuce & cucumber salad, bread and cider and mom had the spaghetti Bolognese, a mixed salad, bread and ½ bottle of wine. Total bill including service £36. Love Il Fornello – staff is so friendly and food is great. Most entrees are £7 - £8. Got back to the room and made sure everything was in order for next day – since we had to get up very early for our day trip to Paris.

Thursday – Today we took the Golden Tours Paris Splendour daytrip to Paris. It was our first excursion onto the Continent. We decided to take the escorted tour because neither of us can speak any French and since the whole trip was kind of a last minute thing, we didn’t have much time to put into researching Paris. We got up at 4 AM so we could be at Waterloo International at 5:30 AM. Took a taxi to Waterloo, and checked in with the Golden Tour agent. He gave us our Eurostar tickets and the other tickets we would need for the day. After getting through security, we had some time before we had toboard the train so we bought breakfast at Upper Crust (I had a ham and mozzarella baguette, Mom had the egg, bacon and tomato baguette.) The ride on the Eurostar took about 3 hours and was comfortable – an easy way to travel.

We arrived at Gard de Nord train station in Paris where we were met by our guide, Veronique. Our group was made up of about 15 people – mostly Americans, but a couple of Japanese. The bus we boarded was a full-size rout bus so we had plenty of room – everyone could have a window seat. The bus took us around the major sites of Paris while Veronique told us about what we were seeing. We were amazed at the amount of traffic. It takes a long time to get anywhere by car or bus in Paris. After the bus tour, we boarded a boat for an hour-long cruise on the Seine. Luckily the boat was enclosed because it was pretty cold. I went out on deck when we sailed by Notre Dame so I could take some better pictures and I was numb by the time I came back into the enclosed section.. One thing we noticed was there were a lot of homeless living rough under a lot of the bridges. Some of them had quite elaborate “homes” with potted plants, furniture, etc…

After the cruise, which started and ended at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, we got to tour the tower. We took the double-decker elevator up to the second platform to get a birds-eye view of Paris. It was pretty cold and windy and it wasn’t a very clear day, but it was still beautiful looking out over Paris. Veronique pointed out a lot of the Paris landmarks and then we all piled back into the elevator to get back to ground level. Mom and a few others didn’t make it into the car, so had to wait for the next one. Paris, along with London, New York and Madrid are all competing for the 2012 Summer Olympic bid, so they had the Paris 2012 Olympic logo displayed on the Eiffel Tower. We also saw the logo and Olympic flags at different places around the city.

We then took the bus back to the tour office where most of our group went their own way for the remainder of the afternoon. Mom and I were taking the afternoon trip out to Versailles, so we had about 45 minutes for lunch before we had to be back at the bus. We stopped at an ATM and got some Euros, then stopped in a nearby café for a very quick lunch. Since the menu was mostly in French, we weren’t sure what a lot of stuff was – it’s a little disconcerting not to be able to understand a simple menu or communicate very well with the waiter. We decided we needed to learn a little French – at least some key words and phrases – before our next trip. I ordered the Onion soup (since I wanted to try the wonderful French cheeses) and a Cokelight – excellent soup!! Coke was pretty expensive! Mom ordered a ham and cheese baguette and a Cokelight. It was served with ½ a hardboiled egg on top – topped with a French flag.

Back on the bus, we traveled out of Paris to Versailles. Very nice town – all residential and according to Veronique, very expensive to live there. Traffic was horrendous! Glad O wasn’t driving!! At Versaille, Veronique showed us the gardens, such as they were – they were doing a lot of maintenance work on the fountains and, of course, there weren’t any flowers or greenery. I imagine it’s beautiful in the spring and summer. We then only had about an hour to tour the State Apartments. There were also several large school groups touring at the same time so we only got a very quick tour of Versailles. We didn’t have time to take the audio tour and there is a lot more to see. What we did see was magnificent – will have to go back again. The Hall of Mirrors is being refurbished so only ½ was open – kind of disappointing because you couldn’t get the full affect. I bought a VHS in the gift shop to watch once we get home.

On the trip back to Paris, we drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed – kind of creepy. After we got back, we had about an hour of free time before we had to meet to go back to the bus station. We went to a few shops and bought some souvenirs. When we came out of the shops, we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance and it was sparkling with lights – like a sparkler. It was stunning. Then I walked over by the Seine to take some pictures. It was starting to get dark and all the lights were starting to come on. I got a few night shots of the Eiffel Tower (but missed it sparkling), and some nice shots of the Louvre.

We all met back at the tour company and took the bus back to the train station. We had some extra time to kill and tried looking for somewhere to eat. After spending about 20 minutes looking at different restaurants, we decided on an Italian restaurant (in Paris) called Le Big Ben. But then decided we didn’t have enough time to eat there and get back to the train station in time. So we just went back to the station, checked in and grabbed something in the departures lounge (ham and cheese panini for me, slice of pizza for Mom – neither that good.) Mom mentioned, as she was eating her so-so piece of pizza, that all she had eaten today was bread – not a low-carb day. Once we boarded the Eurostar, we went to the food car and got a beer and crisps for me, cashews for Mom.

The trip back to London was packed and very loud. There was a group of 8 young girls returning to London. They had the two sections of facing seats with the tables in between so they broke out the wine and Pringles and had a very loud picnic. We called it the Spice Girls picnic. From some of their conversation, I think they were all in some kind of show or something (they were all very pretty) and talking about show kind of stuff. And a little boy came up to them and said his mom was a big Robbie Somebody fan. At one point, they were so loud, a lady from the end of the car asked if they could please keep it down – and they were a little quieter for a while. We chatted with fellow Michiganders (from Grosse Pointe) who were actually on the same NW flight to London as we were on. They were on the Golden Tour with us, too. Got back into Waterloo by 10:30, then tubed home. Nice day, but very rushed. It was nice to get a taste of Paris – we’ll be going back.

Friday – Walked down to Balan’s for a full English breakfast this morning. Mine was excellent. I got extra bacon instead of sausage and it was perfect. Mom ordered her eggs over-easy – which, we decided, they don’t know understand that term. They weren’t cooked the way she likes them. She decided she needs to order them poached in the future. After breakfast, we stopped at the EasyInternet café and checked on e-mail. Got a computer with a bad keyboard at first, but then was fine once I switched machines.

Next, we caught the #9 bus to Trafalgar Square. They had more stuff set up for the 2014 Olympic Bid – a round tent-like building and a huge statue – which was still under wraps. Took a few pictures then went into the National Gallery. Checked our coats and spent the next several hours looking through part of their collection. We only got through the about 1/3 of it before we got started getting burned out. Wonderful museum, but HUGE!

We had lunch at the Crevelli Restaurant in the National Gallery – overlooking Trafalgar Square. Mom and I eat had the grilled chicken salad with rocket, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and bruschetta – excellent. We could see out the window that the statue in Trafalgar Square had been unveiled and it was a huge female Olympian, holding the Union Jack over her head. But by the time we finished lunch, the wind had blown the flag so it was all wrapped around the statue’s head. By the time we left the museum and were back out on Trafalgar Square, a crew in a cherry-picker, who had been working on the tent-like structure, were unwrapping the flag from around the statue. We took a few pictures when they were finished, but then the wind blew the flag back around the statue’s head again. So I guess those guys will just have to stay there until they fix this design flaw.

It was drizzling a little, but we decided to walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace to see all the “Back the Bid” flags lining the Mall – took several pictures, then walked back through St. James’s Park toward Westminster. While we were walking, we saw a young couple sitting on a park bench. Then the young man got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend. Mom and I were able to get our camera’s out in time to take a few photos of the proposal. We waited a few minutes, then approached the happy couple and asked if they wanted us to e-mail them the photos. They gave me their e-mail address and Mom took a couple photos with his camera as well. How romantic. I e-mailed them the photos and they were very happy with them – said they would display them at their wedding.

We continued our walk and arrived at Westminster Abbey in time to attend the Evensong service. We were early enough that they escorted us to sit in the choir. It was a beautiful service – the men’s choir was superb. After church, we found a public loo, then took some night time shots of the Abbey and Big Ben. We crossed over to Parliament Square without getting killed and took a few shots from there. As we started walking across Westminster Bridge, we saw that, in the spirit of the Olympic bid, they were shining lights onto the clock tower that looked like a gold medal with the London 2014 logo on it. It looked like it was a gold medal hanging around Big Ben’s neck.

Walked over Westminster Bridge to check out the menu at the Chinese Restaurant in the County Hall Building – Four Regions Restaurant. The menu looked pretty good (and very reasonable) so we decided to give it a try. Mom ordered the chicken with honeyed cashews in champagne sauce (£8) and I ordered the chicken with spring onion in a garlic lemon sauce (£8) and we split an order of egg-fried rice (£4). For dessert, Mom ordered the ice cream (3 scoops) and I ordered the toffee bananas. All was excellent and we will definitely be returning to this restaurant. Some of the tables also have beautiful views overlooking Big Ben and Parliament.

After dinner, took the tube back home, stopped at Safeway and picked up a few groceries and goodies to take home (Hobnobs, Cadbury, lemon curd.) Then back to the room to kick off the shoes and relax a bit.


Saturday – Had a light breakfast of cheddar and ham in the room, then headed to the tube. Circle and most of the District lines were closed for the weekend, so we had to take District train up to Paddington to change to the Bakerloo line. Got off at Kilburn Park for the Kilburn Park Car Boot Sale (every Saturday, 11 – 3 at St. Augustine’s School.) We got there about 10:30 and there was already a good sized queue to get in. It cost 40p to get in and once 11:00 rolled around everyone started filing in. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. Like our garage sales, but all in one place. I picked up a couple treasures – a handpainted Charles Dicken’s scene Staffordshire tray for £3, 2 matted and framed (cheap frames) Haywood Hardy prints for 50p each and a Coronation Street coffee mug that plays the Corrie theme for £2. Mom bought a silverplated candelabra for £5 and a new watch for £7.50. The candelabra cleaned up very nicely and the watch is still working. It was a lot of fun looking around at all the stuff.

After the boot sale, we took the tube to Marylebone and had lunch at the Sea Shell restaurant. I ordered the Haddock & chips and Mom ordered the Plaice and chips with garden peas. We ended up switching fish because Mom liked the Haddock better and I liked both. After lunch, we walked down Marylebone to Baker Street then took a bus to Oxford Street. We looked around in some of the souvenir shops, bought a few things, then took a bus back to the hotel room for a short rest. We then went shopping locally (Boots, M&S, LUSH and the new Waitrose store at Earls Court.) Came back to the room to drop off purchases and decide where to have dinner.

We decided on one of the Italian restaurants on Kensington Court – a little street off Kensington High Street. We decided on Bellini’s and were glad we did. Excellent food and good prices. Mom had a pasta pesto dish and a garden salad. We kind of split a bruschetta starter. I had grilled lambchops in rosemary sauce and sautéed potatoes and couldn’t resist the crème brulee for dessert. All was excellent and we’ll definitely return (even have a hamburger on the menu for finicky eater, Dad.)

After dinner, we took the #9 bus to the end of the route, then took the #15 bus to the Tower of London. We had wanted to see the Olympic bid projection onto the Tower bridge (we had seen it on the news the night before – like the one we had seen on the clock tower), but we either picked the wrong side of the bridge to look at, or they didn’t have it on. We were too tired to walk all the way around the Tower to see if it was on the other side of the bridge. The new entrance to the Tower looks nice - a lot different than before. And they’ve expanded the gift shop – two levels. We window shopped (since it was closed) then took the buses back home.

Sunday – left the hotel to head to Highgate this morning. With the Circle line closed, we had to re-route to get there. We took the #10 bus to Tottenham Court Road, then the tube Northern line to Archway. The plan was to take the bus from the Archway tube to the Flask pub to have lunch. But it took longer than we thought to get there so we knew we wouldn’t have enough time. So we looked over the pubs near the Archway tube and decided on the Archway Tavern. The locals (mostly young men) were watching a football game on several plasma TV’s. I ordered a BLT baguette and chips and Mom had a hamburger and chips (came with a salsa mix on it.) We then took the bus to the Highgate tube station to meet our guide, Brian, for the Highgate Village Walk. We got there just in time. Sneakily, the Highgate tube station is a long way from Highgate Village – and the village is up a very steep hill. Brian allowed the group to stop and catch our breath half-way up. Highgate is a very pretty, interesting village. Very expensive to live there now and very competitive with Hampstead. A lot of literary figures (Coleridge, Dickens, T.S. Eliot) lived there and Sting owns a house there (we got to take a peak.) It was very cold on the walk and even snowed a little. After the walk, we stopped at a café and had a pot of tea to warm up – wasn’t great, but it was hot. We walked around a bit, then walked back to the Flask thinking we’d have a beer, but it was so crowded, people were sitting outside – and it was COLD!! So we just walked back down the hill (huge – 10% grade!!) to the Archway tube stop.

We took the tube to Embankment to have dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub. Had dinner in the upstairs restaurant (I had the salmon with hollandaise, new potatoes and veg and sticky toffee pudding for dessert; Mom had the roast beef, Yorkshire pudding & veg.) Met a couple from Howell, Michigan who were on their first trip to London. Chatted with them for a while – service was a little slow so we had lots of time. They were telling us that their bank told them they would need Euros for London. So they had $500 in Euros and $1000 in travelers checks – and no debit card. So they pretty much survived on credit cards. They weren’t happy with their bank!

Took the #9 bus back to the hotel, did the online check-in for our flights on the pc’s in the lobby (£1 = 11 minutes.) Came back to the room to start packing for the trip home.

Monday – We took a taxi to Victoria Station (£9 + tip) and the driver dropped us off right at the entrance to the Gatwick Express. A train was there waiting for us and we boarded right away. Checked in at Gatwick, cleared security (Mom’s artificial hip did NOT set off the alarms!! Kind of made us nervous) then we did a little duty-free shopping and grabbed a bite to eat (Mom had McDonalds, I had a BLT at Upper Crust.) Flight home was full – uneventful – typical coach flight. Dad picked us up at the airport. Were greeted by a fresh coat of Michigan snow. Another wonderful trip to London is at an end.

Kayab95: what a wonderful trip report!
I really enjoyed it-you two sound like you had a great time!! Good for you!
I want to try out some of those restaurants next time I'm in London.
Shadow

Thanks, Shadow. My mom and I travel very well together. We both like the same things and both love London!!

Hi Kay,

Very good trip report.

Nice of you to share.

((I)

Kay, thanks for the report...I'm staying in the Victoria Station area in May so appreciated your mention of pubs, restaurants and buses.

Thanks Kay for your wonderful report. We've never been to Paris before. Now we're thinking about taking a day trip thanks to your report the next time we go to London. I loved reading about the couple getting engaged. Thanks again!

Kay,

My friend and I are going to be doing the Paris overnight tour with Golden Tours. The Eurostar will be departing at the same time yours did. I know the train does not depart until around 6:30 but are you actually supposed to check in at 5:30 with the Golden Tour people?

In my booking it said something about pick up at 5:30.

Thanks for your trip report. I finally booked our Paris trip after reading your report because our first day will consist of the escorted tour, eiffel tower, and the boat ride and then after that we have free time until we depart the next day.

What an interesting and wonderful report Kay!

I must confess I do not know what some of the food you ate was though, LOL.

And I was quite interested in your comment about the couple who was told by their bank that they needed Euro for England. On just another thread a poster was advised to not listen to his bank regarding ATM's in Europe as bank employees usually do not know what they are talking about. I guess not!

How wonderful you and your mother have such a wonderful time traveling together. My daughter and I have fun together too (although unfortunatly in these days they are only day trips). Beautiful memories for both of you.

Thank you for sharing so many details of your trip.

Hi Kay, great report. I'm glad you did so many things outside as we were in London the same time as you and just couldn't take the cold. I didn't know you could tour the Royal Albert Hall, was this by prearrangement? I'll have to look into this next trip. Yo!Sushi is one of my favorite places to eat in London.

Tell your mum to ask for a "fried egg turned over".
I like mine like that, but it's not what you get automatically. Some people might understand what "over easy" means, but most won't especially if English isn't their first language.

historylight, we got to Waterloo right at 5:30 AM and the Golden Tours rep was there with out ticket packets. I would imagine he would stay until everyone had picked up their tickets. But by the time we got through security (like at the airports) and picked up something for breakfast, we really didn't have much time to kill before boarding the train.

An extra day would have been nice - to actually visit a few of the places we drove by in the bus.

tudorprincess, you have to pre-book for the Royal Albert Hall tours, but they offer them all the time. Check out their website for details (www.royalalberthall.com)

It really was an interesting tour - and the hall is beautiful!

"Tell your mum to ask for a "fried egg turned over"."

Thanks - I'll tell Mom! Someone else told us to ask for an egg "fried soft." I ask for mine scrambled and they always get that right.

Here's a link to some of my pictures from our trip: www.samsphotoclub.com/share/guest_enter.asp?id=2080541&sid=1899725

Kay, Enjoyed your trip report and pictures. I have a few questions if you have the time. I'm going to London next month, alone. It's the fourth time in the last three years and I like going alone so I can do just what I like. I'm totally in love with London. I too have thought about a day trip to Paris. I haven't been there in about 4 years and I wasn't alone then - do you think it's "do-able" without being part of a "tour"? Also, would I feel comfortable having tea at the Orangery by myself?

Thanks for any info.
Linda

linda_j: I wouldn't have any issues doing either the Orangery or Paris solo. Can't think of almost any place that would be less intimidating than the Orangery.

And Paris is a place that just demands wandering on your own - a tour group would just feel very intrusive to me. Normally I'd recommend one of the hop-on-hop-off buses, but since you've been to Paris before even that wouldn't be necessary.

Love your report Kayb95. Sitting in the choir for evensong makes it even more special.

I've spent a fair amount of time in Highgate (from time to time a friend used to loan me her flat not too far from the Highgate tube station). It seems EVERYTHING in Highgate is up a very steep hill. You'd think it would come out even since one would eventually have to walk back downhill - but it never seems to work out that way . . . . . . .

Kay- I just looked at your pictures, they really came out great! I'm hoping to get mine posted by the weekend.

As Janis said, the Orangery is definitely somewhere you could go alone and not feel out of place. It's a lot more casual than the hotel teas.

And Paris, especially if you've been there, would be doable on your own. We only did the escorted tour because it was our first time, we don't speak any French and since it was a short-notice trip, we didn't have the time to research doing it on our own. The tour was just easier to get our feet wet. We will definitely be back to explore further on our own.

Kayb,

Thanks for your report! Any chance you can tell us the address of the different restaurants you ate in, especially Il Forno and the Four Regions restaurant?

Il Fornello is at 150 Southampton Row in Bloomsbury. The closest tube stop is Russell Square. It's just a little ways past the Russell Hotel - same side of the street. (www.london-eating.co.uk/3403.htm)

The Four Regions is in the County Hall Building - closest tube stop would be Westminster. Just cross Westminster Bridge and the County Hall building is right there. Waterloo is also close - but not as pretty a walk.

Kay...thanks again for you trip report. I loved all of your pictures! I love London sooooooooo much and I told m husband we have to go back soon and also do the day trip to Paris. I'm glad you and mother were able to enjoy the trip together. My husband enjoyed your pictures also.

Kay - Thanks for the wonderful, and so-detailed, report! I'm sitting here scribbling notes for our journey later this summer. Especially appreciated the details and prices on restaurants.

If your Mom has a hip replacement, I'm thinking she has to be someplace past 60?? And yet - Wow! - you guys kept up such a busy pace, I got wore out just reading! Thanks again.

"If your Mom has a hip replacement, I'm thinking she has to be someplace past 60?? And yet - Wow! - you guys kept up such a busy pace, I got wore out just reading!"

LOL - and we've slowed down the pace considerably since we've been to London several times. Mom had her hip replacement when she was 57 back in 1999. She'll be 64 in April and gets around pretty well.

I just loved reading your trip report! Thanks for providing all the wonderful details of each day, including the restaurants and the various foods you tried. I'm glad you and your mother had such a lovely time.

I'm heading to England this month with my 9-year-old son and considered the day trip to Paris. The idea of the escorted tour would be perfect for us. Did you book it in London or prior to your trip? Do you remember what Golden Tours charged?

My mother and I saw the Mousetrap together on a trip 20 years ago. I'd love to take my son but I was wondering if it is appropriate for a 9 year-old?

Thanks for your help.

I

Here's the website for the Golden Tours Paris trips: www.goldentours.com/tours.php?6

We took the Paris Splendor trip and booked it online before we left home.

I would think Mousetrap would be appropriate for a 9-year-old. I don't remember there being anything too risque. Nothing he wouldn't see by watching an episode of "Murder She Wrote."