And Then We Went to London...
Jul 31st, 2009, 08:03 AM
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And Then We Went to London...
<b>A Little Background Info</b>
I have to start by thanking all the wonderful Fodorites who helped me so much in the planning of this trip. I was going to name names until I realized that it would probably take me an hour and I'd still wind up missing someone! Fodor's is blessed with so many London experts who are so generous about sharing their knowledge with the rest of us. Not to mention those who've come back and written the trip reports that I found so helpful. And those who took the time to answer the many, many questions I had! I'm very indebted to you all.
I think there may be some people reading this who've read my Ireland and Barcelona reports. So my apologies to them for the repeated intro stuff.
Though we were in London from June 12th until the 16th, it's taken me a while to get to this because it was part of a much longer trip. It started with eight days in Ireland for our daughter's wedding, after which DH, DS and I spent three nights in Barcelona. As the title says, and then we went to London. Well, my DS (who'll be twenty a week from today) and I went to London. Poor DH had to head home and back to work.
Though I felt somewhat guilty about it, DH had persuaded DS and I to stay the extra week. DS was finished with school and, though I missed the last week for the wedding, by this time I was too. So he figured we may as well take advantage of being in Europe and stay a bit longer. We chose the UK at least in part because he'd been there before. That assuaged my guilt a little bit!
As I've mentioned in the other two reports, I'm doing this as a separate report for each destination. I think it's less unwieldy and more efficient for those looking for info on a particular destination. There's no reason someone planning a trip to London should have to sift through the stuff about the wedding and Barcelona in order to read about London. I know that I could do the three UK destinations together. But not everyone who goes to London also goes to York or Edinburgh. So I think my reasoning still applies!
<b>June 12th: Getting There</b>
We'd flown Aer Lingus from ORD to Dublin and from Dublin to BCN. But they don't fly from BCN to London. And Ryanair doesn't fly into BCN (they use Girona, about an hour away). So, despite a bit of apprehension, we flew EasyJet from Barcelona to Gatwick. I'd read a fair bit here on Fodor's about how strict EasyJet is on weight limits, the long lines for check in, etc. This was my first experience with a "no frills" carrier and I was somewhat dismayed by the fact that they even charge you to use a credit card to pay for your ticket. How the heck else can you pay when you're ordering tickets online?! (I did go with a debit card rather than a credit card because they charged a slightly lower fee for that. Only to later remember that my debit card charges a 3% transaction fee which my cc (Capital One) doesn't charge!)
The check in line probably <i>was</i> the worst we've ever encountered. But at least it was orderly. And at one point we changed to a faster moving line and wound up having a very pleasant conversation with a young couple (accompanied by their two small children) who were originally from Australia, were now living in Newcastle and who'd come to Barcelona for a bit of the sun for which they were homesick!
We'd been able to send home most of the things we'd needed for the wedding with our daughter and another member of the wedding party. But, as I've explained in the Ireland and Barcelona reports, the way things worked out, DH had time on his own to sightsee in both Dublin and Barcelona. I won't put you through my repetition of the details! Suffice it to say, DS and I split DH's clothes between our two suitcases in order to make it a little easier for him. Add to that the fact that we'd had to pack for warm Barcelona, not quite so warm London and cooler Scotland and you see why packing light was quite a challenge!
So I was very worried about those strict weight restrictions. Between the two of us, we were allowed 40 kg. Our luggage weighed in at 39 kg., at one point bouncing up to 39.5. But we made it! Thank goodness DH had insisted on taking the souvenirs from Barcelona! And that I hadn't bought the bottles of wine for my brothers and sister-in-law that I'd thought about getting!
The flight itself was probably among the best we've ever taken. We headed straight for the back of the plane and settled in a window seat and an aisle seat, figuring we'd move if someone needed the other seat. Well, we got lucky! The flight wasn't quite full and we wound up being able to stay where we were. That made for a more comfortable flight.
After hearing the announcement that they would be selling tickets for the Gatwick Express, I asked the stewardess if they took credit cards. She said they did but went on to ask me where we were going. When I told her, she told me to give her a moment and she'd be back to tell us a better way to go!
We'd been planning to take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station and change there to the District Line of the tube, taking it to West Brompton Station. She suggested that, for a couple of pounds less than the cost of the Gatwick Express, we buy a one day travelcard. That way, if we decided we wanted to go anywhere once we'd settled in out hotel, we'd be covered. She said instead of taking the Gatwick Express we should take the Southern to the Clapham Junction stop and switch to the overground rail. From there it was only one stop to West Brompton. Brilliant! A much easier way of doing it! And I thought it was so incredibly nice of her to take the time to tell us all of that!
I have to start by thanking all the wonderful Fodorites who helped me so much in the planning of this trip. I was going to name names until I realized that it would probably take me an hour and I'd still wind up missing someone! Fodor's is blessed with so many London experts who are so generous about sharing their knowledge with the rest of us. Not to mention those who've come back and written the trip reports that I found so helpful. And those who took the time to answer the many, many questions I had! I'm very indebted to you all.
I think there may be some people reading this who've read my Ireland and Barcelona reports. So my apologies to them for the repeated intro stuff.
Though we were in London from June 12th until the 16th, it's taken me a while to get to this because it was part of a much longer trip. It started with eight days in Ireland for our daughter's wedding, after which DH, DS and I spent three nights in Barcelona. As the title says, and then we went to London. Well, my DS (who'll be twenty a week from today) and I went to London. Poor DH had to head home and back to work.
Though I felt somewhat guilty about it, DH had persuaded DS and I to stay the extra week. DS was finished with school and, though I missed the last week for the wedding, by this time I was too. So he figured we may as well take advantage of being in Europe and stay a bit longer. We chose the UK at least in part because he'd been there before. That assuaged my guilt a little bit!
As I've mentioned in the other two reports, I'm doing this as a separate report for each destination. I think it's less unwieldy and more efficient for those looking for info on a particular destination. There's no reason someone planning a trip to London should have to sift through the stuff about the wedding and Barcelona in order to read about London. I know that I could do the three UK destinations together. But not everyone who goes to London also goes to York or Edinburgh. So I think my reasoning still applies!
<b>June 12th: Getting There</b>
We'd flown Aer Lingus from ORD to Dublin and from Dublin to BCN. But they don't fly from BCN to London. And Ryanair doesn't fly into BCN (they use Girona, about an hour away). So, despite a bit of apprehension, we flew EasyJet from Barcelona to Gatwick. I'd read a fair bit here on Fodor's about how strict EasyJet is on weight limits, the long lines for check in, etc. This was my first experience with a "no frills" carrier and I was somewhat dismayed by the fact that they even charge you to use a credit card to pay for your ticket. How the heck else can you pay when you're ordering tickets online?! (I did go with a debit card rather than a credit card because they charged a slightly lower fee for that. Only to later remember that my debit card charges a 3% transaction fee which my cc (Capital One) doesn't charge!)
The check in line probably <i>was</i> the worst we've ever encountered. But at least it was orderly. And at one point we changed to a faster moving line and wound up having a very pleasant conversation with a young couple (accompanied by their two small children) who were originally from Australia, were now living in Newcastle and who'd come to Barcelona for a bit of the sun for which they were homesick!
We'd been able to send home most of the things we'd needed for the wedding with our daughter and another member of the wedding party. But, as I've explained in the Ireland and Barcelona reports, the way things worked out, DH had time on his own to sightsee in both Dublin and Barcelona. I won't put you through my repetition of the details! Suffice it to say, DS and I split DH's clothes between our two suitcases in order to make it a little easier for him. Add to that the fact that we'd had to pack for warm Barcelona, not quite so warm London and cooler Scotland and you see why packing light was quite a challenge!
So I was very worried about those strict weight restrictions. Between the two of us, we were allowed 40 kg. Our luggage weighed in at 39 kg., at one point bouncing up to 39.5. But we made it! Thank goodness DH had insisted on taking the souvenirs from Barcelona! And that I hadn't bought the bottles of wine for my brothers and sister-in-law that I'd thought about getting!
The flight itself was probably among the best we've ever taken. We headed straight for the back of the plane and settled in a window seat and an aisle seat, figuring we'd move if someone needed the other seat. Well, we got lucky! The flight wasn't quite full and we wound up being able to stay where we were. That made for a more comfortable flight.
After hearing the announcement that they would be selling tickets for the Gatwick Express, I asked the stewardess if they took credit cards. She said they did but went on to ask me where we were going. When I told her, she told me to give her a moment and she'd be back to tell us a better way to go!
We'd been planning to take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station and change there to the District Line of the tube, taking it to West Brompton Station. She suggested that, for a couple of pounds less than the cost of the Gatwick Express, we buy a one day travelcard. That way, if we decided we wanted to go anywhere once we'd settled in out hotel, we'd be covered. She said instead of taking the Gatwick Express we should take the Southern to the Clapham Junction stop and switch to the overground rail. From there it was only one stop to West Brompton. Brilliant! A much easier way of doing it! And I thought it was so incredibly nice of her to take the time to tell us all of that!
Jul 31st, 2009, 10:28 AM
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<b>June12th: Arriving in London</b>
Our flight, a little bit delayed, came in around 4:00. So we were heading in during Friday afternoon rush hour. Dealing with our luggage on the train and then the overground wasn't a lot of fun. (A fact that stayed in our minds throughout the trip as we knew we'd be dealing with morning rush when we left.) But I suspect it was much easier than if we'd gone according to our original plan.
During our stay we encountered two very friendly and helpful gentlemen who worked at the West Brompton tube station. One of them gave us directions to our hotel that day. They were very straight forward; a few blocks down Lillie Road, a left turn onto North End Road and it was pretty much right around that corner. It was an easy 7 or 8 minute walk. (Much easier, of course, without luggage!)
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Earls Court (which isn't really in Earl's court). And I am so grateful to yk, Apres_Londee, kybourbon, WillTravel, stokebailey and the others who helped me on my budget London accommodations thread. If it hadn't been for you guys, I'd have never found that hotel. And it worked out so very well for us. Thank you too (especially you, yk) for walking me through my first experience with Hotwire! And thank you, CRIdo, for coming back and posting about your experiences there. As excited as I was about the price, it was a big relief to hear from someone who'd actually stayed there and liked it.
We got this hotel on Hotwire for $49 a night! And it included breakfast! Yes, it was a little ways out of central London. But it was on the District line and an easy ride in. The little bit of extra time involved was, for us, a very worthwhile trade off for the money saved. We would've gotten the same zones one and two travelcards even if we'd stayed closer in. So transportation didn't cost us any more.
I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't love to someday be able to stay at a hotel right in central London, within walking distance of the sights. But, for this particular trip, the Holiday Inn Express met our needs perfectly. It must have been renovated fairly recently because everything about it looked clean and new. Our room wasn't large, but it wasn't tiny either. It was very comfortable for the small amount of time we spent there. And the bathroom was very nice, especially the large shower stall. But I did come to wish it'd had a tub.
We'd talked about the possibility of doing a London Walk that evening. There was a pub walk at 7:00 that started just a couple of tube stops away and sounded interesting. But we knew that we might not get settled in to the hotel in time or might just be too tired. And in fact the latter proved to be true. We might have been able to make it on time but it would have been a real rush. And, to be honest, the thought of being on my feet for two hours just wasn't very appealing at that point. And we were hungry!
My son had noticed an interesting looking pub not too far from the West Brompton station so we decided we'd check it out instead. It was called the Prince of Wales and we considered it to be a pretty good find. In fact, it became our "local" for our stay! Even though there are a few large hotels in that area, this pub seemed to be frequented mostly by locals. It had that very nice "dark wood", comfortable feel to it. The beer and cider were very good and the staff was friendly. We also liked the food and the fact that they served continuously. And, certainly not least of all, we appreciated that it was reasonably priced!
When I went up to the bar to order, I was told that a large group had just placed an order so there'd be a bit of a wait, we think they told us 45 minutes to an hour. But we decided we'd just as soon stay and have a drink while we were waiting rather than try to find another place to eat. My son had roast chicken with chips and mushy peas and I had fish and chips with mushy peas. He had Strongbow cider, I had a local beer (don't remember the name) and I ordered a bag of crisps to eat while we were waiting. Our bill was £21.50. Since we were there for awhile, though I don't think the food took as long as they'd said it would, we each had another drink.
On the way back, we stopped in a little store that was very conveniently located just a couple of doors away from the hotel (and was open either very late or 24 hours, can't remember which). I got a can of beer, my son got a can of cider and we got a huge bottle of water. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel had an ice machine. Though you could only get it by the cupful! We relaxed in the room for a bit and called it a night. We wanted to get an early start the next morning.
Our flight, a little bit delayed, came in around 4:00. So we were heading in during Friday afternoon rush hour. Dealing with our luggage on the train and then the overground wasn't a lot of fun. (A fact that stayed in our minds throughout the trip as we knew we'd be dealing with morning rush when we left.) But I suspect it was much easier than if we'd gone according to our original plan.
During our stay we encountered two very friendly and helpful gentlemen who worked at the West Brompton tube station. One of them gave us directions to our hotel that day. They were very straight forward; a few blocks down Lillie Road, a left turn onto North End Road and it was pretty much right around that corner. It was an easy 7 or 8 minute walk. (Much easier, of course, without luggage!)
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Earls Court (which isn't really in Earl's court). And I am so grateful to yk, Apres_Londee, kybourbon, WillTravel, stokebailey and the others who helped me on my budget London accommodations thread. If it hadn't been for you guys, I'd have never found that hotel. And it worked out so very well for us. Thank you too (especially you, yk) for walking me through my first experience with Hotwire! And thank you, CRIdo, for coming back and posting about your experiences there. As excited as I was about the price, it was a big relief to hear from someone who'd actually stayed there and liked it.
We got this hotel on Hotwire for $49 a night! And it included breakfast! Yes, it was a little ways out of central London. But it was on the District line and an easy ride in. The little bit of extra time involved was, for us, a very worthwhile trade off for the money saved. We would've gotten the same zones one and two travelcards even if we'd stayed closer in. So transportation didn't cost us any more.
I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't love to someday be able to stay at a hotel right in central London, within walking distance of the sights. But, for this particular trip, the Holiday Inn Express met our needs perfectly. It must have been renovated fairly recently because everything about it looked clean and new. Our room wasn't large, but it wasn't tiny either. It was very comfortable for the small amount of time we spent there. And the bathroom was very nice, especially the large shower stall. But I did come to wish it'd had a tub.
We'd talked about the possibility of doing a London Walk that evening. There was a pub walk at 7:00 that started just a couple of tube stops away and sounded interesting. But we knew that we might not get settled in to the hotel in time or might just be too tired. And in fact the latter proved to be true. We might have been able to make it on time but it would have been a real rush. And, to be honest, the thought of being on my feet for two hours just wasn't very appealing at that point. And we were hungry!
My son had noticed an interesting looking pub not too far from the West Brompton station so we decided we'd check it out instead. It was called the Prince of Wales and we considered it to be a pretty good find. In fact, it became our "local" for our stay! Even though there are a few large hotels in that area, this pub seemed to be frequented mostly by locals. It had that very nice "dark wood", comfortable feel to it. The beer and cider were very good and the staff was friendly. We also liked the food and the fact that they served continuously. And, certainly not least of all, we appreciated that it was reasonably priced!
When I went up to the bar to order, I was told that a large group had just placed an order so there'd be a bit of a wait, we think they told us 45 minutes to an hour. But we decided we'd just as soon stay and have a drink while we were waiting rather than try to find another place to eat. My son had roast chicken with chips and mushy peas and I had fish and chips with mushy peas. He had Strongbow cider, I had a local beer (don't remember the name) and I ordered a bag of crisps to eat while we were waiting. Our bill was £21.50. Since we were there for awhile, though I don't think the food took as long as they'd said it would, we each had another drink.
On the way back, we stopped in a little store that was very conveniently located just a couple of doors away from the hotel (and was open either very late or 24 hours, can't remember which). I got a can of beer, my son got a can of cider and we got a huge bottle of water. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel had an ice machine. Though you could only get it by the cupful! We relaxed in the room for a bit and called it a night. We wanted to get an early start the next morning.
Jul 31st, 2009, 10:38 AM
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CAPH52, I have received so much help from fellow Fodorites all these years, that I feel the best way to reciprocate their generosity is to "pay it forward". And of course, I continue to receive generous help from folks here every time I plan a new trip. Therefore, there's really no need to thank me.
I'm really glad the HI Express worked out great for you. $49/n including breakfast is such an incredible deal that makes it impossible to refuse! I recently stayed at a HI Express in California, and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. In fact, I thought it is MUCH better than the Westin Hotel I stayed at a few nights later.
I'm really glad the HI Express worked out great for you. $49/n including breakfast is such an incredible deal that makes it impossible to refuse! I recently stayed at a HI Express in California, and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. In fact, I thought it is MUCH better than the Westin Hotel I stayed at a few nights later.
Jul 31st, 2009, 10:46 AM
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That IS a great deal on the hotel. Now that my SIL is no longer living in London [and our free room is gone] we'll be in the market for hotels and so it's nice to know there are nice bargains if you know where to look (or ask). As yk says, these forums can be tremendous sources of info.
Jul 31st, 2009, 10:47 AM
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yk, I'm glad to hear that your experience with a HI Express in California was good too. Holiday Inn must really be working at making their Express hotels a good value. Something I'll definitely keep in mind the next time we're looking for a chain hotel (which we often do when we're on the road).
Jul 31st, 2009, 10:56 AM
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"so it's nice to know there are nice bargains if you know where to look"
Isn't it, dfr? That HI Express certainly was a bargain! We'd been thrilled, in February, to get a hotel room in Madison, WI for $50 a night. I still can't believe we got one in London (and a nicer one!) for less!
And, yes, thank goodness for Fodor's!
Isn't it, dfr? That HI Express certainly was a bargain! We'd been thrilled, in February, to get a hotel room in Madison, WI for $50 a night. I still can't believe we got one in London (and a nicer one!) for less!
And, yes, thank goodness for Fodor's!
Jul 31st, 2009, 07:40 PM
#17
Neat report - looking forward to more!
It's great the hotel turned out so well. That was such a good deal that even if it wasn't totally acceptable, it still might have been worth it. Being nice was a bonus. . .
It's great the hotel turned out so well. That was such a good deal that even if it wasn't totally acceptable, it still might have been worth it. Being nice was a bonus. . .
Aug 1st, 2009, 08:22 AM
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<b>Morning and Early Afternoon of June 13th: The Tower</b>
We did manage to get a fairly early start that day. The plan was to be at the Tower of London when it opened at 9:30.
I think we got down to breakfast around 8:00. As I told Apres above, it was one of the best continental breakfast buffets we've had. It's been awhile now, so I may forget something but this is what I remember: two or three choices of cereal, grapefruit sections and, I think, peaches (canned), excellent individually wrapped cheeses (over the course of our stay I had cheddar, double gloucester and red leicester, there may have been others as well), a selection of yogurts, a juice dispenser with orange juice, tropical juice and water, a machine with coffee, hot chocolate, mocha latte and hot water for tea and an exellent selection of breads that included plain and chocolate croissants, whole wheat rolls/buns, white and wheat sliced bread (and a toaster) and packaged muffins (which were very good and handy for sticking in my son's small backpack type thing that he took along each day). The only negative thing I can think of to say about it is that, while they kept the food stocked, they seemed to have a little trouble keeping up with the dishes, particularly juice glasses.
Because there were a few others who'd posted on Fodor's saying they were also going for this $49 a night deal, (and we are, presumably, a fairly small percentage of the traveling public) I sort of expected to see a lot of Americans. But, judging by the people we saw while we were eating breakfast every morning, I don't think that was the case. Most of the other guests seemed to be European.
After breakfast we headed for the West Brompton Station. Because the tube map showed it with the railroad symbol, we thought we'd be able to buy our travelcards there for the 2-for-1 deals. http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attrac...or1london.aspx
Well, as nearly as we can figure, West Brompton has the symbol because of the overground rail. It is not a National Railway station. And, unfortunately, we got a little bit of a runaround before we figured out all of this. Suffice it to say that the people who work at the tube station windows (and people who sell oyster cards and travelcards at licensed stores) don't know anything about the 2-for-1s. They genuinely believe that, because the travelcards they sell do have the railway symbol (along with the tube symbol), they'll work. Fortunately, I'd read enough here to know that wasn't the case. And we'd bought that railway travelcard at Gatwick the day before so we knew what they were supposed to look like. They have an orange stripe across the top and the bottom.
We wound up having to buy a £4 tube ticket to go to Victoria Station to buy the travelcards. I'd already been planning to buy three day cards, even though we only planned to do 2-for-1s two of the three days. I wanted to just buy the cards once and be done with it. And this experience made me all the more sure that was the right decision!
All of this running around cost us a bit of time. But we still managed to get to the Tower by about 10:15. We used the 2-for-1 with no problem and both got in for £17. A word of caution though, the woman did ask to see both travelcards (which I'd actually already handed her though she didn't realize it at first).
It was already crowded but not horribly so. Rather than going straight to the Crown Jewels as is advised here, we decided to go with the Yeoman Warder tour that was about to start. I enjoyed it just as much as I remembered enjoying the one I'd taken 27 years before! But it wasn't exactly the same tour. I won't pretend to remember everything about that earlier tour! But I do remember the "Beefeater" talking to us about the Roman Wall and the legend of the ravens. None of that was mentioned in the tour we took this time. However, I don't remember going in to the chapel on that first tour, which we did this time. At any rate, my son really enjoyed it too. And we did later get in to see the jewels without too much of a wait.
Around noon we realized we were getting hungry. But we weren't really ready to leave yet. And we had tickets for the 3:00 tour at Stamford Bridge (the Chelsea football stadium) back near our hotel. So we didn't feel we had a lot of time to be looking for restaurants once we did leave. My son suggested we just eat at the restaurant there at the Tower, look around a bit more and then head back to the hotel. I remembered that someone (I think it was Therese) had mentioned in her TR that she and her kids had eaten there and it had worked out well for them. So I was willing to give it a try. And I'm glad we did. It turned out to be one of my son's favorite meals of the whole three week trip!
The restaurant is called Digby Trout and I'd classify it as sort of modern cafeteria style. There are maybe half a dozen "stations" where you choose drinks or desserts or are served food and then take your selections to a check-out where you pay for each item. My son chose an individual meat pie with mashed potatoes and gravy and mushy peas. I had an excellent cold chicken breast with an herb mayonnaise and chips. We each had a drink and, on impulse, picked up a small cake type of thing from in front of the checker. It was all very good. Remarkably so for a place like that where you go more for the convenience than because you're expecting a great meal. Our bill was £20.80.
When we finished eating, we walked around the Tower some more, mostly along the walls. By this time, it was definitely getting more crowded. Uncomfortably so in some of the small rooms.
This happened to be the day of the Trooping of the Colour. And I would dearly have loved to be there. But, with only three full days in London, I just couldn't justify the time, so I'd put it out of my mind. Until we began to hear the guns! And see the smoke! By the time they were finished, it was almost as though a fog had come down on the Tower!
Around 1:30 we decided we'd better be heading back to the tube. As we exited the Tower, there was a solid mass of humanity on it's way in!
A link to my son's London photos:
http://europeanadventure2009.shutterfly.com/325
We did manage to get a fairly early start that day. The plan was to be at the Tower of London when it opened at 9:30.
I think we got down to breakfast around 8:00. As I told Apres above, it was one of the best continental breakfast buffets we've had. It's been awhile now, so I may forget something but this is what I remember: two or three choices of cereal, grapefruit sections and, I think, peaches (canned), excellent individually wrapped cheeses (over the course of our stay I had cheddar, double gloucester and red leicester, there may have been others as well), a selection of yogurts, a juice dispenser with orange juice, tropical juice and water, a machine with coffee, hot chocolate, mocha latte and hot water for tea and an exellent selection of breads that included plain and chocolate croissants, whole wheat rolls/buns, white and wheat sliced bread (and a toaster) and packaged muffins (which were very good and handy for sticking in my son's small backpack type thing that he took along each day). The only negative thing I can think of to say about it is that, while they kept the food stocked, they seemed to have a little trouble keeping up with the dishes, particularly juice glasses.
Because there were a few others who'd posted on Fodor's saying they were also going for this $49 a night deal, (and we are, presumably, a fairly small percentage of the traveling public) I sort of expected to see a lot of Americans. But, judging by the people we saw while we were eating breakfast every morning, I don't think that was the case. Most of the other guests seemed to be European.
After breakfast we headed for the West Brompton Station. Because the tube map showed it with the railroad symbol, we thought we'd be able to buy our travelcards there for the 2-for-1 deals. http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attrac...or1london.aspx
Well, as nearly as we can figure, West Brompton has the symbol because of the overground rail. It is not a National Railway station. And, unfortunately, we got a little bit of a runaround before we figured out all of this. Suffice it to say that the people who work at the tube station windows (and people who sell oyster cards and travelcards at licensed stores) don't know anything about the 2-for-1s. They genuinely believe that, because the travelcards they sell do have the railway symbol (along with the tube symbol), they'll work. Fortunately, I'd read enough here to know that wasn't the case. And we'd bought that railway travelcard at Gatwick the day before so we knew what they were supposed to look like. They have an orange stripe across the top and the bottom.
We wound up having to buy a £4 tube ticket to go to Victoria Station to buy the travelcards. I'd already been planning to buy three day cards, even though we only planned to do 2-for-1s two of the three days. I wanted to just buy the cards once and be done with it. And this experience made me all the more sure that was the right decision!
All of this running around cost us a bit of time. But we still managed to get to the Tower by about 10:15. We used the 2-for-1 with no problem and both got in for £17. A word of caution though, the woman did ask to see both travelcards (which I'd actually already handed her though she didn't realize it at first).
It was already crowded but not horribly so. Rather than going straight to the Crown Jewels as is advised here, we decided to go with the Yeoman Warder tour that was about to start. I enjoyed it just as much as I remembered enjoying the one I'd taken 27 years before! But it wasn't exactly the same tour. I won't pretend to remember everything about that earlier tour! But I do remember the "Beefeater" talking to us about the Roman Wall and the legend of the ravens. None of that was mentioned in the tour we took this time. However, I don't remember going in to the chapel on that first tour, which we did this time. At any rate, my son really enjoyed it too. And we did later get in to see the jewels without too much of a wait.
Around noon we realized we were getting hungry. But we weren't really ready to leave yet. And we had tickets for the 3:00 tour at Stamford Bridge (the Chelsea football stadium) back near our hotel. So we didn't feel we had a lot of time to be looking for restaurants once we did leave. My son suggested we just eat at the restaurant there at the Tower, look around a bit more and then head back to the hotel. I remembered that someone (I think it was Therese) had mentioned in her TR that she and her kids had eaten there and it had worked out well for them. So I was willing to give it a try. And I'm glad we did. It turned out to be one of my son's favorite meals of the whole three week trip!
The restaurant is called Digby Trout and I'd classify it as sort of modern cafeteria style. There are maybe half a dozen "stations" where you choose drinks or desserts or are served food and then take your selections to a check-out where you pay for each item. My son chose an individual meat pie with mashed potatoes and gravy and mushy peas. I had an excellent cold chicken breast with an herb mayonnaise and chips. We each had a drink and, on impulse, picked up a small cake type of thing from in front of the checker. It was all very good. Remarkably so for a place like that where you go more for the convenience than because you're expecting a great meal. Our bill was £20.80.
When we finished eating, we walked around the Tower some more, mostly along the walls. By this time, it was definitely getting more crowded. Uncomfortably so in some of the small rooms.
This happened to be the day of the Trooping of the Colour. And I would dearly have loved to be there. But, with only three full days in London, I just couldn't justify the time, so I'd put it out of my mind. Until we began to hear the guns! And see the smoke! By the time they were finished, it was almost as though a fog had come down on the Tower!
Around 1:30 we decided we'd better be heading back to the tube. As we exited the Tower, there was a solid mass of humanity on it's way in!
A link to my son's London photos:
http://europeanadventure2009.shutterfly.com/325
