Julie's Trip report - London - 7 days, Edinburgh 5
 

First, Thank you Thank you Thank you everyone who offered their expertise and prior knowledge of these two wonderful places. I got home last night and we were relaxed (as much as you can after 20 hours up) and realized that we had a wonderful holiday! Right now I'm just going to share highlights and will do more detailed with restaurants, sights, etc.

London highlights - Hotel - Stayed at the Metropole and were treated like royalty. We were exhausted when we came in and we were treated to a soft drink and some TLC while we waited the last few minutes for our room. We shared that it was our 20th anniversary and we received a hand written note and a bottle of very nice champagne. St. Martin's in the Field - the choral portions of the services (and the services themselves) were incredible. Food at the Crypt, YUMMY!!! The British Museum, National Portrait museum, Victoria and Albert, etc. Big Bus Tour and Ceremony of the Keys!

Edinburgh - The West End Apartments - self-catered apartments - georgian mansion restored room by room, absolutely wonderful host and beautiful accommodation. Holyrood Palace and the Queens Gallary. Wedding at Borthwich was beautiful...Wedding planner was so good. White Hart Pub with traditional music. I have to go pick up critters and get kiddos moving. Will give more info as we get more organized at home again.

Again, many thanks for all the information so freely given here!

Julie

Isn't it wonderful to return home with such positive feelings about ones holiday! The advice given and taken on this forum is definitely for the serious traveler who hopes to get the most out of his or her time away. It's great to hear you had such a great trip.

We arrived at the airport in good time, got through all the lines only to have our plane be an hour late and missed the connection to London in Phoneix by 5 minutes. We were put up in the Hilton and provided meals and transportation. This actually ended up being a good thing as we were able to get a really good rest in after rushing about the week prior to the trip and when we finally got off the plane in London, we were still tired, but with a little more energy than we might have had. Having a good schedule in London (thanks to all the advice here) we were able to rearrange things and only missed one museum.

We arrived in London at Heathrow, were picked up by the Just Airports driver and taken to our hotel. We used the ATM's at the airport, no problems. We checked in at the Metropole, the front desk clerks were gracious and we must have looked more tired than we felt because we were treated to coffee and a soft drink while waiting for our room. Once in our room (2 double beds, city scape, 9th floor) we showered and then figured out where we needed to go as we had tickets for Blood Brother's that night. We grabbed a quick bite at Garfunkles across the street and then enjoyed the theater. We made it home, dropped and had a good rest.

Julie,

What part of London is the Metropole located? What is the price? What about the size of the beds? Thanks.

The Metropole is about 1/2-1 mile up (not sure of the direction, but it was away from Hyde park)Edgeware Road from the Marble Arch. It is really not near any "touristy things" however, the bus and tube are right across the street. We had two queen sized beds in our room. The room was good sized and comfortable. We got our rooms through Priceline and paid 45gbp per night. I'd stay there again.

Julie