My husband and I just returned from a week in London. It was fabulous. Except for getting stuck in two protests (we arrived the day the war started) and the hotel being evacuated due to fire! <BR><BR>We stayed at the Royal Horseguards and we really loved it. Nice room, great location-- we will definately stay there again. The roof of the building next door caught fire Monday night and we were evacuated to the Thistle Charing Cross. No one was hurt and we were let back into the hotel around 5:30am. We had planned to have tea at the TCC later in the week (as per the many recommendations here), but after five hours of trying to sleep on it's floor we had no desire to see it again! I can tell you though that it is indeed a lovely setting!<BR><BR>St. Paul's is undergoing a massive cleaning program and you can only view about half of the interior. It was a real disappointment. And we weren't aware of it until after we paid. We could tell work was going on, but you can't see the extent of it until you get all the way in. I would have skipped it if I had known.<BR><BR>If you buy a travelcard (visitor or regular) you get a pink booklet with lots of 2 for 1 coupons good through April 30th. Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Shakespeare's Globe, etc. A very nice thing!<BR><BR>The flowers are blooming, the weather was gorgeous and the people were so friendly. It was a wonderful trip--I can't wait to go back! We'll be writing a long travelogue with pictures for our website--should I post the link when it's up?<BR><BR>

Yes, please do. We are headed for Royal Horseguards in May. From your willingness to stay there again, can I assume the staff was pleasant? Did you have their breakfast included or find your own in the area?

Thanks for your comments on St. Paul's. We we there March 18th. It was at the end of our stay and we had spent most of our budgeted $$$ and I was hesitant about spending the 6 pound admission charge (not to mention the self guided tour they were offering). We had been to many sites that had no admission fees so we just peaked inside and were on our way.<BR><BR>Otherwise, We too had a wonderful trip to London. March turned out to be a great time to visit. A beautiful and very livable city with very friendly folks(blokes as they say on the telley).<BR>

Jenny, We probably saw you at the fire sleepover! Actually the fire was in our building, just not in the section that is the hotel. <BR> We heard about the protests on our arrival on Fri. so we headed for Cambridge to avoid the crowds. The evening of the protests we were in Trafalgar Square and heard dozens of sirens...saw as many police cars which were headed in the direction of Picadilly Circus. We found out later that a few of the protestors threw trash cans through windows of some of the shops, and the police were there to stop looting. <BR> Our week was wonderful, exciting, exhausting, and much too short! The Royal Horseguards was a wonderful place to stay...charming with a great location. <BR> I would like to see your website so please post the link. Thanks for sharing.

We also just returned from a week in London. <BR><BR>We went to St. Paul's and had a lovely time. We climbed the dome and were able to see almost everything. Free postcards were being given out due to the restoration program. This is a five-year project to mark the 300th anniversary of the Cathedral. <BR><BR>My 17-year old son thought visiting the Cathedral was one of the high-lights of our trip. We heard some complaints about the work being done, however, as my son astutely pointed out &quot;how do they think these old buildings are still around?&quot;<BR><BR>The weather was beautiful and the daffodils in St. James Park were absolutely spectacular. Thank you, Mr. Haines, for your advice on going there.

Kato, I wondered if there were any other fodorites there!<BR><BR>Mrs. Wilde, I'm glad they're taking the care to clean St. Paul's--I know it needs it. Believe me, I'm not complaining that they're cleaning it--I only mind that no one tells you that you can't see much of anything until after you pay to see it. I found that a little odd and no one gave us a free postcard. Oh well, we bought some though. If you're terrified of heights, as I am, the climb to the top isn't very rewarding. I did it though! My husband enjoyed it, took a photo of me cowering in fear too--rotten man.<BR><BR>We only have his photos up right now: <BR>http://www.witzels.org/pics/London-2003-03/<BR>To be honest, I think these photos are weird--this is off my husband's digital camera. The man takes pictures of the most random stuff sometimes... I was taking photos of the gorgeous flowers all week--I'll have to scan some of those in when my film comes back.

Dear Mrs Wilde,<BR><BR>Thank you: tomorrow I shall have the pleasure of passing your thanks to the office of the Royal Parks.<BR><BR>To all: the good weather has carried on for here for weeks now. We have just gone to Summer Time, an hour before Greenwich Mean Time, it is seven pm, and the sun is still shining on our street. I am almost sorry that I am off to Serbia in a week.<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR>

MHS: We found the staff to be very pleasant. We booked the room through priceline for $70 a night and weren't expecting the Ritz or anything. We got to the hotel at 10:30am and were expecting to just leave our bags, but they had a room available. It was only an interior room and the receptionist was very apologetic about it. She suggested that we call down in the next morning and see if a better room was available. We never did. The room was very nice and comfortable and quiet. We were only there to sleep anyway. The conceirge was very helpful--check out the rack of brochures by the desk there are free copies of Time Out London, some woman's magazine that I forget the name of, and National Geographic of all things...<BR><BR>We did not have breakfast at the hotel. Twice we just ran into the coffee shop across from the Embankment tube stop for pastries and coffe/tea. It's kind of like a Starbucks--and there is one of those almost right next door. <BR><BR>There is a Garfunkel's near Trafalgar Sq. nothing special, but there is breakfast! Turn right from the hotel, go to Northumberland Ave (big road you cross to get to Embankment) turn right, Garfunkel's is on the right just when lots of shops start to appear. There are lots of restaurants in this area, but we only ate here once for dinner at the Lord Moon of the Mall pub. Very good beer list according to husband (Camra approved--campaign for real ale--we had to tote their guidebook everywhere). During dinner hours they have a two meals for 6.95 pounds special. I will admit the lasagne was a little weird, but my husband liked his sheperd's pie. Anyway, we ate cheaply that night! Thursday is curry night.<BR><BR>On our last night we had a pint at the Red Lion pub (sad beer list) and noticed a sign saying that they serve breakfast from 8-9:30. Full english breakfast for 3.95pounds. We would have tried it if we'd noticed it sooner. The pub is an easy stroll from the hotel at 48 Parliament St. As you walk down Whitehall towards parliament it turns into Parliament st. The Red Lion is on your left. <BR><BR>The best meal we had all week was at the Criterion. Following someone's suggestion here I booked via toptable.co.uk they were extending the prix fixe meal for post-theatre if you book with them. It is a lovely, special place and we are so very glad we went. We saw the RSC's &quot;The Malcontent&quot; (fabulous) and this was a perfect way to end the evening.<BR><BR>By the way I booked the tickets for the theatre on whatsonstage.com I was a little nervous because I'd never heard of anyone booking through them, but they had a great offer for this show. 15pounds best available. We got to the theatre half an hour early, picked up the tickets without a hitch and discover that the seats were dead center, 11th row of the stalls. Fabulous!

We also have returned from London. [ March 19] We spent 6 days at the Royal Horseguards. The location is super and amazingly we did not see a drop of rain. In fact there was almost a complete absence of clouds. Since the weather was so good we spent very little time indoors in Museums. We only visited the Tate Modern and Somerset House (Gilbert Collection). The latter is overwhelming. We walked alot and took the tube only once. Since the imposition of the fee to drive in central London during working hours has been initiated the effect on traffic has been amazing and so our public transportation was done on buses. You can see more and it was fast and efficient. We saw a performance of the Rosenkavalier at the ENO (English National Opera) and after correcting the misinformation in Time Out London a performance of Cavalli's Orion (in English) at Wilton's Music Hall. It was an adventure finding the place [ 1 Grace's Alley in the East End ] Even a taxi driver we took from the Tower of London was stumped for a while but he found it. It was a magnificent performance and production in an old &quot;restored&quot; music hall. Apparently the &quot;Venetianopera Company&quot; puts on performances from time to time but there is a dearth of publicity. We also dined at Sarastro's on Opera night. The decor is over the top; the food pedestrian; the singers OK; they sang only old war horses as expected. We had a good time. <BR>We were disappointed in the meals we had in London. We had high expectations with all the talk of the food renaissance in London. Quaglino's is resting on in past reputation and the cooking was pedestrain. Another Conran's restaurant Le Coq d'Argent in the City was expensive, had a wonderful view, had excellent decor but again the cooking was uninspired and unimaginative. However we were quite pleased with two meals we had at (1) Kensington Place [201-9 Kensington Church Street just down from Notting Hill tube station] and (2) Kitty's Aroma [ 11 Gerrard St. in Chinatown ] Both were excellent, had good food and imaginative cooking. Both are highly recommended.<BR>In short we had a very good trip, did little shopping, lots of walking, stayed a good hotel [ the less said about breakfast there the better though], had great weather, and stayed amount the right length of time - 6 nights.

Thank you, nycjenny, for cluing us in on where to find a bite in the am &amp; to PaulR for your comment (was wondering if I had made a dreadful mistake re no breakfast incl.). Will definately check out that rack of brochures &amp; since we saw St. Pauls on our last trip, won't be tempted into stopping again. Enjoy these reports on two levels - for &quot;in your shoes&quot; feeling &amp; the info contained. Thanks again.

We had a great lunch at the Red Lion Pub in their restaurant upstairs. If I remember right, it was about 7 or 8 pounds, but quite good.