Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - London trip report

Though I've been haunting the Europe message boards all summer, I just became a member-- b/c I got addicted! In appreciation for all the excellent advice, I'm writing a trip report for my London vacation. (To all who are tired of London trip reports, I apologize!).

We flew British Airways to Heathrow, and took the Heathrow Express to Paddington (our trip in was not particularly express, probably b/c we arrived on the last day of the heat wave and tracks may have been buckled!). We then bought our seven day travel cards for zones 1 and 2 (we probably only needed zone 1), and took the tube to Kensington High Street and walked to our hotel. We took the tube everywhere, and found it easy to use. The travelcards were definitely a good investment.

We stayed at the Thistle Kensington Palace, which had both positive and negative attributes. The location is fantastic! Nice walks to both KHS and Gloucester Rd. tube stops. Our room, and the bathroom, were large. The bathroom was especially nice. But the beds were twin (not romantic!) and very uncomfortable, and our entire wing of the hotel (facing onto DeVere Gardens and the sun) was incredibly hot (unavoidable due to the heat wave). We couldn't change rooms, so we resolved the situation by moving our mattresses to the floor and spending most of the day out of the hotel room.

Day 1: Arrive hotel, can't check in. Walk over to Kensington Palace, pay 11 lbs. to get in. Favorite exhibit: Queen's hats. She has a lot! Cut tour short to head over to Orangery for lunch and water. (delicious). After napping and recuperating in hotel room, we spend a couple of hours lying under tree and people watching in Kensington Park. Eat dinner at Churchill Arms (about 15 minute walk from hotel) on Kensington Church St. Delicious thai food!

Day 2: Walk through Kensington and Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace (this is a long walk, and is confusing once you reach Hyde Park Speaker's Corner). Pay 11 lbs. to tour Buckingham Palace, which is very interesting--worth the money. Eat lunch at the Fountain Restaurant at Fortnum and Mason's (recommend), and stopped in Waterstone's just down the street. Take tube to Blackfriar's, walk across Millenium Bridge to Tate Modern and spend a couple of hours there. See excellent performance at the Globe Theatre of "Taming of the Shrew" (highly recommended).

Day 3: British Museum, where we see interesting airconditioned exhibit "London in 1753" from the print collection. Next head to Sir John Soane's Museum--I definitely recommend buying the pamphlet that tells you about each room. Ate lunch in a cafe in Lincoln's Fields (correct name of park?). Head to Liberty of London to window shop. Meet friends for dinner and have excellent wine at Gordon's Wine Bar.

Day 4: Walked to Victoria and Albert Museum, where we took a "highlights" tour. Then looked at dress collection. Ate lunch at Pret a Manger (recommended) and then took a London walk: Spy and Spycatchers' London. Very entertaining. That night walked (20 minutes or so) through Kensington to "Kare Kare", Indian restaurant on Old Brompton Rd. Much more upscale than Indian restaurants I'm used to but delicious (recommended).

Day 5: National Gallery followed by lunch at St. Martin in the Fields. Took afternoon off from site seeing to shop at Selfridge's. Ate dinner at Kensington Place (Kensington Church St.), which was quite good, but expensive.

Day 6 (last day): Headed to Liecester Sq. to buy theatre tickets. Then walked to Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey--paid 6 lbs. to get into Westminister Abbey. Ate dinner at an Indian restaurant near our hotel (ok), and saw "Noises Off" at the Piccadilly Theatre. Play was excellent--very funny--and theatre was airconditioned!

We had a lot of fun, but we were exhausted when we returned!

Thanks again for all the help planning.