London trip report
 

Well just arrived home from our weeks visit to London. Here is a brief outline of our fantastic holiday.

We left Liverpool Lime street (we are from Wirral, Merseryside area of UK) going 1st class on one of their Pendolino trains, taking us directly to London Euston.

Very comfortable journey taking about 2 1/2 hours. Got a taxi to flat rental agency to collect key and continued in taxi to flat (about 5 mins away).

These comments are the only negative ones i have as the apartment was a real disappointment. (I have written to company, LONDON GUEST SUITES) telling them to sort this flat out).

We booked flat no:269/ Red Lion Sq, for £580 ish.
I know its not top of range price and we were not expecting luxury, but we do feel however much one pays the accom should be clean etc. Without going on too much it was grubby, the sofa bed was filthy, the bathroom need a thought clean etc. I cleaned round best i could. I know, we should of asked to be moved, why we didn't i cannot say. It was tolerable.

Now the holiday, firstly, we had lovely weather even though weather forcast was lousy.
Arriving about 4pm we unpacked and had a good walk around area (we were not far from Covent garden and Oxford Street. went out for dinner.
On saturday hubby went off to see Tour De France (one of reasons for us coming) I not being a cycle lover went off to Harrod's.
We had to go by taxi as all roads were closed this set us back £25!!!

Anyway, I loved mooching around Harrod's thought it is a tad expensive for my budget, bought some presents for friends and an apple which cost me £1.50 ....

Anyway, decided to walk back went through throngs in hyde park came out near the Mall, jumped on a bus and got absolutely lost..

Finally, got off somewhere in Camden (Bus driver could not understand me and was as much use as an udder on a bull!!!)
Walked for about 1 hour finally managed to flag a taxi and went back to flat about 6pm. Still i like looking at out of way places that i might not normally see, so getting lost can have its advantages.

Up early next day (Sunday) took underground (which is very clean and easy to use) going to Tower of London. After buying our tickets, decided because it was a lovely day to go on a boat cruise 1st up the Thames, it was lovely the sights the fresh air, we also had a cockney boat hand who was very funny in his narration (not sure other nationalities got his humour as it was very british!!).

Absolutely recommend a boat trip. Next Tower of London, as we had been before it was not as exiting, but still great, though not as much to see as I remembered.

Foot sore after about 3 hours at tower, stopped for bite of lunch and got tube back to our flat area. Even though I was very tired (Bad arthritis) you find energy as there is so much to see.

We spent the afternoon around Convent Garden which was fantasitic, the sun was shining, street entertainers were out and very good to, lots of stalls, and some great shops, lovely to walk around and soak up as loads going on.

Stopped for an 'English' sunday roast, needless to say its not what a proper English roast dinner is really like, but it was ok, though i think the polish chef had put garlic in the gravy!!

Back to flat about 7 pm, shattered.

Monday and Tuesday were Museum days, we covered Albert & Victoria/Natural History & British Museum. Whilst in areas we also looked at surrounding areas for shops and places for lunch etc.
The British Museum was IMHO the best as it has absolutely loads to see, so one can spend a full day here. The others were good, just not as good for me.

Wednesday, Spent Morning at St. Pauls Cathedral, which was beautiful and very informative, a lovely sense of history.

Had lunch and walked over bridge to go on the London Eye, the queues move very quickly and whoa you're on a giant pod, its great to see out over London, this was again, a fun ride.
On Wednesday Evening we had tickets booked to see 'Connie Fisher' in The Sound of Music at the Palladium. She was the winner of a tv contest to find a new 'Maria' anyway, the show is absolutely fantastic, if i lived in London, i would def go back again, and though Connie was excellent the actress who played the Mother Superior (sorry do not know her name) was fantastic, what a voice, when she sang climb every mountain, i could feel my spine tingle and the hairs on back of my neck raise. A must see show.

Coming out of theatre could not get a taxi, so jumped on a rik saw (yes, they are about a lot in evenings) this was a great ride back to our flat, in the open air through the streets of London, costing us £12 plus tip about same as taxi, though more fun.

Thursday, Morning spent at the Churchill War museum as hubby very interested in things like this. I thoughly enjoyed it too, seeing the underground bunkers from were Churchill and the war office ran operations.

After lunch from 2pm we walked up towards the Mall through Regent street, past Downing street and also managed to catch Changing of the Guard at back of horseguard barracks.
will continue of another thread

thanks so much!

AnnRiley - What bad luck on the flat you rented and I hope you get some sort of compensation for it being grubby from the rental agency. You certainly should not have to clean the bathroom at the start of your holiday.

Glad you enjoyed your stay and nice to see a report from some one who lives in Wirral, UK.

To find part 2 of AnnRiley's report click on her name - it is on a separate post.

Thanks again for sharing.

Sandy

Too late now, but it would have been better to add Part Two right here as a response to your own original post, then the two sections would be kept together.

This is very interesting, especially since it is from the perspective of someone in the UK. As a side to another rather popular post, I'm curious if as a UK resident you found things generally to be more expensive than in your own town. Like would you normally expect to have to pay 25 pounds for a taxi ride of the same length in Liverpool? Would your Sunday roast lunch and other meals be about the same price in a similar place at home?

Great report!

I'm posting your 2nd post here so the report doesn't get separated.

Author: AnnRiley
Date: 07/15/2007, 10:11 am
Sorry to waffle and i hope i have'nt bored you too much.

But we then walked up Bond street area past some VERY expensive shops, stoped at a lovely bar/restaurant called Bonds? and had a lovely lunch. Went up towards Oxford Street to see Selfridges etc.

Arrived back at flat 7.30 ish again shattered, but what a city, we have only done the tip of the iceberg as there is so much to see.

We left flat 10 am to get our train home to Liverpool Lime street.

We had a fantastic time in London, and will definately be going back. This is my very first holiday report so please excuse if its not up to the standard of seasoned travel reviews, I just wanted to give you a feel of my holiday.

Neopatrick,
Sorry about my links still learning. We found things to bit a bit more expensive about 15%, but not drastically in pubs/restaurants. The trick is to be careful where you eat regarding price, It can be VERY expensive in some of the 'posher' places. And the prices in shops such as Harrods and Selfridges etc were so overpriced i nearly had a heart attack!!! We have some Dept stores of the same ilk in my home town, which charge a fraction of what the London stores were asking... you do pay for the name some times.
The taxi was expensive because it was the Tour de France and every road seemed to be conjested and/or closed off, and seeing as you are on a meter,
it soon adds up.

We paid £8.87 p.p. for the Roast dinner (1 course only) in a 'pub'. I would expect to pay that for a 2/3 course luncheon in a nicer local country pub near where i live, which by the way is over the water (the river mersey) from Liverpool in a place called The Wirral. We are proud to be from the 'Wirral' but are always referred to as from Liverpool. Its easier now just to say Liverpool as not many people know of the Wirral.

I'm sorry, i am waffling again!!, London was indeed very different from my part of the world, as are most large cities. What i found interesting was its lack of Englishness, there are now so many people from different cultures, that it did not feel very English at all, but this melting pot did not detract at all, in fact i think its part of London's charm, its diversity etc. But we felt just as alien in our own countries capital, as i'm sure people from abroad feel.

I'm no expert (as you've probably gathered!!) but if anyone has any questions about UK or our holiday i will be glad to reply.

That's a shame about the flat. The one time I had problems with them LGS more than made up for it & I hope they'll do the same for you.

Sounds like you had a great time otherwise though. I enjoyed reading it.

Did you contact Danni or Karen about the state of the flat? You should have been provided with their mobile phone numbers.

I agree with you, Ann , the melting pot is probably what makes London different and at the same time appealing. Anyway, I would love to visit places like yours and see what Englishness is really like :)
By the way..Liverpool FC has been always my favourite british team so maybe I had to pay a visit to Anfield Road ;)

sorry, I meant "I have to pay a visit " , I've never been there yet :)

I enjoyed your report. Lots of useful info and interesting details.

Janisj, thanks for bringing the separate posts under one roof!

Carrybean,
Never heard of Danni or Karen, sent my complaint to Tim the guy i booked it with, he hails from California. Have no phone No's either.

Thanks to everyone its nice you enjoyed my report its hard to put down all the things you see and do.

Kenderina, I don't know what makes my part of UK feel 'English' it just has that feel, it's a small area as i said across the River from Liverpool which feels like a big city to me (loads going on etc)

We are surrounded by a lovely coastline and have some nice little villages its just a nice place to live. Though on other posts i've written there are always some people who like to nit pit and say the Wirral is not that special, each to there own eh..
I think it depends on your perspectives, glass half empty/or half full. I' a positive person and see beauty in a lot of things, and as we know some people are miserable old buggers who see things in a negative way.

On another point, Meols the town i live in is at the centre of a big Archeology find, has the potential (according to the local paper) to be one of the biggest in UK, dating to some pre historic/viking and roman finds.
They may dig up the local pub as a viking ship is believed to buried there.

I need my daily London "fix", but it's quite right that London is not England.
There was a thread entitled "Nice but don't bother" which was amusing because many of the places were where English people like to visit.
For Englishness, you can do worse than visit the SCCs or small cathedral cities, or visit places like East Anglia, rural Cheshire or the Peak District.