London Trip Report
Oct 27th, 2007 | 08:16 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
London Trip Report
A belated report-and thanks to all who answered my and others' questions while planning.
We flew Virgin from Chicago to Heathrow, coach, but the entertainment and food were better than other airlines. The trip over was totally full and cramped. On the way home it was empty, and each of us got a full 3 seats, I moved up to the exit row(both flights were on Wednesday).
Normally, Virgin charges extra for exit row seats,so we were thrilled we reserved the seats on row back and asked to move once the plane was boarded.
(for those of you into wardrobe questions, I wore black knit pants, a tshirt and my suede Michael Kors jacket fronm Goodwill, and a pair of Naot clogs that I came to adore during the trip).
It took nearly 3 hours to get from the plane to the passport desk, and our car from justairports wasn't waiting when we fnally escaped. We took the tube, which was ridiculously easy, after stopping at the Heathrow station to pick up my daughter's student oyster card (half price fares!!) and my oyster. Again, absurdly easy-just ask for a 7 day travelcard to be put on the oyster, no more deposit, and the fare required to get from the airport to zones 1 and 2.
The less said about our flat the better, but it's still the best way to stay. The grocery stores in London are amazing-everything organic,locally sourced-you can buy milk from the county of your choice to support your local farmer, and a week's worth of breakfast and snacks for the price of one restaurant breakfast.
Theatre roundup:
"In Celebration" We saw this on its last day, and waited outside before and after so my daughter could see Orlando Bloom. It was madness, but she scored an autograph, which wasn't easy with about 200 people fighting for one. The play was boring.
"Boeing, Boeing" A cute farce, not a big flashy musical, but very entertaining, a pleasant night at the theatre. Rhea Perlman played the housekeeper, a part that should steal the show, but she was just Carla from Cheers.
"Spamalot" was hilarious. It's a long-running, sort of "Disneyfied" play, but we hadn't seen it before and were in need of some laughs. The fact that it makes fun of musical theatre and laughs at itself makes it feel fresh.
"All About My Mother" with Diana Rigg was amazing, everything theatre should be-I laughed, I cried, I was glad I didn't bring my daughter. It was flawlessly performed and really moving. See it if you can. (it's very R rated. In London, "over 15" is the equivalent of an R rating).
"Awake and Sing" with Stockard Channing is at the Almeida, in Islington, tough to get to but a really fun, trendy and vibrant neighborhood. We ate at Almeida, across the street from the theater, which is an amazing French rstaurant with incredibly attentive
service (bordering on the obsequious). I'm still salivating over a Scottish scallop starter.
The play was well done, and I know we're meant to see Clifford Odets as a playwrighting God, but I agree with the Time Out reviewer that it's a little dated, and I felt the actors were a little restricted and stereotyped.
"Macbeth" Patrick Stewart stars in this production by the man sometimes called "the Quentin Tarantino" of the stage, known for his bloodiness. The story is set in a Stalinesque bunker, with very stark sets and jarring sound effects. It is absolutely brilliant. The weird sisters are hospital sisters-nurses-at times, and chilling(I overheard someone expressing my feeling-when the lights are down and you see the three white headresses on stage you think, "oh, sh__"
.
LAdy Macbeth is a young trophy wife, who you actually sympathize with a bit. Without giving too much away, I'll say, as a huge Shakespeare geek, that I believe this production will be the standard by which future
Macbeths will be judged. It is incredibly real and alive.
We did do other things than theatre. We visited the V&A museum for the first time, and my daughter sat in on an excellent Art History course. The free tour I took was excellent, but it really depends on your guide-the second one I tried was dull as dirt and we ducked out. It was Fashion Week in London, and the previous night had been a big gala-the newspaper was full of drunk Kate Moss pictured for days.
I must confess we were a little underwhelmed by the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British Museum. It is really a small exhibit for the large amount of fuss it takes to see it. Maybe it was because we had seen some of the sculptures here in the states a few years ago. Maybe it was just museum fatigue, and all the men who think if a bag is over their shoulder it takes up no space so they keep bopping you with it.
We went to Kensington Palace, which was lovely, and all Diana-centered at the moment. We had tea at The Orangerie-don't.
The Cabinet War Rooms were fascinating-my teenager the history freak loved it, and the Churchill Museum is state of the art.
Her favorite place in London is the Tower-just the history and the
beauty of the stone and the view. We went back to get pictures of Tower Bridge after losing our memory card. Both times-the first was a Sunday afternoon-there was no line and no reason to stress about getting tickets. Many boat tours leave from the dock there, and it's easy to access from both the bus and the tube.
We took two London Walks (www.walks.com) and both were excellent. One was the Da Vinci Code tour, the other a history of the churches in the City. We did a sightseeing bus tour and just rode round the city on the top, cathching a gorgeous sunset behind Big Ben. We hopped on at Marble Arch. We had weather grace, and only got rained on twice in 2 weeks; they're having a record-breaking beautiful fall after a record breaking "rubbish summer".
We also did a "gastrotour" walking tour of the Portobello market area(www.celiabrooksbrown.com) and ate at Books for Cooks.
We took a train to Bath and spent one day celebrating the Jane Austen Festival and the other on a Mad Max tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock Village and Castle Combe. The tours leave from Bath and are a great deal and a very full day.
I will wrap up this already overlong report. I'd be happy to answer any questions based on my experience, though I'm no expert. Everyone here has been so generous with their suggestions; I just wanted ti thank you all by haring what was a wonderful trip.
TTFN
We flew Virgin from Chicago to Heathrow, coach, but the entertainment and food were better than other airlines. The trip over was totally full and cramped. On the way home it was empty, and each of us got a full 3 seats, I moved up to the exit row(both flights were on Wednesday).
Normally, Virgin charges extra for exit row seats,so we were thrilled we reserved the seats on row back and asked to move once the plane was boarded.
(for those of you into wardrobe questions, I wore black knit pants, a tshirt and my suede Michael Kors jacket fronm Goodwill, and a pair of Naot clogs that I came to adore during the trip).
It took nearly 3 hours to get from the plane to the passport desk, and our car from justairports wasn't waiting when we fnally escaped. We took the tube, which was ridiculously easy, after stopping at the Heathrow station to pick up my daughter's student oyster card (half price fares!!) and my oyster. Again, absurdly easy-just ask for a 7 day travelcard to be put on the oyster, no more deposit, and the fare required to get from the airport to zones 1 and 2.
The less said about our flat the better, but it's still the best way to stay. The grocery stores in London are amazing-everything organic,locally sourced-you can buy milk from the county of your choice to support your local farmer, and a week's worth of breakfast and snacks for the price of one restaurant breakfast.
Theatre roundup:
"In Celebration" We saw this on its last day, and waited outside before and after so my daughter could see Orlando Bloom. It was madness, but she scored an autograph, which wasn't easy with about 200 people fighting for one. The play was boring.
"Boeing, Boeing" A cute farce, not a big flashy musical, but very entertaining, a pleasant night at the theatre. Rhea Perlman played the housekeeper, a part that should steal the show, but she was just Carla from Cheers.
"Spamalot" was hilarious. It's a long-running, sort of "Disneyfied" play, but we hadn't seen it before and were in need of some laughs. The fact that it makes fun of musical theatre and laughs at itself makes it feel fresh.
"All About My Mother" with Diana Rigg was amazing, everything theatre should be-I laughed, I cried, I was glad I didn't bring my daughter. It was flawlessly performed and really moving. See it if you can. (it's very R rated. In London, "over 15" is the equivalent of an R rating).
"Awake and Sing" with Stockard Channing is at the Almeida, in Islington, tough to get to but a really fun, trendy and vibrant neighborhood. We ate at Almeida, across the street from the theater, which is an amazing French rstaurant with incredibly attentive
service (bordering on the obsequious). I'm still salivating over a Scottish scallop starter.
The play was well done, and I know we're meant to see Clifford Odets as a playwrighting God, but I agree with the Time Out reviewer that it's a little dated, and I felt the actors were a little restricted and stereotyped.
"Macbeth" Patrick Stewart stars in this production by the man sometimes called "the Quentin Tarantino" of the stage, known for his bloodiness. The story is set in a Stalinesque bunker, with very stark sets and jarring sound effects. It is absolutely brilliant. The weird sisters are hospital sisters-nurses-at times, and chilling(I overheard someone expressing my feeling-when the lights are down and you see the three white headresses on stage you think, "oh, sh__"
.LAdy Macbeth is a young trophy wife, who you actually sympathize with a bit. Without giving too much away, I'll say, as a huge Shakespeare geek, that I believe this production will be the standard by which future
Macbeths will be judged. It is incredibly real and alive.
We did do other things than theatre. We visited the V&A museum for the first time, and my daughter sat in on an excellent Art History course. The free tour I took was excellent, but it really depends on your guide-the second one I tried was dull as dirt and we ducked out. It was Fashion Week in London, and the previous night had been a big gala-the newspaper was full of drunk Kate Moss pictured for days.
I must confess we were a little underwhelmed by the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British Museum. It is really a small exhibit for the large amount of fuss it takes to see it. Maybe it was because we had seen some of the sculptures here in the states a few years ago. Maybe it was just museum fatigue, and all the men who think if a bag is over their shoulder it takes up no space so they keep bopping you with it.
We went to Kensington Palace, which was lovely, and all Diana-centered at the moment. We had tea at The Orangerie-don't.
The Cabinet War Rooms were fascinating-my teenager the history freak loved it, and the Churchill Museum is state of the art.
Her favorite place in London is the Tower-just the history and the
beauty of the stone and the view. We went back to get pictures of Tower Bridge after losing our memory card. Both times-the first was a Sunday afternoon-there was no line and no reason to stress about getting tickets. Many boat tours leave from the dock there, and it's easy to access from both the bus and the tube.
We took two London Walks (www.walks.com) and both were excellent. One was the Da Vinci Code tour, the other a history of the churches in the City. We did a sightseeing bus tour and just rode round the city on the top, cathching a gorgeous sunset behind Big Ben. We hopped on at Marble Arch. We had weather grace, and only got rained on twice in 2 weeks; they're having a record-breaking beautiful fall after a record breaking "rubbish summer".
We also did a "gastrotour" walking tour of the Portobello market area(www.celiabrooksbrown.com) and ate at Books for Cooks.
We took a train to Bath and spent one day celebrating the Jane Austen Festival and the other on a Mad Max tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock Village and Castle Combe. The tours leave from Bath and are a great deal and a very full day.
I will wrap up this already overlong report. I'd be happy to answer any questions based on my experience, though I'm no expert. Everyone here has been so generous with their suggestions; I just wanted ti thank you all by haring what was a wonderful trip.
TTFN
Oct 27th, 2007 | 08:29 AM
#2
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 75,054
Likes: 50
nice report - thanks.
I've taken the initiative to re-post it w/ paragraph breaks so others might have an easier time reading it.
______________________________________________
A belated report-and thanks to all who answered my and others' questions while planning.
We flew Virgin from Chicago to Heathrow, coach, but the entertainment and food were better than other airlines. The trip over was totally full and cramped. On the way home it was empty, and each of us got a full 3 seats, I moved up to the exit row(both flights were on Wednesday).
Normally, Virgin charges extra for exit row seats,so we were thrilled we reserved the seats on row back and asked to move once the plane was boarded.
(for those of you into wardrobe questions, I wore black knit pants, a tshirt and my suede Michael Kors jacket fronm Goodwill, and a pair of Naot clogs that I came to adore during the trip).
It took nearly 3 hours to get from the plane to the passport desk, and our car from justairports wasn't waiting when we fnally escaped. We took the tube, which was ridiculously easy, after stopping at the Heathrow station to pick up my daughter's student oyster card (half price fares!!) and my oyster. Again, absurdly easy-just ask for a 7 day travelcard to be put on the oyster, no more deposit, and the fare required to get from the airport to zones 1 and 2.
The less said about our flat the better, but it's still the best way to stay. The grocery stores in London are amazing-everything organic,locally sourced-you can buy milk from the county of your choice to support your local farmer, and a week's worth of breakfast and snacks for the price of one restaurant breakfast.
<b>Theatre roundup:</b>
"In Celebration" We saw this on its last day, and waited outside before and after so my daughter could see Orlando Bloom. It was madness, but she scored an autograph, which wasn't easy with about 200 people fighting for one. The play was boring.
"Boeing, Boeing" A cute farce, not a big flashy musical, but very entertaining, a pleasant night at the theatre. Rhea Perlman played the housekeeper, a part that should steal the show, but she was just Carla from Cheers.
"Spamalot" was hilarious. It's a long-running, sort of "Disneyfied" play, but we hadn't seen it before and were in need of some laughs. The fact that it makes fun of musical theatre and laughs at itself makes it feel fresh.
"All About My Mother" with Diana Rigg was amazing, everything theatre should be-I laughed, I cried, I was glad I didn't bring my daughter. It was flawlessly performed and really moving. See it if you can. (it's very R rated. In London, "over 15" is the equivalent of an R rating).
"Awake and Sing" with Stockard Channing is at the Almeida, in Islington, tough to get to but a really fun, trendy and vibrant neighborhood. We ate at Almeida, across the street from the theater, which is an amazing French rstaurant with incredibly attentive
service (bordering on the obsequious). I'm still salivating over a Scottish scallop starter. The play was well done, and I know we're meant to see Clifford Odets as a playwrighting God, but I agree with the Time Out reviewer that it's a little dated, and I felt the actors were a little restricted and stereotyped.
"Macbeth" Patrick Stewart stars in this production by the man sometimes called "the Quentin Tarantino" of the stage, known for his bloodiness. The story is set in a Stalinesque bunker, with very stark sets and jarring sound effects. It is absolutely brilliant. The weird sisters are hospital sisters-nurses-at times, and chilling(I overheard someone expressing my feeling-when the lights are down and you see the three white headresses on stage you think, "oh, sh__". LAdy Macbeth is a young trophy wife, who you actually sympathize with a bit. Without giving too much away, I'll say, as a huge Shakespeare geek, that I believe this production will be the standard by which future Macbeths will be judged. It is incredibly real and alive.
We did do other things than theatre. We visited the V&A museum for the first time, and my daughter sat in on an excellent Art History course. The free tour I took was excellent, but it really depends on your guide-the second one I tried was dull as dirt and we ducked out. It was Fashion Week in London, and the previous night had been a big gala-the newspaper was full of drunk Kate Moss pictured for days.
I must confess we were a little underwhelmed by the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British Museum. It is really a small exhibit for the large amount of fuss it takes to see it. Maybe it was because we had seen some of the sculptures here in the states a few years ago. Maybe it was just museum fatigue, and all the men who think if a bag is over their shoulder it takes up no space so they keep bopping you with it.
We went to Kensington Palace, which was lovely, and all Diana-centered at the moment. We had tea at The Orangerie-don't.
The Cabinet War Rooms were fascinating-my teenager the history freak loved it, and the Churchill Museum is state of the art.
Her favorite place in London is the Tower-just the history and the
beauty of the stone and the view. We went back to get pictures of Tower Bridge after losing our memory card. Both times-the first was a Sunday afternoon-there was no line and no reason to stress about getting tickets. Many boat tours leave from the dock there, and it's easy to access from both the bus and the tube.
We took two London Walks (www.walks.com) and both were excellent. One was the Da Vinci Code tour, the other a history of the churches in the City. We did a sightseeing bus tour and just rode round the city on the top, cathching a gorgeous sunset behind Big Ben. We hopped on at Marble Arch. We had weather grace, and only got rained on twice in 2 weeks; they're having a record-breaking beautiful fall after a record breaking "rubbish summer".
We also did a "gastrotour" walking tour of the Portobello market area(www.celiabrooksbrown.com) and ate at Books for Cooks.
We took a train to Bath and spent one day celebrating the Jane Austen Festival and the other on a Mad Max tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock Village and Castle Combe. The tours leave from Bath and are a great deal and a very full day.
I will wrap up this already overlong report. I'd be happy to answer any questions based on my experience, though I'm no expert. Everyone here has been so generous with their suggestions; I just wanted ti thank you all by haring what was a wonderful trip.
TTFN
I've taken the initiative to re-post it w/ paragraph breaks so others might have an easier time reading it.
______________________________________________
A belated report-and thanks to all who answered my and others' questions while planning.
We flew Virgin from Chicago to Heathrow, coach, but the entertainment and food were better than other airlines. The trip over was totally full and cramped. On the way home it was empty, and each of us got a full 3 seats, I moved up to the exit row(both flights were on Wednesday).
Normally, Virgin charges extra for exit row seats,so we were thrilled we reserved the seats on row back and asked to move once the plane was boarded.
(for those of you into wardrobe questions, I wore black knit pants, a tshirt and my suede Michael Kors jacket fronm Goodwill, and a pair of Naot clogs that I came to adore during the trip).
It took nearly 3 hours to get from the plane to the passport desk, and our car from justairports wasn't waiting when we fnally escaped. We took the tube, which was ridiculously easy, after stopping at the Heathrow station to pick up my daughter's student oyster card (half price fares!!) and my oyster. Again, absurdly easy-just ask for a 7 day travelcard to be put on the oyster, no more deposit, and the fare required to get from the airport to zones 1 and 2.
The less said about our flat the better, but it's still the best way to stay. The grocery stores in London are amazing-everything organic,locally sourced-you can buy milk from the county of your choice to support your local farmer, and a week's worth of breakfast and snacks for the price of one restaurant breakfast.
<b>Theatre roundup:</b>
"In Celebration" We saw this on its last day, and waited outside before and after so my daughter could see Orlando Bloom. It was madness, but she scored an autograph, which wasn't easy with about 200 people fighting for one. The play was boring.
"Boeing, Boeing" A cute farce, not a big flashy musical, but very entertaining, a pleasant night at the theatre. Rhea Perlman played the housekeeper, a part that should steal the show, but she was just Carla from Cheers.
"Spamalot" was hilarious. It's a long-running, sort of "Disneyfied" play, but we hadn't seen it before and were in need of some laughs. The fact that it makes fun of musical theatre and laughs at itself makes it feel fresh.
"All About My Mother" with Diana Rigg was amazing, everything theatre should be-I laughed, I cried, I was glad I didn't bring my daughter. It was flawlessly performed and really moving. See it if you can. (it's very R rated. In London, "over 15" is the equivalent of an R rating).
"Awake and Sing" with Stockard Channing is at the Almeida, in Islington, tough to get to but a really fun, trendy and vibrant neighborhood. We ate at Almeida, across the street from the theater, which is an amazing French rstaurant with incredibly attentive
service (bordering on the obsequious). I'm still salivating over a Scottish scallop starter. The play was well done, and I know we're meant to see Clifford Odets as a playwrighting God, but I agree with the Time Out reviewer that it's a little dated, and I felt the actors were a little restricted and stereotyped.
"Macbeth" Patrick Stewart stars in this production by the man sometimes called "the Quentin Tarantino" of the stage, known for his bloodiness. The story is set in a Stalinesque bunker, with very stark sets and jarring sound effects. It is absolutely brilliant. The weird sisters are hospital sisters-nurses-at times, and chilling(I overheard someone expressing my feeling-when the lights are down and you see the three white headresses on stage you think, "oh, sh__"
. LAdy Macbeth is a young trophy wife, who you actually sympathize with a bit. Without giving too much away, I'll say, as a huge Shakespeare geek, that I believe this production will be the standard by which future Macbeths will be judged. It is incredibly real and alive.We did do other things than theatre. We visited the V&A museum for the first time, and my daughter sat in on an excellent Art History course. The free tour I took was excellent, but it really depends on your guide-the second one I tried was dull as dirt and we ducked out. It was Fashion Week in London, and the previous night had been a big gala-the newspaper was full of drunk Kate Moss pictured for days.
I must confess we were a little underwhelmed by the Terracotta Army exhibit at the British Museum. It is really a small exhibit for the large amount of fuss it takes to see it. Maybe it was because we had seen some of the sculptures here in the states a few years ago. Maybe it was just museum fatigue, and all the men who think if a bag is over their shoulder it takes up no space so they keep bopping you with it.
We went to Kensington Palace, which was lovely, and all Diana-centered at the moment. We had tea at The Orangerie-don't.
The Cabinet War Rooms were fascinating-my teenager the history freak loved it, and the Churchill Museum is state of the art.
Her favorite place in London is the Tower-just the history and the
beauty of the stone and the view. We went back to get pictures of Tower Bridge after losing our memory card. Both times-the first was a Sunday afternoon-there was no line and no reason to stress about getting tickets. Many boat tours leave from the dock there, and it's easy to access from both the bus and the tube.
We took two London Walks (www.walks.com) and both were excellent. One was the Da Vinci Code tour, the other a history of the churches in the City. We did a sightseeing bus tour and just rode round the city on the top, cathching a gorgeous sunset behind Big Ben. We hopped on at Marble Arch. We had weather grace, and only got rained on twice in 2 weeks; they're having a record-breaking beautiful fall after a record breaking "rubbish summer".
We also did a "gastrotour" walking tour of the Portobello market area(www.celiabrooksbrown.com) and ate at Books for Cooks.
We took a train to Bath and spent one day celebrating the Jane Austen Festival and the other on a Mad Max tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock Village and Castle Combe. The tours leave from Bath and are a great deal and a very full day.
I will wrap up this already overlong report. I'd be happy to answer any questions based on my experience, though I'm no expert. Everyone here has been so generous with their suggestions; I just wanted ti thank you all by haring what was a wonderful trip.
TTFN
Oct 27th, 2007 | 10:07 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 27,069
Likes: 0
Hi Susan-
Thanks for posting! I'm glad you had a good trip and that your daughter managed to get Orlando Bloom's autograph! Sorry to hear that the Terracotta soldiers exhibit wasn't great - I guess all the hype about it brought on too high of an expectation?
Anyway, sounds like a great trip.
Thanks for posting! I'm glad you had a good trip and that your daughter managed to get Orlando Bloom's autograph! Sorry to hear that the Terracotta soldiers exhibit wasn't great - I guess all the hype about it brought on too high of an expectation?
Anyway, sounds like a great trip.
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Oct 27th, 2007 | 11:37 AM
#8
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 981
Likes: 0
Susan, Great report! Thanks for the theater reviews, I really enjoyed them. And yes, the tube IS ridiculously easy to us from LHR to London. We did it last fall and it was a breeze - especially if you have a normal amount of luggage with you and don't feel the need to bring everything you own on vacation! Sounds like you and your daughter had a fabulous time, thanks for posting your report.
Oct 27th, 2007 | 01:09 PM
#9
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
I meant to add a note about booking theatre tickets!!
"In Celebration" I called the box office from home and a charming staff member helped me find the best seats from a number aof performances. "Awake and Sing" I bought online from the Almeida theater site.
Everything else I did the night before or morning of, online.
I used:
broadwaybox.com
Theatremania.com
LondonTown.com
lastminute.com
and shopped for the best discount. This was not as time consuming as it sounds, and we had wireless internet access in our flat. The tickets were waiting at the theater when I arrived.
There is no excuse for paying full price at a long-running show like Spamalot-the ushers themselves were directing people to the half price booth in Leicester Square. Be aware that googling discount tickets will pop up all sorts of sites that are actually selling at premium(ridiculoussly expensive) prices. You're always better off going to the box office instead.
"In Celebration" I called the box office from home and a charming staff member helped me find the best seats from a number aof performances. "Awake and Sing" I bought online from the Almeida theater site.
Everything else I did the night before or morning of, online.
I used:
broadwaybox.com
Theatremania.com
LondonTown.com
lastminute.com
and shopped for the best discount. This was not as time consuming as it sounds, and we had wireless internet access in our flat. The tickets were waiting at the theater when I arrived.
There is no excuse for paying full price at a long-running show like Spamalot-the ushers themselves were directing people to the half price booth in Leicester Square. Be aware that googling discount tickets will pop up all sorts of sites that are actually selling at premium(ridiculoussly expensive) prices. You're always better off going to the box office instead.
Oct 27th, 2007 | 07:17 PM
#12
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Thanks, SusanSDG, for posting this report, especially the theatre reviews. It sounds like you had a nice long visit to London - 2 weeks? You really made the most of your time there.
How old is your daughter? Both of my girls just love London. I agree with your daughter - the Tower is probably my favorite place in London, but Westminster Abbey is pretty wonderful also.
How old is your daughter? Both of my girls just love London. I agree with your daughter - the Tower is probably my favorite place in London, but Westminster Abbey is pretty wonderful also.
Oct 28th, 2007 | 04:53 AM
#14
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
Thanks for all your response. To answer your questions:
My daughter just turned 18. The last time we were in London, she was 12, and spent two days at the Science Museum. She also loves the Henry VIII stories, and a movie about Lady Jane Grey that made the Tower more meaningful.
The last time we were there, we spent two weeks with a weekend in Ireland, and felt we just scratched the surface of London. This year, I wish we had just stayed a week in the flat in London and travelled the countryside longer. This is partly just because we had some low energy days that made all the walking and craziness of the city a little exhausting, and partly because we weren't as happy with our flat in London.
Nothing(except the sprung mattresses) in the flat was horrible; it's just that I had scoured vrbo.com
for a flat with a real shower that wasn't 4 flights up. When the owners had a flood in one of their properties, they moved us to a different one-an upgrade in terms of bedrooms-that had just a handheld shower spray and, of copurse, was up 4 flights of stairs. It was in Kensington Chelsea, in a beautiful neighborhood, but a mile from the nearest tube station. The last time, we stayed at the Endsleigh Arms, 2 blocks from Euston Station, so I was playing the "shoulda" game too much. We were, however, limited in our schedule and happy to find a place that allowed us to check in any day of the week, rather than Sat or Sunday only. I would just caution anyone to be very aware of how huge London is, and how deceptively close things appear on a map, compared to what they are on foot, when choosing a location. The closer you are to a tube station that is on one of the bigger lines, the better.
My daughter just turned 18. The last time we were in London, she was 12, and spent two days at the Science Museum. She also loves the Henry VIII stories, and a movie about Lady Jane Grey that made the Tower more meaningful.
The last time we were there, we spent two weeks with a weekend in Ireland, and felt we just scratched the surface of London. This year, I wish we had just stayed a week in the flat in London and travelled the countryside longer. This is partly just because we had some low energy days that made all the walking and craziness of the city a little exhausting, and partly because we weren't as happy with our flat in London.
Nothing(except the sprung mattresses) in the flat was horrible; it's just that I had scoured vrbo.com
for a flat with a real shower that wasn't 4 flights up. When the owners had a flood in one of their properties, they moved us to a different one-an upgrade in terms of bedrooms-that had just a handheld shower spray and, of copurse, was up 4 flights of stairs. It was in Kensington Chelsea, in a beautiful neighborhood, but a mile from the nearest tube station. The last time, we stayed at the Endsleigh Arms, 2 blocks from Euston Station, so I was playing the "shoulda" game too much. We were, however, limited in our schedule and happy to find a place that allowed us to check in any day of the week, rather than Sat or Sunday only. I would just caution anyone to be very aware of how huge London is, and how deceptively close things appear on a map, compared to what they are on foot, when choosing a location. The closer you are to a tube station that is on one of the bigger lines, the better.
Oct 28th, 2007 | 05:00 AM
#15
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,585
Likes: 0
I went to the Terracotta Army exhibition and thought that it was excellent.
You could get very close to the warriors and there were other figures like two civil servants and some beautiful bronze birds,
I suppose that if somebody just went to see the warriors, they might have been underwhelmed, but we found the historical stuff fascinating.
It helped that we hired the audio-guide.
You could get very close to the warriors and there were other figures like two civil servants and some beautiful bronze birds,
I suppose that if somebody just went to see the warriors, they might have been underwhelmed, but we found the historical stuff fascinating.
It helped that we hired the audio-guide.
Jan 31st, 2008 | 11:36 AM
#18
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,063
Likes: 0
Hi Susan
I came across one posting that was at the time you visited London - the posters seemed to make one statement then disappear - is there a long line of travellers with problems - I have tried searches using their names and companies but nothing turns up.
BTW over 20 years we too have had many under- and over- whelming flats - I think it is any possible scam that we are afraid of.
thanks
Mark
I came across one posting that was at the time you visited London - the posters seemed to make one statement then disappear - is there a long line of travellers with problems - I have tried searches using their names and companies but nothing turns up.
BTW over 20 years we too have had many under- and over- whelming flats - I think it is any possible scam that we are afraid of.
thanks
Mark
Jan 31st, 2008 | 12:28 PM
#19
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
Mark, I think I saw the one you saw back then. I don't think they are scammers or dishonest. Check your exchange rates, know all your costs up front and go with your gut. I am in Wisconsin and think a park bench in the Bahamas would look good about now.
Jan 31st, 2008 | 01:22 PM
#20
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,063
Likes: 0
Same feeling in the UK - 70 mile an hour winds and rain.
Had a look at Tripadvisor - to be honest they have been very nice to deal with - look as if they have many properties around the world.
I rent out property and have dealt with the public in our businesses since I was 13 years old. After hundreads of thousands of transactions - I have to say some of the general public do deserve to be told to bugger off at times.
Abaco here I come - if there is a hurricane I will be suing God!!
thanks for the information
Mark
Had a look at Tripadvisor - to be honest they have been very nice to deal with - look as if they have many properties around the world.
I rent out property and have dealt with the public in our businesses since I was 13 years old. After hundreads of thousands of transactions - I have to say some of the general public do deserve to be told to bugger off at times.
Abaco here I come - if there is a hurricane I will be suing God!!
thanks for the information
Mark
