Three November trips - London, London and Stuttgart - Part 2 - football, art and macca
Dec 12th, 2006, 04:32 AM
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Three November trips - London, London and Stuttgart - Part 2 - football, art and macca
The second trip of November was with my DH. The real purpose of this visit was to see Arsenal play Hamburg in the Champions League. This trip was arranged in a hurry because the tickets came up unexpectedly, but we still managed to book cheap Ryanair flights and we got one night's accommodation in the Premier Travel Inn in London County Hall for £99.
Once again we did the online check-in from home with Ryanair so that saved us a bit of time and queueing in Dublin Airport. Our flight was fine and we arrived at our hotel by 12.00pm midday and checked in. Our hotel room was a large family room which was fine, but we could only get a smoking room and the smell was lingering a bit. However we left the window open while we were out so it wasn't too bad by the time we returned. I would definitely stay here again - the staff were friendly, the room was large and spotless and the location was perfect.
We decided to walk to Trafalgar Square - a pleasant 20 minute stroll from our hotel which took us by the London Eye, and over the Thames (great views of the Houses of Parliament) on a pedestrian bridge. Even though we hadn't booked it in advance I was very keen to see the Velasquez exhibition in the National Gallery. Alas! By the time we arrived there it was sold out for the day, but we were told that if we arrived early the next morning (the gallery opens at 10.00am) we should get in.
Lunch was the next thing on the agenda - by that stage we were so starving that we just stumbled into a branch of Spaghetti House - it was okay - nothing to write home about but reasonable and it hit the spot at the time.
We had a bit of time to kill so we decided to go back to the National Gallery - DH had never been there before and was fascinated. For those who have never been there before I'd recommend a visit to their multimedia centre called ArtStart - beside the Espresso bar. From there you can plan your visit around your favourite paintings - and they'll even print out a guided tour for you so that you won't get lost trying to find them.
After a couple of hours with the paintings, DH was getting jittery - after all it was "only" 3 hours to kickoff and we needed to get to the Emirates Stadium early. I know there aren't too many football/soccer fans on this board so I'll just say that the Arsenal's new stadium is fab and that DH spent far to much money in the souvenir shop. Oh and Arsenal won 2-1 - so we went back to the hotel happy.
The next morning we decided against breakfast in the hotel, so we checked out and went to a Starbucks across the road instead. From there we walked back to the National Gallery, arriving at 9.45am (for the 10.00am opening) to find that we were first in the queue! For those art lovers planning a trip to London before the end of January, please don't think of missing the Velasquez exhibition. It's just wonderful and I was enchanted.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, DH decided that he wished to visit the Virgin Megastore in Picadilly to check out their heavy metal albums. When we arrived there we discovered a huge queue outside - Paul McCartney was doing a signing there. So we went in the Regent Street entrance - where as luck would have it, the heavy metal albums were located. Unfortunately, I left a happy DH rummaging through cd's and did some window shopping in Regent Street. I returned to meet a gleeful husband who told me that Paul McCartney entered the Megastore not through the main entrance - where he was expected - but through the entrance that we had used. No staff were around so the first person he met was my DH, who got to say hello and shake his hand. Unbelieveable - I'm still kicking myself.
Still cursing my luck we found another Italian place for lunch and then made our way back via tube and train to Stansted.
Security in Stansted is curious. We had checked in online and had hand luggage only with us which they checked meticulously - we had our toiletries in a clear plastic bag so there was no problem there. They also x-ray your shoes. Yet at no point did anyone look at our passports - not once. Bizarre.
Still, we got back to Dublin safely - I'm still grumpy about missing Macca though!
Once again we did the online check-in from home with Ryanair so that saved us a bit of time and queueing in Dublin Airport. Our flight was fine and we arrived at our hotel by 12.00pm midday and checked in. Our hotel room was a large family room which was fine, but we could only get a smoking room and the smell was lingering a bit. However we left the window open while we were out so it wasn't too bad by the time we returned. I would definitely stay here again - the staff were friendly, the room was large and spotless and the location was perfect.
We decided to walk to Trafalgar Square - a pleasant 20 minute stroll from our hotel which took us by the London Eye, and over the Thames (great views of the Houses of Parliament) on a pedestrian bridge. Even though we hadn't booked it in advance I was very keen to see the Velasquez exhibition in the National Gallery. Alas! By the time we arrived there it was sold out for the day, but we were told that if we arrived early the next morning (the gallery opens at 10.00am) we should get in.
Lunch was the next thing on the agenda - by that stage we were so starving that we just stumbled into a branch of Spaghetti House - it was okay - nothing to write home about but reasonable and it hit the spot at the time.
We had a bit of time to kill so we decided to go back to the National Gallery - DH had never been there before and was fascinated. For those who have never been there before I'd recommend a visit to their multimedia centre called ArtStart - beside the Espresso bar. From there you can plan your visit around your favourite paintings - and they'll even print out a guided tour for you so that you won't get lost trying to find them.
After a couple of hours with the paintings, DH was getting jittery - after all it was "only" 3 hours to kickoff and we needed to get to the Emirates Stadium early. I know there aren't too many football/soccer fans on this board so I'll just say that the Arsenal's new stadium is fab and that DH spent far to much money in the souvenir shop. Oh and Arsenal won 2-1 - so we went back to the hotel happy.
The next morning we decided against breakfast in the hotel, so we checked out and went to a Starbucks across the road instead. From there we walked back to the National Gallery, arriving at 9.45am (for the 10.00am opening) to find that we were first in the queue! For those art lovers planning a trip to London before the end of January, please don't think of missing the Velasquez exhibition. It's just wonderful and I was enchanted.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, DH decided that he wished to visit the Virgin Megastore in Picadilly to check out their heavy metal albums. When we arrived there we discovered a huge queue outside - Paul McCartney was doing a signing there. So we went in the Regent Street entrance - where as luck would have it, the heavy metal albums were located. Unfortunately, I left a happy DH rummaging through cd's and did some window shopping in Regent Street. I returned to meet a gleeful husband who told me that Paul McCartney entered the Megastore not through the main entrance - where he was expected - but through the entrance that we had used. No staff were around so the first person he met was my DH, who got to say hello and shake his hand. Unbelieveable - I'm still kicking myself.
Still cursing my luck we found another Italian place for lunch and then made our way back via tube and train to Stansted.
Security in Stansted is curious. We had checked in online and had hand luggage only with us which they checked meticulously - we had our toiletries in a clear plastic bag so there was no problem there. They also x-ray your shoes. Yet at no point did anyone look at our passports - not once. Bizarre.
Still, we got back to Dublin safely - I'm still grumpy about missing Macca though!
Dec 12th, 2006, 04:47 AM
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I know there aren't too many football/soccer fans on this board so I'll just say that the Arsenal's new stadium is fab >>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;
It's being referred to by fans of North London's only Premiership club as "the cradle of filth". I was there a couple of weeks ago and there were empty seats for the derby match! For shame.
It's being referred to by fans of North London's only Premiership club as "the cradle of filth". I was there a couple of weeks ago and there were empty seats for the derby match! For shame.
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