Hilton London Metropole Hotel

So, I made it to England with very little to get me down. By some stroke of luck, the lines at the airport security were accomodating and I managed to snag a window seat on my plane. The down side was my flight neighbor. This little old armenian woman who seemed to be under the impression that washing her hair was just unnecessary at her age, and keeping it up in a greasy wad under a hair net was practically the same. It, um, isn't. The Globus ladies in their little red hats and skirts were t...

Arrive in London We left our nice quiet village in Ireland, and flew back to London. Then we took the tube to our hotel on Edgware Road. The tube station was right across the street from the Hilton Metropole - very convenient! Again, we got a great deal on the price at the Hilton Metropole via Hotwire - about $112/night. Wow - London is expensive Yikes - the weak dollar had a huge impact on the prices in London. It was as if the prices were in Euros, not GBPs. E.g. Breakfast in the morning wo...

London. London London London. I've been wanting to travel here ever since I was a very little girl. My dad traveled here so many times on business when I was growing up so I knew the basics: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and telephone booths. I knew postcard London. So, as one could assume, London is pretty different than I had expected.

Our flight arrived to London Gatwick early in the morning. We took the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, and from there we took a taxi to our hotel. ...

My parents, my sister, and I got up early for a tour. I don't really like being in a big city on a bus full of tourists, but sometimes it is the easiest way to see (I don't mean to be this redundant but...) touristy things.

First, we saw Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey and then the Household Cavalry Museum. There is something about Big Ben that I find really fascinating, but I was bored out of my mind at the museum. We couldn't go in the Westminster Abbey because it was Commonwea...

Fortunately for those reading this... for those who have made it this far through my blog of a so-far typical trip to London... I have no super long summary for our third day in London. This is because we spent the day at Harrods, one of the largest department stores in the world. We ate lunch at the crepe restaurant inside which was delicious. Most of the clothes were pretty pricey, and I didn't have many pounds left so I mostly just looked around. However, I did purchase a couple of snacks ...

Another beautiful day in merry ole England. What a contrast to when we began our trip two weeks ago. We started out with an hour's drive to the magnificent Blenheim Palace, the home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Our tour director, Tricia, said we would be "gobsmacked" and she was right. It is just gorgeous, and people actually live there. They have to open it up to the public, tho, to raise the funds to be able to afford to live there....maybe that'...

After I signed off on Saturday, we decided to explore the Paddington neighborhood of London where our hotel was located. The hotel's concierge recommended a short walk to Regent's Park, gave us a map, and sent us on our way. Many others in our group were headed out to the theatre. We had gone on the theatre outing at the beginning of the trip, so we were on our own; we were kind of glad to have the evening free and to be able to go to bed early since we had to get up so early.

So, we t...

Came off call at 8am and preceded to enjoy a sleep-in before getting up and getting packed to go away. Called into work to update Dave about the cases and then hit the motorway looking forward to a quick trip up. Unfortuantely every man and his dog had the same idea so despite leaving at 1pm by the time I'd dropped the car in Beaconsfield Rd and then made it to the Hilton to catch up with Shaz it was 5.30 - bugger! The Hilton was nice though (thanks to lastminute.com it worked out cheaper tha...

We've arrived safely and are enjoying it immensely. Will update later this evening because i just entered and lost travel entry in cyberspace - darnit. Cheerio for now. Ahhh, London - passport security checkpoints, jet lag, zippy, small euro-cars, rainy weather, lovely old countryside homes, horses and livestock in plush green pastures, multitudes of umbrellas in misty hustle-bustle city, double-decker buses, motorbikes and euro-cabs. Darby was able to sleep on plane a good three hours. Brian...

Neither of us got much sleep, but the flight seemed to go quickly. We caught up with the sun around 1:00 am eastern time (6:00 am GMT) which really made it seem like morning, even though it had only been dark out for a few hours. We were served croissants (which somehow seemed more international to me) at 6:30 am GMT, and we landed at Gatwick at 7:45 am GMT. At this point, I think our tiredness was fended off by our excitement as we quickly made our way through the customs line. A group from ...