A To Z Hotel - Guest House London

... again.. I'm starving..
I had my plan for the day but needed a little transportation help. I went tot he Concierge at the hotel and after 1/2 hr of waiting and briefly speaking tot he concierge.. we determined she had no idea how to get to buckingham Palace (shocking.. I know!-you think that would be a top 5 of things to know in London)
She kept trying to get me to take the tube but I wanted to take the bus.. both because i was nervous about the tube and because I ...

... nice. No choice though, 1st class was sold out. It was miserably hot and there was no AC, except for in the 1st class cabin. The Marrakech Express was much more pleasant in the CSNY song! 4 hours later, we arrived in Casa and it was actually decent weather, being a coastal town and all. Hotel was great but city was kind of a **** hole. Very cosmopolitan, diverse, the business capital of the country, not much to see for tourists ...

... over tea in the cafe overlooking the lake.

The everlasting love of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is commemorated all over London, especially in the area of Hyde Park and Kensington Park. The beautiful Albert Hall is across the street from an imposing gilded memorial to him. Behind the hall, we walked along Prince Consort Road, and ran our fingers over black cast-iron fences ...

... the power converter. I also forgot one of my hair products at home, which was quite tragic. But, no worries, I bought some of it in Greenwich today! So ... mom and I quickly got ready this morning and made it to the Hilton's breakfast. This was by far one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. I am actually warming up to this hotel, as is mom. The rooms are not much to brag about, but they have good food and drinks. I have become ...

... as you can go and the view over London is really good. It was pretty scary going up the stairs though. - we went to the National Portrait Gallery - it's free but we paid to get an audio guide which was good. - we went to the Tate Modern - it's free too. The Portrait Gallery was better. - we went and saw Mama Mia with Lauren. Hi Lauren! It was fun, the singing was better than the movie. Tuesday - we went to Buckingham Palace, it was raining so there was no changing of the guard ...

... started raining on the way though. Luckily, I brought an umbrella in case of such an event, and allowed Amber to use it so that her camera wouldn't get wet. (since mine wasn't working) We climbed hundreds of narrow stone steps around the spiral staircase to the top of the castle. The pictures say it all. It was a beautiful castle, and the rain couldn't spoil it. We both kissed the stone - which was a little weird. I'm not really sure why I did it other than ...

... for 1 month - have a look at http://www.lahesperia.org for details which should give a good idea of where and what I'm doing . I expect to be collecting seeds, planting trees, helping with the nursery and anything that might need doing at the time! For the second month I should be going to Bilsa a humid tropical wet forest reserve in far more remote location, have a look at this link for ...

... on the "loo!" Other than that, it is small and very old and ugly but clean! After a much needed nap, we headed out to explore London in the evening on foot. We took the "tube" to Picadilly Circus which is like a very sized down and less crazy Times Square. From there we tried to walk over to Trafalgar Square but got lost. We did get to see St. James' palace on our detour and ducked into a really fun and crowded cobblestone ...

... of local ale (John Smith). Satisfied with supper, we mosied on our way to the theatre whcih was set to start at 20h00. Celine and Danielle stopped in at a pastry shop to buy some dessert (to be eaten in the theatre after the interval) while Stephane and I found our seats and visited the loo.

The show itself was first rate! A 15-piece band filled centre stage back (2 Tpts, 2 Tmb, 1 ...

... walk alongside the Thames and finally the London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. After coming home, we (er, Yvonne) cooked up a nice pasta dish for our hosts, sat around and chatted and finally retired for the night. (May 5) After learning our lesson the previous day, we set up an alarm clock and were up at 7:45 sharp...actually, 8:30 after we decided that we couldn't get up right away. We watched the changing of the horse guard, then walked ...