Millennium Hotel London

... first leg in a two year stint as team leader for an environmental and social assessment and oversight consultancy for the Millennium Challenge Account in Armenia. I will try to stick to just the personal details, and avoid the company confidential stuff.

... during the Durian season you'll smell it J One of the places that I really looked forward to visiting before we went to London was The Millennium Done. The first time I got aware of it was when I went to see the last James Bond film and he ended up on ...

... even more so meeting up with Ethel and Rick for the first of many dinners out in the pubs of London. Their flat is about a two minute walk from out hotel so being in the neighbourhood certainly makes it a lot easier to meet up, not that it was ...

Our last day in London!  We packed, had breakfast then waited for the driver to take us to Heathrow.  There were no traffic hold ups and we arrived at Heathrow, Terminal 3, in plenty of time.  After checking in we sat in Singapore airlines ...

... pictures outside and then walked across the Millennium Bridge, one of the big public-works projects that London opened in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium. The footbridge bridge had to be closed after only three days, however, because it swayed ...

... 't want to be stuck near the river when the tubes stopped running, it was a hefty distance back to the hotel. Things we learned about London: What I thought was all London was not exactly true. Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the bell ...

... was Windsor, I didn't realize how large it was or how close Heathrow was to it. On our way to our hotel, the Hilton London Metropole Hotel, we went by a few very ornate and beautiful gilded monuments and memorials along the way. Driving through London was ...

... obtrusive presence on the London skyline, but it certainly is unique. We took the tube back to the hotel. I love riding the tube. It is a microcosm of London: crowded, dirty, and full of charm. Dianne wasn’t quite sharing my rose colored impression ...

... Thames, right in front of our nose there was London Eye. Built by British Airways for the (ill-timed) celebration of the millennium (in 1999?!), for a while it was the largest observation wheel in the world. In short order it became a major landmark and ...

... turned around, but we eventually made it. After our church visit, we decided to walk back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner. We walked over the Millennium Bridge to the south bank of the Themes.  We walked along the bank taking in the sights, ...

... very much, as well as the room of Soviet communist propaganda posters.  Interesting stuff! It was well past noon, so we crossed the Millennium Bridge to try to find something to eat on the other side.  It was windy, and the bridge swayed, but I ...

... dinner at Chimes, a pub serving draft ciders and English countryside fare.  After switching back to our planned hotel, we made our way to the London Eye (world’s second largest observation wheel) and looked down at Big Ben from above.  ...

... Needless to say, I was pretty worn out after all that, so after a nice walk back across the Themes on the pedestrian "Millennium (and finally functioning) Bridge", I headed by St. Paul's and hopped on the tube home. Earlier that morning I ran into Jane ...

... Theatre, ducked into the Tate Modern art museum (that used to be Battersea Power Station). We walked partly over the Millennium (pedestrian) Bridge - where it was unbelievably windy - but basically stayed south of the river until we came to ...

... Tower of London and Tower bridge for the afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Tower of London before heading back towards the Hotel. On the way back we walked along Oxford St, the longest shopping street in the world before grabbing some ...

... Changing of the Guards) Kensington Palace Wimbledon Wicked Musical Salisbury Cathedral Stonehenge Bath Ministry of Sound Monument Millennium Walk Tate Modern Wellington Arch Hyde Park Jack the Ripper Tour Dinner with Julian Highlights of ...

... embassy office. A stroll down Whitehall took us past the Ministry of Defense buildings and Downing Street to Westminster Bridge, the Millennium Eye, Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. After all this, the only word to describe how we were feeling ...

... boat tour that gave a different view of the city. Highlights included Westminster, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Eye of London, Millennium bridge (the one that is destroyed in the last Harry Potter film) St. Margaret's Church, and an incredible ...

... the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. We returned to Tower Hill via the Tube to have Dinner in the gardens opposite the Tower of London and met our guide for the Jack the Ripper tour.  A cold and spine chilling evening followed with some good stories and ...

... Millennium Bridge, past the New Globe Theater, getting great views of everything along the Thames. I then walked back to the hotel, calling my parents on my first day in London and Europe. It was probably the easiest time I had falling asleep in my ...