Our first day in London is Thursday 20th and we will be here for 6 days. Our hotel Z is in a great location in Piccadilly close to all the theaters and Trafalgar Square.
Trip advisor comments focus on its convenience and very little rooms.
OMG
our room is a double room. The double bed is at one end of the room with 3 sides on the walls. The tiniest little window makes it feel like Harry Potter's garret under the stairs. Suffocating for the person on the enclosed side, me. Nowhere to put anything, no room. And the bathroom is in the room but is just enclosed in glass at one end of the room and no room for our 4 bags of luggage.
A guy on trip advisor best described the bathroom and its lack of privacy:
"You need to be at ease with your room companion - in the compact room, the person outside the en suite is well aware of what is hitting the water."
But the pluses are the huge 48 inch screen which is at your feet and even a little bit too big that close.
And they have free apples on the reception each day. I like them but Paul got a bad apple.
The other big plus is that there is free wine and cheese very afternoon between 5 and 8. They encourage you to attend, (though we did not require much encouragement) and plied us with wine,cheese, olives and even ice cream. We have been going each day trying not to be the first ones there on the dot at 5. Most people are not staying as long as we are so now, after a few days, we are well known to the staff as enthusiastic participants. It is like a family. They are all young and from
various parts of Europe, none local so happy to chat and be social. Really suits one of us but after a
couple of free wines, in large glasses, social is easy.
However after a night in the teeny room, I cannot cope and we ask for a bigger room if they exist. There is one available which has about 2 feet at the end of the bed which makes a difference plus a
ledge next to the bed and no ceiling coming down on the bed as it does in the normal room. Yes it costs more but we decide for the last 4 of our 6 nights that we need the bigger room and it really makes a difference. Bathroom is still the same. See above.
On Thursday night by the time we deal with the tiny room, partake of the wine and cheese, we decide we need no further food. We consider the possibility of having wine and cheese every night instead of dinner but decide this is a bad idea and tomorrow we will have less.....
Our first whole day in london is fri 21st and it is a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Rather than have breakfast at the hotel, we go to Cafe Nero, a chain of Italian coffee shops that are on every street corner as are a few other chains like Costa, Pret. manger. We have not actually found a coffee shop/ cafe that is not part of a chain. Our coffee/cafe experience is much better in Australia.
We decide to do a hopOn Hop Off tour of London to see where things are and to have bit of a rest from walking. It has been tough on Paul.
Big Ben, der
The eye, really important
Lots of bridges. across the Thames for our ship to go under.
The Shard which is the
Where Ann Boelyn was beheaded.
Ravens are important in the tower.
A guard
Why the elephant? I don't know.
Why?
They call this the Wilkie talkie.
On the bus, we saw the tower bridge open which is relatively rare but my camera is too dark unfortunately
Another one of the eye which is quite nice.
And 2 faces of Big Ben.
OMG
our room is a double room. The double bed is at one end of the room with 3 sides on the walls. The tiniest little window makes it feel like Harry Potter's garret under the stairs. Suffocating for the person on the enclosed side, me. Nowhere to put anything, no room. And the bathroom is in the room but is just enclosed in glass at one end of the room and no room for our 4 bags of luggage.
A guy on trip advisor best described the bathroom and its lack of privacy:
"You need to be at ease with your room companion - in the compact room, the person outside the en suite is well aware of what is hitting the water."
But the pluses are the huge 48 inch screen which is at your feet and even a little bit too big that close.
And they have free apples on the reception each day. I like them but Paul got a bad apple.
The other big plus is that there is free wine and cheese very afternoon between 5 and 8. They encourage you to attend, (though we did not require much encouragement) and plied us with wine,cheese, olives and even ice cream. We have been going each day trying not to be the first ones there on the dot at 5. Most people are not staying as long as we are so now, after a few days, we are well known to the staff as enthusiastic participants. It is like a family. They are all young and from
various parts of Europe, none local so happy to chat and be social. Really suits one of us but after a
couple of free wines, in large glasses, social is easy.
However after a night in the teeny room, I cannot cope and we ask for a bigger room if they exist. There is one available which has about 2 feet at the end of the bed which makes a difference plus a
ledge next to the bed and no ceiling coming down on the bed as it does in the normal room. Yes it costs more but we decide for the last 4 of our 6 nights that we need the bigger room and it really makes a difference. Bathroom is still the same. See above.
On Thursday night by the time we deal with the tiny room, partake of the wine and cheese, we decide we need no further food. We consider the possibility of having wine and cheese every night instead of dinner but decide this is a bad idea and tomorrow we will have less.....
Our first whole day in london is fri 21st and it is a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Rather than have breakfast at the hotel, we go to Cafe Nero, a chain of Italian coffee shops that are on every street corner as are a few other chains like Costa, Pret. manger. We have not actually found a coffee shop/ cafe that is not part of a chain. Our coffee/cafe experience is much better in Australia.
We decide to do a hopOn Hop Off tour of London to see where things are and to have bit of a rest from walking. It has been tough on Paul.
We go as far as the Tower of London, where we disembark, check out the jewels and then return down the Thames via cruise ship. I have mixed up the photos but most are of the cruise I think.
Big Ben, der
The eye, really important
and quite the landmark.
The Shard which is the
tallest building in London, I think.
Some photos from the Tower of London
Where Ann Boelyn was beheaded.
Ravens are important in the tower. 
A guard
Why the elephant? I don't know.
Why?
They call this the Wilkie talkie. 
On the bus, we saw the tower bridge open which is relatively rare but my camera is too dark unfortunately
Another one of the eye which is quite nice.
And 2 faces of Big Ben.
That night after our usual wine and cheese social at our hotel, we went to see The 39 Steps , a play at the Criterion theatre, very close to our hotel. A beautiful old theatre. A lovely end to a very busy day.
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