London...April 24th, 2011...Part 2

Alex upgraded our rental to a Volkswagen Passat wagon because we had to take all our bags and they wouldn't fit in a small car.  Driving back to the hotel was a mission...we found it okay, but Alex driving a manual transmission car on the left side of the road was more than I could handle.  I was petrified!

We made it to the hotel, I stopped by the front desk to get an extra key, and the agent was so nice, she gave Alissa an Easter teddy bear with chocolates.  They parked the car and we went upstairs to get the bags ready.  WOW!  We thought we had done a good job the previous night, but we still had quite a mess! It took us a long time to get everything ready.  It was so late there was no way we could go on the Thames River cruise now.  We might not even make it to Windsor Castle.  We'd really have to hurry!
The concierge, who was great our entire stay, gave us directions to Windsor castle.  The problem was we couldn't see the street names in the city so we got very, very, very lost.  We were lost for over one hour.  We finally got our of London but continued to get lost along the way.  I guess at some point we figured out how to decipher the map, roads and roundabouts.
We took so long that by the time we reached Windsor Castle it was too late to go in.  The last admission was at 4:00pm and we arrived at 4:30pm. 

We were disappointed but we walked around the town , took pictures and then went back to the car to try to make it to Stonehenge before the sun set.  I thought the town of Windsor was too commercial and "touristy", but the castle was beautiful and I would have loved to see it.  I will see it when I return.  We definitely needed more time in London, but this was the best we could do since there were other places to see in England before taking the ferry to Ireland on Tuesday. 

We continued driving and arrived in Stonehenge after it had closed but just before the sunset, so were were able to get some spectacular pictures of the site with the sun setting in the distance.    Stonehenge is an ancient stone circle.  It is an amazing engineering feat and most important pre-historic site  in England.  It is also a place of spiritual significance.

We wanted to continue to Bath, but time would not permit.  We had to make it to Oxford for our hotel reservations.  We quickly drove through Salisbury, because it was already dark and we couldn't see much.  We saw the Salisbury Cathedral which is an international symbol of Christianity.  The spire is the tallest in England.  At the Cathedral you can see one of only 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta. 

Soon we were back on the road to Oxford.  Thankfully many of the roads were divided highways with two lanes on each side so we were able to drive more comfortably, less afraid. 
We got lost several times again... the roads and signs are just not clear and many times they just didn't even have signs.
When we arrived in the Oxford area, we must have gone around at least 5 or 6 times and couldn't find the road we needed, even after getting directions...why????  because there were no signs...we basically had to guess which way to go.   What a waste of time!  We really could have saved some time and enjoyed the sites more had the signs been better.
We stayed at a boutique hotel just outside of Oxford in a town called Summertown.  My son and I are a bit spoiled when it comes to hotels, we obviously like luxury hotels but since we like to travel so much we have to opt for as luxurious as possible on a budget ( or have it comped or at least given for a reduced price), but the hotels must be clean, safe and have wifi.
Occasionally we are pleasantly surprised when we get above and beyond our basic requirements.
This boutique hotel was a pleasant surprise.  We had a ground floor room- which normally I wouldn't like, but the place seemed safe and it was steps away from the car so unpacking the car was easy.  The bathroom and room had been redone recently and the room had contemporary furnishings. 

Sofa bed for the kiddos...

We were also welcomed with a tray of complimentary teas,  coffee, cookies and chocolate.  We arrived around 11:00 pm to shower and go to sleep.

Yummy!

Look how close the car was...this was the best packing and unpacking ever!!!

London...April 22, 2011 (Part 2)

*** Still having technical difficulties with the photos.  I'm not sure why....I will be able to dedicate more time to figuring it out this weekend...Until then just posts, no photos...Sorry!!!

When we were finally ready to go out we couldn't decide what to do.  London is very expensive so we wanted to make the most of the tours we bought.  We ended up taking a cab to the Tower of London (at the concierge's suggestion) around 2:00 p.m. When we arrived there we were told that we wouldn't have enough time to see it all, so we decided to wait until the next day.  We ate fish and chips from a vendor outside the Tower.  It was not very good!  My son and I are forever turned off from fish and chips. 

We walked around the perimeter of the Tower of London and came upon the Tower Bridge.  The Tower Bridge has stood over the Thames River since 1894 and is one of the most well-known bridges in the world.

We did the Tower Bridge Exhibition and enjoyed brilliant views from the high walkways.  The exhibit has information about the history of the bridge and how it was built, and most importantly fantastic views of the river. 

We were unsure what to do with the remaining daylight hours...we didn't want to pay for a tour on the ON/OFF Bus ans waste it because we couldn't go into places.  (The next day we found out we could buy a 1-day ticket and upgrade to a 2-ticket for only 5GBP for adults and 3GBP per child.
We would have gotten the tickets for the Thames River cruise and done that on Friday evening, but we didn't know.)

Instead, we walked along the river all the way from the Tower Bridge to our hotel.  We stopped along the way at several places:

• HMS Belfast (military ship)
• Hay's Galleria mall
• Southwark Cathedral and park
• Shakespeare's Globe Theater
• Tate Modern
• the OXO Tower
• the Royal National Theater
• Waterloo Pier
• the London Eye

Some of the beautiful bridges we admired were:

• London Bridge
• Southwark Bridge
• Blackfriars Bridge
• Waterloo Bridge
• Millenium Bridge

We walked and enjoyed London, differently than we'd ever done before, for several hours.  When it became dark we went back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner.  WE quickly left by taxi to Covent Garden.  We strolled around a bit, we listened to the performers and ate a casual dinner of pizza at Covent Garden Pizzeria.  We sat outside in an open courtyard and took in every moment of our first day in London.  After dinner we strolled around the are a little more and then on to Picadilly Circus.  We had dessert and coffee there at a small coffee shop. 

We didn't stay long because we were beyond exhausted.  It was time to go to sleep!

London, April 22, 2011 Part 1

*** due to technical difficulties, I can't upload my photos.  I promise to upload photos tomorrow.


We arrived in London and took a cab to our hotel, The Park Plaza-County Hall.  The cab ride cost us about 80 GBP.  The children loved the car.  It didn't have a trunk, so all our luggage went with us in the passenger compartment and next to the driver.  The seats inside face each other and 5 people can ride together in that compartment .  (Most taxis we took were like this.  They also have a bar across the top of the door...my daughter liked to hang on it and swing back and forth, with her arms in a position of a pull-up but swinging.  It's funny because she could not get in or out of a taxi without doing that). 

Our hotel was 4 star, in a decent location (by the London Eye, across the bridge from Parliament, Big Ben and The Westminster Abbey).  The hotel was clean, decorated with a contemporary flair, and very family-friendly.
The hotel was very welcoming of children.  Upon arrival they received a goody bag with coloring sheets, crayons, play money to use at the snack bar for real items, a bracelet with the name and phone number of the hotel. (I thought this was a great idea, in case the children become separated from the parents while in the city).  The hotel stay also included a free British-style buffet breakfast every morning.

Another point I liked is that they let us check-in when we arrived at 10:00 a.m.  The hotel was visibly full, yet they were accommodating.  We could have waited to get the room with a better view we had reserved, but since it wasn't available yet and we were so tired, we preferred the room we could go into right away regardless of the view.  We weren't planning on spending a lot of time admiring the view anyway.  We wanted to be out exploring the city whenever possible...

The concierge was helpful and full of information.  We took several brochures to the room with us to help figure out how to spend our first day there.