Sunday, April 23, 2006

Trip to London


Well, it's been a few weeks since we got back from London. All I can say is that it was expensive and that it was typical spring weather: cold, damp and windy. But that is not to say that it was a miserable trip! On the contrary, we made the most of the week we were there, rainy weather or not! :-)
Day 1:
We landed at Heathrow just a little after 7AM local time. We managed to get through immigration/customs with minimal fuss (except for some comments about my Brazilian visa). Got our tickets for the Heathrow Express and away we go!
We got into Paddington around 9AM and found our hotel with very little trouble. The hostess of the hotel asked if we were hungry and sent us down to the dining room for our first taste of a traditional English Breakfast! How sweet!
After filling our jet-lagged tummies we checked in and made our way to our room. We dropped our stuff on the floor and promptly laid our heads down for a quick nap.
Around 11:00 we made ourselves get up. Any longer of a nap and our jetlag would just be worse! So, after refreshing ourselves, we made our way to the Big Bus Tour bus stop that was just around the corner from the hotel. We bought our tickets (good for 48 hours!) and made our way to the upper (exposed) deck of the bus.
Okay, we really did not realize just how chilly the weather was until we got underway on the bus! This is the blue route of the bus tour. This took us to many of the major attractions. At some point after we went by Victoria station, we knew we just had to get off somewhere and warm up. By now it sometime in the middle of the afternoon. That breakfast had kept us satiated until now.
So, we decided to get off at the stop next to Harrod's. We made our way into the famed department store and headed straight into the food hall.
After wandering around for a bit, we settled on a sushi bar. We got ourselves some green tea, miso soup and a plate of nigiri sushi to split between ourselves. Needless to say that was a rather expensive late lunch, but heck, when you gotta eat, you gotta eat! ;-)
next we decided to just roam around the department store to see what all the hub-bub was about the place.
Well, the only thing I can say about Harrod's is that it does offer much in the way of high-end designer goods. At the same time it also provides a certain amount of kitsch to the whole experience. Also throw in some snobbery such as having to carry packs in your hand instead of over your shoulder. :-p
After we thoroughly warmed up and had enough of Harrod's we figure it was a good time to head back to the hotel. We decided to walk back since we were just on the other side of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
The walk through the park was okay. There was a cold stiff breeze blowing. :-p
We got back. Rested. Then we decided to head over to the Royal Exchange pub which was a 5 minute walk away. There we had a nice filling meal and some brew. Thus the end of day 1.

No comments: