A week in London with Pete and Walter

[Becx N Gav]

As soon as we found out that some of the Podcast crew were doing an ABD (Adventures By Disney) trip to London, Paris and Disneyland Paris we were very excited We arranged with Pete to travel down to London on Sunday 28th August when he and Walter would land at Gatwick.
They arrived ok and we set off for Kings Cross/St. Pancras. We took a taxi to the train station and unfortunately had to cross over the tracks on this

Basically scaffold with sides

The train ride was fine and we were soon in London, we bought our Oyster cards and set off for the underground. We got to Holborn and as I'd had a look on Google maps I knew roughly where the hotel was but still wasn't sure how to get in! Turns out you go through the arch and the the lobby is off to the right
The Chancery Court hotel is very nice, really great service, lovely interiors and fairly large rooms - for London.

It was originally built as an office for Pearl Assurance which my DH actually works for now in Peterborough. I guess they converted the offices into bedrooms. There is a lot of marble all over including a rare green Sweedish marble which you can no longer get.

This was our room on the 1st floor, it looked out over the courtyard

I loved the Privacy tag

The bathroom

A few from around the hotel

This was outside the lifts

In the bar, they had nibbles and antipasti which included a large chunk of parma ham or something similar

A seating area in the lobby which looks out onto the courtyard

The gift shop, I got a white I London duck

Off the lobby there were function rooms (to the right of the photo) where the Dismeet took place the following Sunday

 

[Becx N Gav]

We met Pete in the restaurant Pearl - which has over 1 million pearls hanging on wires all over the ceiling. Walter was in the room unpacking and resting a bit. We decided to take it easy that day as they were a bit jet lagged.
After they were both rested we walked down the road to a pub for an early dinner. The hotel is in a great location, there are plenty of choices for food in all directions and Covent Garden isn't too far. We decided to walk to Covent Garden and it only took about 15 minutes at a gentle pace. First thing we spotted was the Apple Store

We had a good look around, it's a really funky building with glass stairs and 3 levels

You can sort of see down from here

I loved the look of these speakers

We didn't buy anything but DH came back later in the week and got an AmpliTube iRig - it plugs into guitars and bass guitars and works with an app to record different channels

We wandered around a bit more

We tried to keep them awake for as long as possible to help them sleep that night, I know in the past coming home from Florida we've fallen asleep in the afternoon and then not been able to fall asleep again until the early morning.

 

[jockey]

Great report, I love the apple store at covent garden. Looking forward to hearing more

 

[DISWolves]

Great report and super photographs!.......looking forward to reading more

 

[Linda67]

Wonderful photos, the hotel really is beautiful

Can't wait to read more

 

[irongirlof12]

Hotel looks really lux and plush such sharp photos

 

[Becx N Gav]

Thanks everyone I love the camera, it's a Sony DSC-HX1 which is a bridge camera. The indoor shots were taken without a flash.

About to watch Glee but I'll post some more later

 

[Becx N Gav]

On Monday we went around the corner past the tube station to Wether Spoons, Pete and Walter were amazed at the price It was good and filling.

Today there happened to be a sale on at a shop I wanted to get a dress from. It's called Vivian of Holloway and they do forties and fifties style clothing. The sale started at 11am, when we got there a few people had already lined up but luckily we got in with the first group. They had a 'bouncer' who was letting in more people as people left. I got a couple of dresses and everything had 25% off so that was an added bonus

On the tube

Walter had realised he didn't have a pair of smart shoes so we headed towards St. Pauls Cathedral to visit the One New Change shopping centre. From there we walked around to the front of the cathedral

We enjoyed a nice lunch at Cafe Rouge.

We needed to find somewhere to get a sim card for Pete and Walters iPads, it seemed all the phone shops in the area were closed as it was a Bank Holiday But we thought we might have better luck on Oxford Street, we decided to go to Marble Arch and walk from there

We went into a Carphone Warehouse where the sales assistant recommended a 3 sim which was only £5. Unfortunately when they tried them out later they didn't work. It was only for use in iPhones and you couldn't get a refund Luckily we only bought one just in case, but it was still annoying.

We had a look around a few more shops as we walked down Oxford Street. We were starting to get hungry again (I think it was all the walking and the smells as we walked along ). We headed off Oxford Street and checked out the menu of a Slug and Lettuce which appealed to everyone, turns out they had half price food on a Monday including Bank Hols It was good food, we shared the starter platter which was plenty for 4 people. Then each had a main course.
After eating we headed back up Regents Street and spotted another Apple Store

The tube was packed on the way back to the hotel as the Notting Hill Carnival was kicking out, we saw a lady dressed up with a really cool head dress squeezed in! I would have taken a picture but was trying to not fall over

It was really nice to take our time and do what we fancied at the time rather than planing everything beforehand.

 

[DISWolves]

Another great day
Have been in Weatherspoon's in Whitehall near to Nelson Column.....food and prices were also excellent!

 

[Linda67]

Sounds like a lovely day

 

[jns]

great report thanks for sharing

 

[suzycute]

I have just seen that you have started your trip report and am subscribing!!

A great start to your time in London with Pete and Walter - looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip xx

 

[Chilly]

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Thanks guys After a busy weekend I thought I should post a little more.

I forgot to post these pictures of the hotel I took one night

They lit it up very well I thought

So on Tuesday Pete really wanted to see the British Museum - especially the Egyptian section and the mummies!

I think I had visited before when I was younger but all the museums look the same to me There was an exhibition from Kew Gardens that was quite cool with Australian plants in a small section in front of the museum. We didn't walk around it but looked nice from a distance.

We headed straight for the area with the Egyptian and Greek statues and other large objects - some where huge don't know how they managed to transport them

We were wondering if the Egyptians had The Slug and Lettuce

 

[Becx N Gav]

This guy looks happy

This is a little information about the Rosetta Stone, it was so hard to get up to the front of this. I nipped in snapped a quick photo and got out the way! The crowds never seemed to let up, tour group after tour group!

This was all made of gold and had insects on - I spotted a bee!

 

[Chilly]

cool photos

 

[DISWolves]

Great photos again!

 

[UKDEB]

Fabulous hotel, fabulous photos. Love the Covent Garden Apple store! Pete and Walter were lucky to have you as tour guides. Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Becx N Gav]

Thanks everyone We had a great time sharing our limited knowledge It's been such a long time since I've done sight seeing in London!

 

[Becx N Gav]

We were getting hungry by then so checked out the cafe they have in the centre, it's absolutely gorgeous in there! I read each triangle in the roof was a different size

We got sandwiches, crisps, desserts and peanuts

(if you haven't read Pete's blog of the Alaskan cruise you need to check it out )

There were some huge cool Canadian totem poles

We headed upstairs to where the mummies were, again this part was pretty popular

To get there we walked through the area with money throughout the ages, it was quite fascinating how things have changed

I didn't know the US had shillings originally

There's even some Disney inside the British Museum!

This was a suit of armour made from crocodile skin

There were mummified animals as well as people

The insides of the carcophigas (sp?) were also decorated

I was fascinated by the techniquies used to discover more about the mummification technique and the histories of the people