Knights & Lights questions

[Smuggs]

I was in London, but not on an ABD. We did a few of the escorted walks http://www.walks.com/ . The best was the Jack the Ripper walk! They have a sister site that lists Paris walks.

Best part is, you just show up. We planned to do one walk, but something else came up, so we just did it another time.

edited to add: If the Jack the Ripper walk interests you, try for a night that Donald Rumbelow does the walk. He was fantastic and is THE authority on Jack the Ripper.

 

[beansf]

Hi SayHello!

On our Knights and Lights trip:
* On our free London day we took the train down to Hampton Court and LOVED it! It was awesome. We did the hedge maze and the gardens were so lovely, never mind the house. The kitchens were neat too. It's very worth the trip down.

And lastly, a link to my ABD Knights and Lights Scrapbook:http://community.shutterfly.com/gal...postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDBg4aNGrZqzZgsr0X78

stenogoddess, your scrapbook is awesome!

May I ask, was it easy getting to/from Hampton Court Palace?

 

[beachcat]

If you are really daring, head out of town to Hever Castle and Penshurst out in Kent. Hever has great gardens and the castle tour was good too but no cameras inside the castle. It does take some effort to get there from London but it was a nice day out in the country away from the crowds.

rdh

 

[sayhello]

Hi SayHello!

On our Knights and Lights trip:

* We did get tickets from our guides to see the Eye when we first checked in with them on arrival

Cool. Everyone so far has mentioned they got tickets. Maybe I'll take a chance!

* I also did black slacks and brought a couple of dressy sweaters for the theater night and for the last night's dinner. We LOVED Theater night

Yay! I'm so looking forward to it!

* On our free London day we took the train down to Hampton Court and LOVED it! It was awesome. We did the hedge maze and the gardens were so lovely, never mind the house. The kitchens were neat too. It's very worth the trip down.

So you did this during the ABD, on a free afternoon? How long were you there? How long did it take to get there & back. I *really* want to see Hampton Court, but I'm thinking I may do it on a pre-day.

* We got the Oyster card too. It was a big help.

I've heard that from a lot of folks. Thanks!

* Our trip was not adults only, but the whole group did the boat trip down the river in Paris. It was going from one place to another, but I can't remember what to what. If I remember right the ticket was good for all day so we could have gone back that night, and I think a lot of folks did, but we hit the museums hard that day and were just beat by the end of the day.

Oh, cool! So even if the whole group doesn't go back at night, some of us could... Excellent!

* If you can ride Big Thunder here you can ride it there. I LOVE BTM and still really enjoyed it there even though I'm a coaster scaredy cat. DH reports that the take off for Space is intense with a blast off type deal, so maybe skip that. Crush was down when we were there so I can't report on that. I can say that the line areas for a lot of things were much darker than we are used to. DH had to lead me in on a couple. I remember going to see the dragon was hard and also getting into Pirates was hard too. This was before I had my iphone to help light the way if I needed it though, so maybe keep it handy for light.

I think I'm going to have to play the rollercoasters by ear. If I was going today, I'd go on none of them! Stupid back! But hopefully it will be doing much better by September! But I'll remember -- BTM, yes, SM, no...

* We went the first trip in June, and being from Savannah, GA, I FROZE to death the whole trip. I had looked at the temps before we left and thought I would be okay, but they had a cold front come in, plus my DH explained some very involved nonsense about our humidity level making cooler temps feel hotter than they do other places and so I was thrown off by 50 not feeling like 50 everywhere you go. Who knew? Oh, wait, he did! Thanks, Honey, would have been good to mention before we left!

I live in Ohio, so right now, 50 feels like a heat wave! I wonder if we'll have similar weather in September?

* Every French person we met was very nice and helpful and quickly rushed to put me out of my French misery. Or maybe they didn't want to hear me tearing up their language any more than I had to. On a free dinner night the manager of the restaurant came over to make sure we had a good itinerary together. Very nice.

Good to know, as I speak about 2 words of French, and that, very badly!

And lastly, a link to my ABD Knights and Lights Scrapbook:http://community.shutterfly.com/gal...postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDBg4aNGrZqzZgsr0X78

I agree with beansf!!!!! What an awesome scrapbook! You did a wonderful job.

I really enjoy your trip reports and can't wait to read this one!

Man, I am SO looking forward to this trip! Thanks, and am looking forward to doing the report, too!

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

I was in London, but not on an ABD. We did a few of the escorted walks http://www.walks.com/ . The best was the Jack the Ripper walk! They have a sister site that lists Paris walks.

Best part is, you just show up. We planned to do one walk, but something else came up, so we just did it another time.

edited to add: If the Jack the Ripper walk interests you, try for a night that Donald Rumbelow does the walk. He was fantastic and is THE authority on Jack the Ripper.

Ooooo! Thanks! I'll check those out. I *LOVE* walking tours, and the Jack the Ripper one could be very cool!

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

If you are really daring, head out of town to Hever Castle and Penshurst out in Kent. Hever has great gardens and the castle tour was good too but no cameras inside the castle. It does take some effort to get there from London but it was a nice day out in the country away from the crowds.

rdh

I'll have to check that out. Where is Kent in relation to London? I'm going to be doing some day trips out of Winchester, which is southwest of London.

Sayhello

 

[crashbb]

Ooooo! Thanks! I'll check those out. I *LOVE* walking tours, and the Jack the Ripper one could be very cool!

Sayhello

Not sure if you enjoy biking, but I really enjoyed FAT TIRE BIKE TOURS. I took tours with them in Paris, but they also operate in London.

You do not have to be an avid cyclist - they are comfy "touring" bikes, you go rather sedately, and you stop often (the night tour in Paris stopped for very yummy Berthillon ice cream).

http://fattirebiketours.com/paris

As with the walking tours, you just show up - so no worries about being stuck with a reservation that you do not want.

 

[sayhello]

Not sure if you enjoy biking, but I really enjoyed FAT TIRE BIKE TOURS. I took tours with them in Paris, but they also operate in London.

You do not have to be an avid cyclist - they are comfy "touring" bikes, you go rather sedately, and you stop often (the night tour in Paris stopped for very yummy Berthillon ice cream).

http://fattirebiketours.com/paris

As with the walking tours, you just show up - so no worries about being stuck with a reservation that you do not want.

Thanks, crashbb. Several folks mentioned using Fat Tire Bike Tours in Barcelona, before or after the Med cruise, and said they really liked them. I've got a bad back, so generally I only bike if I can use a recumbent bike. I'll have to contact them and see if they have any. I think that would be a very cool way to see the sights!

Sayhello

 

[beachcat]

I'll have to check that out. Where is Kent in relation to London? I'm going to be doing some day trips out of Winchester, which is southwest of London.

Sayhello

Hever Castle is southeast of London ---about 75 miles east of Winchester.

 

[stenogoddess]

In re: Hampton Court

As I mentioned we took the train down to Hampton Court. We did it the afternoon of Tower of London day. As far as ease of getting there it was pretty much a straight shot by train. However, we have no mass transit where I'm from and I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole train thing. Luckily a local friend of mine met us at the Tower and he shuffled us from the Tower by Tube to the train. DH says we could have figured it out if we had needed to, but I was really blown away with all the people rushing about and not knowing where I was and being hungry, so that might have been part of it too. I want to say it took about an hour to get there by train, but we were really catching up with my friend so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been on that.

You can see Hampton Court in the afternoon, but given a do over I would have gone on a pre day. I felt like we rushed through the Tower and missed some things to meet my friend, and I also felt like I could have stayed longer and seen more at Hampton, but the "boys" gave out on the sightseeing and all my picture taking after probably three-ish hours. And I know that even after three hours I hadn't seen everything that was there. You can also take a boat town the Thames to Hampton Court and I thought that would be very fun and we could have seen a lot, plus I liked the idea of doing it the old fashioned way like King Henry would have, but got voted down because it was several hours each way. Plus, the boat is right there at the Tower, so no Tube and no train, another reason to go boat at least one way in my opinion!

Across the train tracks I remember some shops and maybe a village. We ate in the pizza place that faces the train. Yummo! One of the better pizzas I've actually ever had. It appeared to be a pizza chain as we saw the name in other places in London. We also had ice creams in the hedge maze which were a nice snack from the little stand inside the grounds.

Also, finding Hampton Court from the train is super easy! Walk off the train and down a little bit and it's on the right. Can't miss it. It's kinda big!

HTH

 

[beansf]

In re: Hampton Court

Across the train tracks I remember some shops and maybe a village. We ate in the pizza place that faces the train. Yummo! One of the better pizzas I've actually ever had. It appeared to be a pizza chain as we saw the name in other places in London. We also had ice creams in the hedge maze which were a nice snack from the little stand inside the grounds.

Also, finding Hampton Court from the train is super easy! Walk off the train and down a little bit and it's on the right. Can't miss it. It's kinda big!

HTH

I think I read about that pizza place. Is it this one?
http://www.zizzi.co.uk/

It was mentioned in Rick Steves' London guide and I saw online that they had a Hampton Court Location. I had it picked out as our lunch spot when we visit the palace. We are planning on going out there the day of the Welcome Dinner. It reminds me, I must call and find out what time the dinner takes place, actually...

 

[apurplebrat]

What a great thread! We are so looking forward to this trip. Definitely plan to check out the British Museum. It looks like an easy walk from the hotel. We plan to arrive 8/31 and hope to explore a lot!!
I actually have been to Paris previously. The Batobus on the Seine is a great way to travel from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower. It is a boat "bus" and you can get on and off along the stops.

 

[Smuggs]

Ooooo! Thanks! I'll check those out. I *LOVE* walking tours, and the Jack the Ripper one could be very cool!

Sayhello

They also do day tours, but with being there for work, I could not take a whole day tour. Would have loved to do the Stonehenge one.


Their prices are fantastic as well!

 

[sayhello]

What a great thread! We are so looking forward to this trip. Definitely plan to check out the British Museum. It looks like an easy walk from the hotel. We plan to arrive 8/31 and hope to explore a lot!!
I actually have been to Paris previously. The Batobus on the Seine is a great way to travel from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower. It is a boat "bus" and you can get on and off along the stops.

I agree! What great information! The hardest part will be choosing what to do!

I've never been to Paris, but I was in London over 30 years ago! I think I've probably forgotten most of it, so I'm going to be a total tourist!

They also do day tours, but with being there for work, I could not take a whole day tour. Would have loved to do the Stonehenge one.


Their prices are fantastic as well!

Thank you! I'm going to have a couple of complete days, so I'll look over their site!

Sayhello

 

[stenogoddess]

I'm pretty sure that's it!

I think I read about that pizza place. Is it this one?
http://www.zizzi.co.uk/

It was mentioned in Rick Steves' London guide and I saw online that they had a Hampton Court Location. I had it picked out as our lunch spot when we visit the palace. We are planning on going out there the day of the Welcome Dinner. It reminds me, I must call and find out what time the dinner takes place, actually...