Travels with Mom: Day 4, Last Day of London

To properly ensure we didn't miss anything in London, and also to make proper use of the 24-hour hop-on/hop-off bus tour, we woke up early to meet one of the first buses out in Leicester Square.  We lucked out and got bus number 2, which brought us to the British Museum (the oldest museum in the world), and then made our way to Kensington Gardens to visit the palace where Queen Victoria and Princess Diana once lived.



From there we took the bus tour towards Westminster Abbey (we had to transfer to another bus), rushing to ensure we get there in time, Westminster Abbey closes at 130pm on Saturdays.



We just got there in time to enter and was it worth the morning rush.  The church is not only huge, but there is a lot to see and hear - audio guides are free.  I didn't get a chance to go through the Cloisters, but I can only imagine seeing Julie Andrews' as "Maria" and the nuns doing their "How d you solve a problem like Maria" number.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to take a final look at the surroundings and to say farewell to Regent Street.  I got a chance to finally go into a Boots store (think Duane Reade/Long Drugs of the UK).  But I really do heart their stuff.  The only place you can get Boots skincare is at Target, and they don't carry half the things I saw when I was in London.

[iz8p.blogspot.com]

Travels with Mom: London, Day 3

So yesterday there was a major volcanic eruption in Iceland which has affected travel particularly heavily in London as the volcanic ash is rendering all flights cancelled. Sigh. This is what I get for not booking our EuroStar tickets when we should have, because now there are no open reservations from London to Paris on the Eurostar. Yuck!

But aside from that...day 3 was pretty fun. We woke up to bring ourselves to a ~2 mile walk from Trafalgar Square all the way to the Tower of London, walking through the actual City of London. We got a chance to see quite a good number of sites that included the The Temple Bar Monument (marking the border between the City of Westminster and the City of London), the Temple Church (think Dan Brown), St. Paul's Cathedral, "The Monument", and views of the Tower Bridge (so much more magnificent than the London Bridge).

When we got to the Tower of London, we were given a tip to go straight to see the Crown Jewels first, to avoid any additional long lines. And good thing we did, as when we got out from seeing the jewels, that line was already out the door and growing.

Making sure we didn't miss any other sites since we only had 1 day left in London (maybe, sigh on this volcanic ash), we decided to do one of the Sightseeing Tour buses. Although we did have the option to hop on and off, we only did so when it was time to get off to look for dinner. Other than that, this tour was well worth what we paid as it broght us to all other sites all on one sitting. It would have been worth more than we paid if we got on earlier, since the ticket lasts 24 hrs and this bus company provides various routes as part of the ride, you could easily see all of London on of these double decker buses. I wish we had more time on it, but we got on a little too late in the day.

Dinner found us in a particularly interesting cafe, located in the cypt area (sort of...I think) of st. Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a recommendation from the Rick Steves travel guides as an expensive place to eat good food..and he was right. I'm definitely going to keep on looking at his dining recommendations.


Got this well balanced dish for 7 pounds.

[iz8p.blogspost.com]

Travels with Mom: London/Canterbury Day 2

Day 2 took us out of London to canterbury, and then back again. My mom wanted to visit the Canterbury Cathedral, despite the 1.5 hrs of travel to this town outside of London. So off we went on the Southern railway headed to Canterbury.



Once there I soon realized that not only is this a place for the devout and religious, but it's also one major shopping area for teens, tweens, and anyone elswhere and in between. With a shopping area called the Whitefriars, there are back to back to back stores for shopping.

Trying to keep the trip short (we had a lot of other things to check out back in London), we headed straight to the Cathedral and then planned to stop over to see the Greyfriars (one of the oldest buildings built by the Franciscans), and then quickly check out the Canterbury Tales. And although we did stick to the plan, we still didn't make our first train because the Cathedral was a lot more magnificent than we had anticipated.



But, due to the slight delay heading back to London, we did get a chance to grab a bite to eat, and Fish & Chips it was. And it was pretty darn tasty. And filling. We could have easily shared one order.



Back in London we were able to walk all abouts starting through Green Park to the Buckingham Palace, then through St. James Park to Parliament Square (where Westminster Abbey, the Parliament Houses, and Big Ben are), then across the river to hop on the London Eye. Even typing it makes it sound like a long walk. And it definitely was.



We had an ambitious agenda to walk up Whitehall street as well, but my feet just couldn't do it anymore, and we tabled that for the next day.

[iz8p.blogspot.com]

Travels with Mom: Day 1, London

So we got to Heathrow just fine...that is until we reached Immigration, Customs, Border Patrol...whatever you want to call it. Was that line long. I guess it helped make sure that the luggage was on the carousel when we got out, but really...that was one long line. So long that the hotel and cab company had to call to make sure we landed and were still at Heathrow.

The drive to the hotel wasn't too long, but it definitely wasn't short. It did allow us to see various sides of London, and I guess just like any major city, the part closest to the airport just isn't a part that I'd make an effort to visit.

The hotel was actually quite nice, and our concierge was very helpful...I think I'll right a note to the hotel (that's how helpfule he was). In true European fashion, the beds were definitely small...twin size, but the room itself was pretty decent. Practically matching the size of a standard American hotel, though, we did stay at a Doubletree so maybe that had something to do with it.

After freshening up, it was time to explore our neighborhood, at least to get a bearing of what's around us. And what we found was pretty surprising. Our hotel is right off of Regent Street, which meant quite a good number of shops to keep us company. Walking further South brought us to Picadally Circus, and walking East (I believe) brought us through Leicester Square, Covent Garden, The Palace Theatre, and then back around to go through Chinatown and then up Carnaby Street back to the hotel. Lots, lots, LOTS, of walking.



Pretty good though as we had quite an agenda ahead of us.

A few key things I realized from Day 1...there are a good number of places within walking distance from us. Maybe not entirely an easy walk, but still walking distance. Covent Garden is NOT a garden, so don't go looking for one. Look for some entertainers, a restaurant and signs about a Produce Marketing instead. Finding St. Paul's Church will also help you, since it's right alongside of Covent Garden.


Off Leicester Square


Picadailly Circus


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Mom in the City - Day 3

Another full day with Mom & Co galavanting the city on their own, but today they went on the Hop On/Hop Off double decker tourist buses.  Yes, completely touristy, but I actually find them a good way for tourist to get a nice tour of the city.  Plus, the day was great and I wouldn't have to worry about them getting lost.

I had planned to meet them for dinner to take them to Junior's for a quick bite, and most importantly for some New York cheesecake, but car issues prevented me from making it to dinner with them.  At least I made it back into the city to go through Macy's with them (particularly to show them the Macy's Flower Show".





And most importantly, on time to meet them to see Billy Elliott.

I never really knew how popular this show was until I saw how crowded the theatre was, and also explained why our seats were not the best.  Now I truly understand what "Partial view" means.  But overall, we still had fairly decent seats (they weren't too far back) and I'd like to think everyone enjoyed themselves.

After all, the show was pretty fantastic.

Mom in the City - Day 2

A bit backlogged, but I was able to convince my mom to do what I deem the 5th Avenue stroll while I got in some work in the morning.  I always find a stroll along 5th Avenue a good tourist attraction/distraction as you hit a lot of major sites like St. Patrick's church, Rockefeller Center, and all those stores.
When their walk was done, I met my mom and her peeps at The Plaza hotel for some high afternoon tea.  It was quite the experience,  (I'll Yelp about it soon.) and my mom enjoyed it so much, that she went on to have 2 teapots of The Plaza black tea.



Afterwards it was on to the West Village for some Italian food at Morandi.

It was quite a dining experience as I personally didn't like where we were seated (will have to update my last Yelp review), but being seated so close to the bread cutting station served as a source of entertainment for the diners.  I mean, there was quite a lot of bread and the restaurant was so busy (even for a Wednesday evening) that there was non-stopping bread cutting going on.



My mom and her friends were getting a bit tired after such a long long day of walking, so they turned it in right after dinner, with no dessert from Cones for them.  Too bad, I thought they would have really enjoyed it.

[iza on blogger]

Mom in the City - Day 1

Mom's in the city.  Woo hoo!

Well, she's gallavanting the city with her BFF as I finish up some work for the week prior to the larger trip across the pond.  But today, she came in Shel, Baby Lucas, and I went to get her and her BFF at Newark.  First part of the day was just getting to the airport, which wasn't so bad.  We were pretty much on-time with their flight arrival schedule, but still a little too early considering my mom's luggage didn't want to come off the plane and Shelly and Baby Lucas had to circle the airport a few times.

Once in the city the hotel room wasn't ready, and sadly, it wasn't even the room of choice.  Apparently Hilton decided to overbook on their 2-bed rooms, but at least they were able to give my mom a high floor...so my mom wasn't forced to stare directly into her neighbors windows.  She can just look down on them.

We had lunch at Shilla in Korea town, since it was a quick walk from the hotel while the room was getting ready.  And despite the numerous plates you see here, this didn't include the actual barbecue beef and chicken. Yum, yum, yum.



After going back to the hotel to officially unpack, I took the ladies downtown as my mom wanted to shop at Century 21.  We briefly stopped by St. Paul's Chapel so my mom can go in and start her side trip of "Tour de la NYC churches", and then found a few deals at Century 21.



To end the evening, we had a decent dinner at Mesa Grill, though I was hoping for something better :-(



All in all though, I came home exhausted and ready to finish up the day with some work emails and documents to get out.  Day 2 they are on their own for the first half of the day...as they make their way through 5th Avenue shoping.