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Originally Posted by JLT
I’ve been to London a lot and have stayed at the City Inn. A wonderful smaller hotel, very modern, the rooms are small but it is a nice safe area. It is next door to the Tate Museum and a short walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
Getting there is easy by tube with a big caveat. If you are hauling a lot of luggage the tube ride will not be bad but it is the changing of trains (once) and the getting from the last train stop to CI that will be a problem (about a brisk 10 minute walk). If you can handle the luggage, go to the tube stop at Heathrow, take the train to Cockfosters (this is the Piccadilly line by the way). At Heathrow there are people that will help you figure out what ticket to buy. Trust them, they’ve never steered me wrong. At Green Park station get off and transfer to the Victoria Line and take the train towards Brixton. You want to get off at Pimlico. You walk outside of the station, take a left and walk into you run into Vauxhall Bridge, take a right and then a left on J Islip. The CI will be on your right after you pass the back of the Tate Museum.
Suggest you take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station and take a cab to City Inn for a less stressful ride. The tube directions may be useful for your free days in London.
Also, there is a very nice pub near the intersection of Vauxhall and J Islip. There are also a few little convenience stores in that area for drinks, candy, etc. This is a residential area and is quiet at night.
I agree with other posters that the bus tours are excellent. Last year we did one that was a one-day trip that included Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury Cathedral and it was excellent. I’ve been on several tours and have enjoyed them all. The tour guides are very knowledgeable.
The City Inn has a nice restaurant for breakfast (we never ate there for other meals). Don’t get shocked at the size of the showers! As small as the showers are, the prices for food in London is exactly the opposite; a pub meal for two will be very reasonable, for London, at about 20 lbs. Forget that is around $40 if you want to keep your sanity. But you can live at the Pubs, they have great fish and chips, "pies" (they have various pies, some are like Shepherd’s pie, hamburger and mashed potatoes…ask what is in them if it is not obvious. A very safe one is usually not tried by Americans because they don’t know what it is: "bangers and mash" (sausages and mashed potatoes). You will find pub food is highly concentrated to the usage of potatoes in one form or another and peas. I’m getting hungry writing this!
The trick to pubs is that you go to the counter to order and they will bring the food to your table!
Make sure you have a draft Guinness!
If you are a history nut or war history buff, go to the Imperial War Museum and or the RAF Museum; both are reached easily by the tube. If you want specific information about any of these or other things don’t hesitate to contact me. Each of those will take the better part of a day. Another high quality day is the Victoria and Albert Museum and you can combine that fairly easily with the obligatory visit to Harrod’s.
As someone earlier said, you will be jetlagged the first day. Get to the CI, then walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey. You will then want dinner and that will have been a nice day (and you might go to the Tate at that time as well).
Enjoy your trip.
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let me clarify one thing: when you walk from Pimlico you are looking for Vauxhall Bridge as a road, not as a bridge. Take a right on that street. Then you are looking for J Islip. If you miss J Islip you will be on the bridge shortly! This goes over the Thames and is an interesting view but is not worth it if you are measuring your time carefully. |