Travel Notes

No more layovers... fly direct to Europe!

The Wilde Aparthotel Paddington hotel location was great. We both enjoyed the peaceful Paddington basin and Little Venice area after running around busy cities all day. Paddington and Edgewear Road stations very close by, and many bus stops as well. Plus, easy walks through parks to get to several top attractions. Each room has small kitchen. Hotel did have laundry room for guests so pack less next time. Do the room upgrade!

The Paris Hotel du Continent was also in a perfect location and was very fun.

The Oyster Card for London transport worked great. Heathrow Express and Eurostar also very easy to use.

In London, we didn't get to Hampton Court, V&A Museum, Old Globe, Shard/other skyscrapers with view, or any short trips outside London. Also didn't get to St. Stephen's Gardens/Notting Hill area. In Paris, next time, explore more neighborhoods and spend a lot of time inside museums.

 

 

Web photos:

The Poppies in Camden was fantastic fish & chips and we sat on those wooden chairs outside to eat our take away.

Professional photos w/o clutter of our exact room layout!

 The tiny cafe we went into on our first day, and managed to escape a light rain... turns out it was a historic site and is somewhat famous.

Harrod's was under wraps for renovation so Mei Mei didn't really get to see this:

Web interiors of Shakespeare and Co., our hotel, Miss Angelina's at Luxembourg Art Museum and the cafe we had lunch at:

We found a photo of our server on their Instagram!

Mon, June 19

Our farewell walk through the canal area and breakfast at Gail's cafe. Mei Mei had one more tomato sandwich and Ma had some last croissants. Then check out of hotel, quick walk to Paddington to hop on Heathrow Express.

Heathrow Express is super easy to use and indeed just 15 minutes to airport, which is amazing. The check in, passport check, security at LHR took a bit of time but there were no surprises and everything was easy to navigate. We sat for awhile waiting for gate assignment, which gave Mei Mei one last opportunity for an orange juice! We then went to our gate, where things went slowly but orderly and so Mei Mei gave two thumbs up. So far, so good. She watched The Whale on the trip home... this was an afternoon trip so we were awake for more of it.

Mei Mei had a special veg meal and it was a veg/vegan/gf breakfast option that she simply couldn't eat. But otherwise, the food was again pretty good for airplane food. For the second time in a week, we landed in ATL in a storm... really interesting landing. A bit of hassle after an easy passport and customs was getting our suitcases... after customs, we could have checked them to RDU but opted to keep them just in case we could switch flights. But, once we were near the departure gates we saw masses of people because all flights were grounded for the storm. They managed to get these flights out a bit before our scheduled flight, but no option for an earlier flight to RDU. So, we left ATL right before 10p and arrived RDU right before midnight. It was so busy, Mei Mei had to have her dinner on the floor next to a garbage can.

Hoping for no surprises for our last flight!

 

We made it back, got our suitcases and then had to find Elliott in the parking deck. D sent just two photos so we could find the car! (He flew out three days earlier to Alaska cruise trip and left the car for us.) The most difficult part of the trip (other than the day that didn't happen) was getting the RDU parking machine to eat the ticket and accept my credit card. Everyone was taking a long time to exit because of this, but we managed. We drove home and had a lovely welcome from the puppy. The dog sitter (Jie Jie) was either asleep or ignoring our arrival! We fell into our beds. Ma had to get up early to drive Jie Jie back to campus for work/class. And that was the end of an amazing trip. Can't wait to go back.

More June 18

 Mei Mei's photos

Sun, June 18

Took Bus 23 toward Mayfair for our rescheduled full English at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. (Initially scheduled for prior Sunday.) Passed by Robert Peel's former home, among other notable residences in Mayfair. 

One restaurant entrance featured a refined, elegant floral arch...

The other entrance featured a super tacky tourist display! This is not one of Ramsey's elite restaurants, nor one of his chain concepts, but rather a one off in a hotel.

I selected this restaurant mainly because it offered a veg full English... but upon arrival we were told it was no longer on the menu. So they simply gave her a regular with no meat... charged full price too. The eggs were as runny as we expected given Chef Ramsey's rather famous for his egg technique... but they were better than expected. The blood sausage was sampled by both of us... wasn't horrible but really saw no reason to make/eat it. The restaurant was short staffed and there were many problems with service at nearby tables so we considered ourselves lucky to have avoided all that trouble.

Short walk up to Oxford Street for our next bus... this ride gave Mei Mei a view of the shopping district. We jumped off and had a quick walk past the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school's London location.

 

And then a couple blocks over to the British Museum, which was an amazing building with amazing displays, many that clearly stated the item was taken during a war/occupation or part of a war settlement!

Managed a bit of shopping in the gift store and then we got on the brand new Elizabeth line. This opened up in the spring and it goes all the way to Heathrow. But we jumped off at Paddington.

Heading out again, and all smiles because it's the first time we'll need our rain jackets. Amazing, amazing luck with the weather the entire trip. We had just a short walk to our Sunday Roast at the Cleveland Arms pub. Selected because it was so close to the hotel and because it offered a veg option.

But... the veg option was cauliflower with a curry and Mei Mei has decided she doesn't like curry very much so she went with the chicken. And by that, we both received half a chicken and had so much meat on it! Roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrot and turnip root veggies and of course gravy. Yum.

She's stuffed!

We walked home in a light rain, but we were able to cut through the train station so we were outside very briefly.

Back in her room doing some stretching! And sadly, some packing up.