"Just once in my life I'd like to sleep until I woke up natural."
ANNA SMITH
I live in Virginia, so I was lucky enough to be able to take a daytime flight from Washington Dulles on Saturday, October 6th. Arriving at Heathrow Saturday night, I boarded the Heathrow Express for Paddington Station. This meant I landed at the Hilton Paddington around 11pm Saturday night and could avoid some jet lag. Perfect.
Ah, here I was in England. Fish n' chips! Crisps! Proper afternoon tea! Krispy Kreme!
Uh, wait a minute....Krispy Kreme?
What to my tired eyes did appear but a Krispy Kreme at the end of the Paddington train platform. I had just traveled thousands of miles to see a doughnut chain that I could go to four streets over from my house. Oh, well, that's a global economy for you! But what I can't see in the Old Dominion of Virginia is a tea drawer in a hotel room. A kettle! Biscuits! Earl Grey! All is not lost. This is indeed England after all. The hotel was a great choice for one night. What I didn't know but was delighted to discover is that the hotel was the former Great Western Railway hotel. The lobby, doors, and room decor reflect the hotel's history and are reminiscent of a more glamorous era of travel.
ANNA SMITH
I live in Virginia, so I was lucky enough to be able to take a daytime flight from Washington Dulles on Saturday, October 6th. Arriving at Heathrow Saturday night, I boarded the Heathrow Express for Paddington Station. This meant I landed at the Hilton Paddington around 11pm Saturday night and could avoid some jet lag. Perfect.
Ah, here I was in England. Fish n' chips! Crisps! Proper afternoon tea! Krispy Kreme!
Uh, wait a minute....Krispy Kreme?
What to my tired eyes did appear but a Krispy Kreme at the end of the Paddington train platform. I had just traveled thousands of miles to see a doughnut chain that I could go to four streets over from my house. Oh, well, that's a global economy for you! But what I can't see in the Old Dominion of Virginia is a tea drawer in a hotel room. A kettle! Biscuits! Earl Grey! All is not lost. This is indeed England after all. The hotel was a great choice for one night. What I didn't know but was delighted to discover is that the hotel was the former Great Western Railway hotel. The lobby, doors, and room decor reflect the hotel's history and are reminiscent of a more glamorous era of travel.
Sunday was the first day of our tour, but we weren't meeting until 3pm, so I had plenty of time to explore the area around Paddington.
I was amazed at the number of French cafes and groups of men huddled around sidewalk tables talking and smoking water pipes. I was also amazed at the Sunday morning litter. Then I recalled that London still has dustmen, so there aren't garbage cans on every corner as we're used to in the U.S. It was also Sunday morning...too early for cleaning. But it didn't matter, I was taking it all in. It was a beautiful day, and by the afternoon I was ready to walk to the Sherlock Holmes Hotel on Baker Street to meet up with the tour group. After getting to know each other, sharing some laughs and identifying our travel "buddy" for the week (Cheers, Irina!), we walked to Baker Street Station for an Underground orientation, introduction to Trafalgar Square (turn around, there's Big Ben), and returned to Marylebone for a great Italian meal at Zizzi.
I was amazed at the number of French cafes and groups of men huddled around sidewalk tables talking and smoking water pipes. I was also amazed at the Sunday morning litter. Then I recalled that London still has dustmen, so there aren't garbage cans on every corner as we're used to in the U.S. It was also Sunday morning...too early for cleaning. But it didn't matter, I was taking it all in. It was a beautiful day, and by the afternoon I was ready to walk to the Sherlock Holmes Hotel on Baker Street to meet up with the tour group. After getting to know each other, sharing some laughs and identifying our travel "buddy" for the week (Cheers, Irina!), we walked to Baker Street Station for an Underground orientation, introduction to Trafalgar Square (turn around, there's Big Ben), and returned to Marylebone for a great Italian meal at Zizzi.