London - Europe Part 2

I was surprisingly impressed with London. And I don't mean that with any disrespect!

  Being an English speaker, I thought London would remind me of being in my native New Zealand ... not the cultural difference I was hoping to find on my travels. I had always thought the Pound was a scary currency that made England very expensive. I also thought 2 days would be enough and I would be ready to get on my way to the next destination.

 How wrong I was!

 We arrived on the Eurostar from Paris..... and after 6 years of living in Asia - what an absolute pleasure it was to arrive in a country where my native language was also their native language. I hadn’t realized it was so easy to get around when travelling.If I’m lost…I can ask someone..actually ANYONE… because we all spoke English! Ah the simple things.

 I out did myself in the accomdation (a trend that would continue the entire trip..haha). We stayed at the ‘Jesmond Hotel’ in Bloomsbury. We were greeted by one of the family members that own and run this perfect hotel. Glyn was an absolute wealth of London info and ended up saving us a lot of money by recommending an easy way to get around to the main sites using the public buses (rather than the bus tour as we had planned), as well as where to buy cheap tickets to a West end show.

 
NB - If you are visiting London and want to stay close to the action in a gorgeous terrace house with superb hosts, then look up the Jesmond http://www.jesmondhotel.org.uk/

Book early – these guys are hot property!

 The city itself was wonderful. Beautiful buildings, old and new. Great atmosphere, friendly people and delicious food. The price of transport, food and shopping was nowhere near what we thought. It was comfortable to travel there without breaking the bank. We saw all we wanted to in the 2 days and squeezed in a West end show! However, we both would have happily stayed longer and enjoyed what this fantastic city has to offer some more.

Next stop - Brussels, Belgium!