Up bright and early this morning to finish packing, despite having sent a few parcels home our luggage still seems as full as when we started! The dining room was busy this morning lots of suits and only a few ordinary folk, we ate a light breakfast and watched the news on the big screen TV. The lead story this morning, as it has been for some time, was the floods in Queensland. The devastation has been incomprehensible and one of the first things people ask, when they know we are Aussies is if we live near the floods.
We left the hotel just after 9am and carted our luggage over to the station we had to stop a couple of times for a breather. Even though it’s not very far it is uphill for a lot of the way and we had to use the lifts to get across from platform 1 to platform 2 where we could access platform 3 across the car park. We had about a 20 minute wait for the train to Leeds where we had to change for the trip to London. I had reserved our seats on the 10.40 to London so we wouldn’t have to search for seats that were free. Once you get the hang of the system here train travel is very pleasant. We had bacon sarnies and a cup of tea for lunch on the train. I tried to snap a few photos as the train sped through the countryside, they are a bit ordinary so I just have to commit the scenes to memory!
Last view of Leeds
Random shots from the train...
When we pulled into London we let the carriage empty before we pulled our hand luggage down off the racks and donned our coats, collected our big bags and left the train. Outside the station we caught a cab to our last home of the trip, Norfolk Towers in Norfolk Terrace, near Norfolk Place facing into the lovely Norfolk Square, a beautiful park surrounded by hotels not unlike our own! The cabbie watched as I struggled to get my case into the back of the cab, hmm, not a good start. The drive to our hotel took us past Madame Tussaud’s Wax Works, along by Baker Street where there is a Sherlock Holmes Museum, past Marylebone church and finally to the hotel, again the cabbie just sat and watched us unload the luggage, a tip? Yes I’ll give you a tip, be a bit more helpful you sod!!! The receptionist was lovely and asked if I required access to the internet as they offer WiFi and she gave me the username and password so I can access their system. I now just have to work out how to link up!! The lift in the hotel is tiny, maximum load 6 people, I think that should read 6 sardines, there was barely enough room for the two of us and our luggage, we had to juggle the hand luggage/back pack so the door could close! We are on the first floor, the corridors are narrow and our room is the smallest we have had.
Our tiny lift, it beats the stairs! We usually ride the lift up and walk down the stairs.
The halls are really narrow and hot and stuffy!
Negotiating one of the two fire doors between the lift and our room.The fire escape/stairs are almost opposite our door.
Our bed is comfy but the room is small. I was feeling a little claustrophobic as I stripped off my hat, scarf, coat and threw open the floor to ceiling window that leads onto a small balcony. Phew, I could breathe again! I booked this room on the internet on our last night at Calverley, we chose it for its proximity to Paddington Station, so we can catch the train to Heathrow when it’s time to fly home. It is about a 3 minute walk to the station there are plenty of restaurants, cafés and pubs close by but we haven’t found a laundrette yet! Initially I was disappointed with this hotel room, because it is a bit cramped and I suppose it is my least favourite of all the places we’ve stayed, however there are good points to it too. It is close to everything including buses and underground stations, there is plenty of choice for somewhere to eat and Norfolk Square garden is a quiet little oasis that I can gaze at from the window or balcony or we can go and sit in.
view from our balcony over Norfolk Square. Paddington station is at the other end of the Square turn left and walk about a block, we can catch an express train there to Heathrow Airport.
After we'd settled in, we took a walk through the park it was before 4.30 (when the park is locked) but starting to get dark.
One of the lovely old trees is covered in ivy The other good thing is that we won’t be tempted to stay in and will be out and about looking at things we missed last time we were in London. We are planning a few day trips, perhaps to Bath or Stonehenge we haven’t decided yet. We are into our last week and while still enjoying the holiday, we look forward to seeing our family again, not looking forward to the plane trip home!!!! But that’s a week away.
No comments:
Post a Comment