Back in London
We arrived at London’s Kings Cross at about 1:30, stepping out of the station into a totally chaotic (but wonderful) Saturday afternoon mayhem outside – aahhhhhhh… to be back in London… there’s nothing else like it!! 🙂
We made our way back to the eternally awesome Cartwright Gardens…
…bypassing our beloved Euro Hotel this time (what! oh, the disloyalty!) to reach The Harlingford Hotel at the end of Cartwright Gardens:
I had booked the Harlingford for this one night in London because it was almost £100 cheaper than our usual hotel, the Euro. All hotels charge as much as they can get away with on a Saturday night booking compared to mid-week – the Harlingford was £180 (CAD $322) for the night. For some time I’d been wanting to give the Harlingford a try just to see how it stacks up against the Euro.
We checked into the Harlingford at about 1:40.
The woman on Reception had originally assigned us a room on the top floor (no lifts in the Harlingford). When she saw me limping in she very kindly moved a bunch of bookings around so that we could have a room on the ground floor (no steps – Tada!). She assigned Room 11 to us, and we made our way there. What a great little room it was!! (emphasis on little). The ensuite and room had been fully modernized and it was very nice… we loved it, but soooooo tiny. Oh well, it was just for one night.
Review
If you’d like to read my TripAdvisor review of the Harlingford Hotel, click here.
Wandering Through Bloomsbury
We did some very minor unpacking, leaving almost everything in the suitcases as we were checking out fairly early the next morning, then left the hotel to take a walk around Bloomsbury. We stopped in at Leon to have a drink and soak up the London vibe. We decided to continue our wanderings around Bloomsbury, so we went through the beautiful and relaxing Russell Square – where we paused for a long while, enjoying the relaxing and shady park:
While we were sitting in Russell Square, we couldn’t help but notice an attractive young woman splashing around in the park’s centre fountain, a la Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita but much more subdued. I then noticed a professional photographer giving the model direction, so then I understood what was going on:
After chilling out in Russell Square for an hour we left, continuing our wanderings in the British Museum neighbourhood:
One of my favourite buildings in London is the British Museum:
Reaching the Museum, I could see the ice cream trucks lined up on Great Russell Street, taunting and tempting me with their offerings – of course, I weakened and indulged:
From the British Museum we wandered down Gower Street, then Tavistock Place to Marchmont Street, and back to the Harlingford Hotel.
One Last UK Meal
Returning to our room, we had a little lie-down for about an hour. We wanted one last – and somewhat special – evening meal for our last night in London, so I suggested Pizza Express on Euston Road; at about 6:30 off we went.
Pizza Express did not disappoint, and we had the full meal deal, so to speak, with wine and desserts. Although it was breathtakingly busy and noisy there, we stayed for a couple of hours, just enjoying the great food and lively atmosphere.
Saturday Night in Piccadilly Circus
We returned to the Harlingford Hotel at around 8:30 for a pit stop, then went down Marchmont Street and got on the Underground’s Piccadilly line. To create a London memento, I wanted to pay a short visit to Piccadilly Circus on a lively Saturday night in the big city. We weren’t disappointed – when we got there the place was jumping… and it was still early:
I shot a little movie of the goings-on in Piccadilly Circus that night. Nothing special happens in this video, it’s just Piccadilly Circus going about its business on a typical Saturday night in central London; people hang out for hours there, just milling about. When we were there, there was some kind of street dancing going on but there were so many people we couldn’t actually see the performance:
Saying Goodnight to London
We wandered around Piccidilly Circus for a while, soaking it up, then got back on the Underground. It was very crowded with a lot of loud, boisterous and slightly drunken Saturday night party people. All good fun, though.
We reached the Harlingford Hotel at around 10:00PM and were off to bed shortly after that. We needed to get a good sleep for the big travel day tomorrow!
Today’s step count: 12,531
