Several months ago, my daughter decided she wanted to return to her favorite city, London. She asked if I would like to go with her and I happily agreed. We last went June 2023, she, her brother and I. This was a trip she planned- with my suggestions from my RS fam of course!
She wanted to do and see some things that she had not seen during her previous visits there. We did that, and more! :)
Day I: We arrived from IAD early to Heathrow at 6:30 AM. We took British air this time which was a considerable improvement on the flight experience from United in 2023. The seats were more comfortable (although I did pre-purchase an aisle seat for each of us).
I had pre-booked the Heathrow Express to Paddington. After customs, we actually arrived at the Premier Inn Paddington station around 7:30 AM. It was a very smooth and quick ride in and I highly recommend it for anyone staying in the Paddington area who can pay ahead of time to get the cheapest tickets prices.
When we got to the hotel, which is literally directly across the street from the Paddington tube stop, I asked if there could be an early check-in, (not at 7:30 mind you) but before three. I was told that they were sold out the night before and an early check-in was probably not an option. I do wish now in hindsight, I had booked the night before our arrival so that we could’ve checked in, put our bags away, gotten a shower and maybe taken a quick nap. I’m going to tuck that away for the next trip if we get there on such an early flight.
They offered to hold our luggage and told us to come back and possibly check in to see if a room was ready later in the late morning. so we gave them our bags and off we went.
I shared with her many of the RS forum recommendations , especially for the food/restaurant choices. They were all really good and I greatly appreciate knowing about them ahead of time. First choice for breakfast this morning was Sheila’s. It was a cute little place near the hotel and the food was delicious, but the coffee was even better!
After breakfast, we headed down to Hyde Park and walked around. It was drizzling enough to warrant an umbrella and chilly, but not too bad. It felt so good to be outside! There were swimmers swimming in the Serpentine that I just found amazing. Swimming right alongside the geese and ducks, in the rain, in the chilly weather. My son was a former swimmer, and I just had to send him pictures of these people getting on with it, walking to the lake in their speedos while I had on my trenchcoat! it was a sight for sure!
We then headed over to the V &A museum, which we missed the last time that we were here. It was such a vast museum, almost overwhelming with all of the items and different collections. The medieval and renaissance hall were of particular note to my daughter and I. So many interesting and incredible pieces to see!
One thing that I was kind of surprised by was the amount of dust that you could see on some of the more notable items. For example, the cast of David had a layer of dust on various parts of the sculpture that was very noticeable. As a museum professional, my daughter noticed it immediately. There seems to be a need for more attention given to the dusting/cleaning of some of the open objects. I don’t know if it is because of budgeting or just the vast amount of pieces that require care in this museum’s collection that causes the issue, but it was surprising.
We also really loved the jewelry and the stained glass section. It is such a vast museum. I just read Carrie’s trip report and she mentioned doing a tour through there. I think that is a great idea because it does narrow down your focus. We took a nice break in the beautiful café and had a scone and tea. The ambience there is lovely.
We then headed back to the hotel around 1 to check on possibly getting into a room, but there were none to be had. So we headed down to walk around Mayfair.