With one exception we were able to use contactless payment. The one time I used cash was just to use some of the coins I have been carrying around my last few trips. Any remaining coins I donated to one of the multitude of charities soliciting donations.
Without exception, every restaurant charged a service charge of 10%-12.5%.
For all but one day on this trip there was sporadic light rain, but not enough to prevent us for going where, or doing what, we wanted. The temperature was abnormally warm for this time of the year, reaching the mid to upper 50s (12C +/-) each day.
On this trip we stayed at the same hotel we usually stay at by the Gloucester Rd. tube stop. After a long flight we stayed closer to the hotel only venturing out to Sloan and Duke of York squares in the evening to see the lights and the thousands of illuminated roses.
The first full day found us going to Hampstead Heath to visit Kenwood House, a filming location seen in the movie Notting Hill. En route to we stopped in at the nearby supposedly haunted The Flask Pub (c1663). Afterwards we toured the free to enter house then stopped in at another supposedly haunted pub for, The Spaniards Inn (c1585) afterwards for an early dinner before walking to a tube station. Later, we stopped at Blackfriars before heading to Paternoster Square to watch the beginning of the Santa Claus walk/run.
We returned to Paternoster Square the following day to get photos of the “Go Wildlife Go” sculpture that will be on display through February. The remainder of the day was spent going to Borough Market then walking around looking at the lights along Bond, Regent, Savile, and Carnaby streets, and walking past Annabel’s.
This year we went to see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theater. Prior to it we walked through Covent Garden which is always chaotic then went over to the Princess Louise pub for a pre show drink. The pub opened in 1872 as a gin palace and is beautiful inside. The draw to that pub were the “not on any tourists list of things to see” original Victorian urinals that were mentioned in a travel article I once read. They are some of only a few remaining in London. Spoiler alert, they look like urinals.
Needing time away from the city we took a day trip to Oxford to see some of the sites seen in the Inspector Morse, Lewis, and Endeavor television series as well as other Oxford sites. Prior to catching the train back to London we had a drink at the Morse Bar inside the Randolph Hotel, Not being Harry Potter enthusiasts we skipped those locations.
The next couple days were spent shopping, looking for some very specific items that took us to Brick Lane for dinner and to see the spot where the Banksy Monkeys used to be, Spitafields market, Notting Hill, and back to Sloan Square where we made our purchases.
On our final day we opted to take another day trip, this time to Rochester. The weather was the best of the trip (no rain) and we visited Rochester Castle, the cathedral, and walked along High Street. For those who like to browse charity shops, there were numerous ones in Rochester.