Dublin - Day 7Hotel gardens

We organised Heathrow Cars to pick us up early this morning and out to Terminal 5 for a relatively quick flight (1 - 11/2 hrs) to Dublin. We kindly gave up our seats to a family and were rewarded with French champagne on the flight ... yaay!

Merrion Hotel is lovely - incorporating four 18th century homes, it is now a stylish hotel in the middle of Georgian Dublin.   After being shown to our room we do a hotel 'reconnaissance' then head out to walk around the main shopping precinct and we are able to visit the Museum of Irish Whskey - this has only been open for six weeks and is really well done, explaining the history of Irish Whiskey and culminating in a whiskey tasting.  Well worth the visit!

Back to our room for some R&R then we head down to the "Cellar" Restaurant for dinner - drinks first in the bar, then dinner - very tasty and great service.

PS - Photos may be out of order - sorry :(

These are obvious - our room

Bathroom - it has a separate bath :)

Hotel gardens

The surrounds are quite beautiful

Interior walkway

Garden maze

The pool

Views on our walk around Dublin

Typical busy shopping precinct

On our "Whiskey" Tour

Day 6 - London

After breakfast we head to the sales.  This is “crazy town”!!  There are soooo many people around.  I buy another pair of black heels, a couple of Gap jackets for Abbie and Oliver and some new make-up pencils.  You really don’t feel like shopping as there are far too many people to battle and if you do find something, the line to pay is huge.  Despite that, we head to Selfridges, as I can see Gordy getting a little ‘twitchy’ (must be after 12pm) and I’d still like to at least try to shop.  We have a quick bite to eat at Le Chalet on the 5^th floor, then I leave Gordy with wine in hand, to seek out a bargain….. total fail!   Getting back to the hotel is no mean feat…we are literally carried along in the throng of people so we cut down New Bond St. which at least allows for a leisurely stroll.  

My hip is starting to ache so will rest up for an hour or two, then head out for dinner and we have booked to see “Book of Mormon” again.  Saw this in New York three years ago, very confronting but very clever so going to ‘risk’ it again.  

Just home from the theatre - a high energy/confronting show - I did prefer the New York cast.

And so ends our six days in London - it's been fun.  The Sofitel St James is always a good bet and very well located.  The weather has been quite good and not as cold as we thought but we are off to Eire in the morning on the next leg of our journey.  Cheerio!

Boxing ay shopping crowds

Lunch at Le Chalet in Selfridges

Boys in blue on the job!

Day 5 - Christmas Day London

Christmas morning and we set off for a walk around London.  A bit quitter this morning but still quite a few people around.

Back at the hotel we do the 'great transformation' and head down to lunch at Le Balcon.  French champagne, amuse bouche, followed by a pheasant, foie gras and pork terrine, then scallops, turkey and finish with buche de Noel washed down with a French chablis!  I'm sure I will probably need to walk into lots of shops tomorrow to wear off the excesses of today! :)

Paddington

A bit quieter this morning in Piccadilly 

Ready to go in for lunch

Amuse Bouche

Gordy with the "look"

Me with a champagne!

London - Day 4

Not such an early start today, so after breakfast we head toward the Ritz taking in several fabulous arcades along the way.  They are all so beautifully decorated. The arcades we went through were very male oriented and very British, with tailor made suits, hats, ties, cufflinks, shoes etc.  We stop in at the Ritz for our Christmas eve “Bolly”.  It was lovely and an absolute institution but I do think the Ritz is a little jaded and more recognized for its tradition rather than its’ service.

We head off toward the theatre district and after a quick lunch settle in to watch “The Scottsboro Boys”.  What an extraordinary piece of theatre….based on the true story of nine negroes who were charged with rape back in 1931 – of course they were all innocent.  The almost all black cast played not only the nine accused but also the two white women, and various legal figures.  The treatment of this storyline was a very powerful and sensitive piece of theatre – thoroughly recommend.

We head down to a bar that has been recommended – Gordon’s Bar – unfortunately it’s closed so we then start our big “walk”!  Across the Thames down to the Tate before retracing our steps back to Westminster Bridge up the Strand and back toward home.  We ended up at Cicchetti for dinner, just up around the corner in Picadilly from our hotel.  Good Italian food, great service – another one I would recommend.

I feel like we’ve walked for miles so am about to fall into bed.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful morning….we still have a few hours to go!

 

Christmas at the Ritz!

One of the beautifully decorated arcades

Piccadilly Circus just 2 - 3 mins down from where we are staying

Gordy and I

Day 3 - London

What a HUGE day!  We ended up buying an “Oyster” card today (GBP5 plus whatever credit you want to add) and caught the tube to Sloane Square to see the Saatchi Gallery.  What a beautiful space, although, as with so many post-modern exhibitions, some of the works really push the boundaries and some were just downright creepy!  Back on the underground to Knightsbridge and an obligatory visit to Harrods.  An amazing store but I find it so big it’s almost too difficult to shop so just head to the food department and drool over the beautiful produce.

Another tube ride to Leicester Square and after picking up our tickets for “Matilda” we head to one of the many corner pubs (The Dog and Duck – or something like that!) for lunch.  This show has so much energy with some amazing child actors.  We then pick up our tickets to “Once” – yes, we are back at the theatre tonight (!) then head to ‘Chotto Matte’ in Soho for dinner.  Highly recommend this fab restaurant, offering a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian fare – the tastes were sensational!

At the theatre we buy our drinks on stage, which is set up like a bar, and the actors join us playing rollicking Irish songs.  Ronan Keating is playing the main role and is wonderful – I didn’t realize he was quite so short!  A lovely piece of theatre but it’s been such a big day they sing Gordy to sleep!  I’m struggling to focus also.  A brisk walk back to the hotel and Gordy is already in the land of ‘nod’.

 

You can't get away from this!

 These photos are not downloading in order!
Grrr...never mind - you get the picture :)

On stage at "Once" waiting for Ronan :) 

Food, glorious food!

  

Various artworks at Saatchi

Saatchi Gallery

Day 2 - Bath & Stonehenge

Today we are on a tour to Bath and Stonehenge.  We stayed in Bath a few years ago so I wanted to ‘revisit’ this beautiful city and I’ve always wanted to see Stonehenge!

We left Victoria St depot with Prestige Tours at 8.30am for the 2 ½ hour journey to Bath. This heritage listed city is very pretty, totally constructed from the local Bath stone – even new buildings must use the same materials and style in keeping with the surrounding environs.  Our first stop was Bath Abbey – an amazing example of Gothic architecture with beautiful ‘fanned’ buttresses. We didn’t go to the Baths this time, having already done an extensive tour in the past, but just walked around, venturing across Pulteney Bridge, through small arcades, into delicious chocolate (Charlotte Brunswick) and fudge (Fudge Factory) shops – I’m only human – a stop at “Sally Lunn’s” and ending at a local pub for wine and snacks.

A further thirty minutes on and we arrive at Stonehenge.   There is a new visitor centre opened recently where you board a commuter bus that takes you to the monolithic structure.  They are restoring the surrounds with new grass etc to protect the area so it’s about ten metres from you to the rocks.  Close enough to get a very good view.   There are a number of campers on the surrounding roads who have obviously come to view Stonehenge for the Winter solstice, which is apparently thought to be one of the reasons it was built – to align the sun’s rays during both the Winter and Summer solstice.

We were dropped off in South Kensington so took a cab back to the hotel – GBP4.75 per single journey on a train whereas the cab was only about 11 pound.

Back at the hotel Gordy’s asleep so looks like it’s an early night!

 

Beautifully decorated arcades we passed this morning

And delicious windows....

Bath Abbey

Amazing!

Look at this ceiling

Pulteney Bridge

A Bath street

Tiny tipple in Bath

Stonehenge

It was a bit breezy

Sally Lunn's buns!