Sunday 26th May we caught the train to spend a couple of days in London to celebrate my birthday.
After checking in to the Holiday Inn Express in Stratford, we took the tube back in to the City centre and with a little time to kill before our 7:00PM appointment at The Shard, we enjoyed a walk alongside the Thames, taking in the Golden Hinde, Borough Market (which was closed), Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre which was bustling as it was a performance night and also Southwark Cathedral where we briefly enjoyed Compline and Eucharistic devotions, which was nice, but not our cup of tea.
Sight seeing done, we found our way to the Shard, to enjoy The View From The Shard up on the 68th and 72nd floors. We were blessed with perfect weather and the views of the city from above were simply stunning. The more you looked the more you saw and one by one you picked out landmarks laid out before you like a living A to Z map.
To cap it all, and with all the horror going on in the World right now, every member of staff, without exception, were so proud to be part of this spectacular venue and great ambassadors for our country. Who said the UK can’t do customer service eh?
Monday saw us heading to the O2 venue, not for a concert, but to walk over the roof! Up at the O2 was another birthday treat, the roof climb that takes you up 52 meters right up on top of the O2. Once we had been taught how to be safe, donned our snazzy boiler suits and tightened out safety harnesses we started our climb up the outside of the roof. Bouncy as a bouncy castle, the ascent was not that difficult and once on top we were unclipped from our safety wire allowing us to enjoy the views from viewing platform. Seeing planes taking off towards us from City Airport and viewing the Thames Flood Barrier were pretty amazing. The descent was a little more tricky, with the final stretching being more than a little steep, but we all made it back to base camp in one piece. A great experience and one to repeat when they get the zip-wire descent sorted out.
After our climb we ate in the O2 at Jimmy’s World Buffet, which was quite an experience !!! Stuffed full we headed back in to the city, picking up a couple of ‘Boris Bikes‘ by Wellington Arch in Green Park and heading off to circle Hyde Park. We saw Horse Guards on the way back to barracks, the new Bomber Command Memorial, the Serpentine, Lady Diana’s Fountain and a very, VERY busy Hyde Park.
Our two nights at the Holiday Inn Express Stratford were very comfortable. Price-wise, it was spot on, not too expensive and with it’s buffet breakfast I think it is good value. Position-wise it is pretty much perfect too, in a quiet residential area just a few minutes walk from Stratford station and the brilliant Westfield Mall it is also just a 10 minute tube ride in to London centre. Very welcoming and friendly staff too, and the girl on check out even knew we had been there before. Nice touch.
All in all a very enjoyable weekend.
mrandmrsyoung 