Monday 5 September: London Town

After a last look around Arundel, we headed north to London. There had been thunderstorms during the night, but the morning was the usual grey overcast we have become so familiar with.

The problems we encountered driving around Dublin were nothing compared to navigating in London. After a deep and meaningful conversation with the Metropolitan Police about the virtues of parking on a painted median while trying to work out where the heck we were, we arrived at the Rydges Kensington Plaza. It's conveniently situated in Gloucester Road, just near many of the major museums and attractions.

A word of warning for potential guests - this is NOT a wheelchair-friendly hotel. We had considerable trouble lugging our wheeled cases up the front steps, plus a couple of other random steps between reception and our room. The room is not bad but extremely hot, so the window was propped open. Unfortunately the window overlooks the kitchen of the adjoining establishment, and a VERY loud exhaust fan is still going at 9:30pm. Reception have promised us a new room for tomorrow night.

Paul took the Mondeo back to Hertz, and had a very deep and meaningful conversation with the clerk who wanted to charge an extra £60 because the car was back 6 minutes late. They eventually backed down when he offered to take the car away for an extra day.

After settling in, we went for a long walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, which are close to the hotel. We were too late for any of the museums, but the Victoria and Albert, Natural History and Science museums are all within easy walking distance, as is the Albert Hall. It was a very pleasant evening, but after walking almost the full length of Hyde Park, window-shopping in Sloane Road and wanding up and down random elegant squares we were pretty tired and footsore when we finally got back to the Rydges.

So now it's going to be a nice long relaxing soak in the bath...