Our trip to Europe last summer was remarkable for its “running around.” In 15 nights we stayed in five different countries in 10 different hotels.
This summer we will literally be running: around Mont Blanc that is. But we’re also doing our share of country hopping. We will hit four countries and nine hotels in eleven nights. We chose three of the hotels and our outfitter chose the other six. I’m looking forward to our visits.
We left Ennis in the wee hours of the morning. The taxi driver said to John, “please sit up front because I need your help.” The help he needed was to have John listen as he talked non-stop for 30 minutes on the way to the airport! Wow. Very friendly and typically Irish but it would have been better with coffee.
We took a very short flight to London and got a ride to our adorable hotel. Ampersand is a new boutique hotel right in the heart of South Kensington, about 2 blocks from the Natural History Museum. It is a perfect location near restaurants, shops, and museums but it is super quiet and features unique furnishings and design. I really recommend it and I would stay there again in a minute.
It was quite early so we dropped our bags and walked to the Natural History Museum. This is where I had my absolute favorite moment of the whole trip. We walked into the dinosaur display, which is huge and fascinating and full of skeletons. A little girl in front of me, she was probably 5 years old in a sweet little dress and coat, suddenly yelled, “Look! It’s Stegosaurus!” And she ran towards the display. Cutest. Thing. Ever. Her parents followed her and took her picture and I wanted to take one too but thought it would be rude.
Next we headed to the National Gallery to look at art. After wandering the halls for about 2 hours, we walked down Whitehall towards Westminster Abbey and then crossed the Thames to see the London Eye. The crowds really got to me, so we hopped on the Tube and headed back to our hotel to freshen up.
Since one of our favorite things to do in the States is try craft beers, next we went to a great new pub that serves locally brewed craft beers. Cask Pub and Kitchen was really fun!
Then we went to dinner with our friend James who is Irish but lives in London. We met him in December 2010 hiking the Inca Trail in Peru. It was so fun to see him again!
We slept for a while and the next morning went for a lovely walk in Kensington Gardens, then we had a croissant and caught the car back to the airport.
It was a short trip, but we managed to tick several London boxes and we can’t wait to go back.
There was a French school next to our hotel so there were lovely Patisseries all over.
