This is MY London - Thames footpath walk

Tower Bridge

I love London! I think that in my heart I am more of a Londoner than someone who was born and bred here. Walking in central London is full of surprises. At times you will decide to take a side street and suddenly you will find yourself in hidden gems which are secret places that only the rich kids hangout at.


Central Hall

On a typical day if I do not have the heart to make it fully to the centre, I will walk along the Thames path with my Journey usually beginning on Westminster Bridge. Today, I am taking you along on one of my walks.

If you are a tourist, you would know that one of the most popular train stations in central London is the Victoria station. Almost all trains lead to Victoria station and Buckingham palace is only a stone throw away.

St James is behind me

From there just ask any one where Victoria street is. Victoria Street goes from the station and ends opposite Westminster palace and facing big Ben.

As you stand at this end of Victoria Street to your right, you will see Westminster Abbey to your left, there is a popular venue called Westminster Central Hall which is one of the most recognised conference venues in central London. At the back of Central Hall starts St James Park. 
Crossing the road to Big Ben’s side, you will find yourself on Westminster’s bridge where you will spot the Millennium Wheel. Take the stairs from the bridge and walking directly under the Millennium Wheel AKA London Eye, you will be greeted by throngs of tourists enjoying this particularly popular side of London.

Within 500m you will find here the Aquarium, the wheel with pod rides, a spectacular view of the palace, a nice green space for picnics and street artists… Families and lovers enjoying the sight of the Thames Clippers whiles sat on the benches provide.

Further along, starts the South Bank  which includes the cultural centre, the BFI and the Festival Hall where often are held classical concerts, jazz festivals, World culture festivals, exhibitions and specialities street markets… and we shouldn’t forget the famous skaters’ space that has been so many times been threatened by demolition. As the walk continues you will encounter a market of old vintage books which, I love browsing with delight and care freely re-plunging myself in my nerdy days. We are under Waterloo Bridge…

 

As the buzz dies down you can spot to the left a small beach where no one can lie down for a tanning session but, you can see grownups creating shapes on the sand and ricocheting pebbles on the water.

On the right side unexpectedly, there are two restaurants with a passage between them leading to a little square with very quirky artisan’s shops… really worth browsing… without the credit card.

From the view of the photo to the right, you can see St Paul on the right, but it is still about 2 bridges away from where I am standing. The next bridge after that OxO tower is Blackfriars Bridge.



The Tate tower

Continuing to walk by the waterside from here, the next few meters will take us to the Tate Galleries Which. is the tall brown Column you can see at a distance. Right under it there strategically planted trees under which people can seat on the grass beneath and have a pic-nic. There are also benches not far from the main entrance of the gallery.
Just on the other side it is a foot bridge leading straight to St Paul’s Cathedral… This is the Millennium Bridge where lovers have the tendency to leave lockers with their names and hearts written on it… Apparently this is going to be banned soon as the number of lockers makes the bridge heavy… it is trendy “thing” that lovers started on the Pont Neuf in Paris.


Millennium bridge

Just about few meters along the waterside still on the right side, we can see the Southwark Bridge with the Famous Shakespeare & Globe theatre from the millennium bridge. Shakespeare was one of the main stake holder in the theatre when it was built in the 1500s, it has since been rebuild 3 times..

The Golden Hind

The area under Southwark Bridge is very interesting as it hides unsuspected streets and small squares with a mixed of old and modern constructions. There are new buildings with their hind side being the remains of an old palace (the Winchester Palace). You will also find here the prison museum and the Golden hind, an old pirate boat randomly nested opposite a modern coffee shop. It is bit stinky there, so take photos and keep walking towards the next Bridge.
But before getting to the London Bridge which coming up next, you will find Borough market with all sorts of street foods, then the Southwark Cathedral which leads right on to London Bridge!


Hay's Galleria

Here you will have to leave the riverside walks, take a million of stairs to cross the road and re-join the sidewalk on the other side. As you cross the road you will see a rails bridge above you, then you will see the tallest building in Europe… It is called the Shard… Nothing much to see there. Re-joining riverside walks, few meters dawn and sat on the river, you will note the HMS Belfast and to your right the Hay’s Galleria, a very elegant small shopping area.

From here on, the path is no longer just concrete. It is very noticeable that we are not too far from City hall. The path opens in a sort of roundish square especially designed by landscapers. The space is surrounded with glassed facades commercial and office buildings including that of City Hall.

City Hall

I am reliably informed that this roundish slightly sunken square is an amphitheatre sometimes used for outdoor theatre performances. The image to the left is the structure that at the middle of the square in front of City hall. Slightly to the right of City Hall the Shard is still visible and to the right we can see Tower bridge. This bridge opens when tall ships are coming to town. The traffic stops and the bridge opens… this is the best spot to be during the Lord Mayors’ show.

Crossing the bridge and going on the North Bank will lead you to the Tower of London where most recently were displayed over 880.000 ceramic poppy roses representing the British soldiers fallen in the 1914 war.

Here stops my walk. It would take a whole afternoon to fully enjoy it with friends. There is a lot to talk about and to see along the Thames footpath. It would take even longer if you would like to know exactly what every single building is… There are is a lot of culture and structures on the other side of the bank, but it is much more designed for traffic and less tourist friendly than the southern side of the bank.



Sunday Caramel

Most of my walk finish with a Sunday Caramel from McDonald… Rich and rewarding…

I do hope you have enjoyed my walk and my city…

 

See you next time!

 

Royal hotel - Sutton Coldfield Midlands UK

My bedroom

Usually, when you hear “Royal” about a hotel it suggests that the hotel has a certain standard so its name would not stand for a lie.

In the case of this “Royal” Hotel, the qualificatif is definitely a lie.

The hotel is situated on the High Street and not too far from the main shopping area of Sutton Coldfield.  This small hilly side of High Street wasn’t the most welcoming and the hotel didn’t seem that Royal from this side. The entrance from here opens in the bar with at its right side, the check-in desk.

It just happen that we were also having an event in the hotel that day and when I asked to be led to the meeting room, I was taken through the staff walk-through which, was strewn with broken planks, dust, plaster and few other rubbish that indicated that there may have been some construction work going on. That did not fill me with confidence. Seeing my meeting room did not make things better. The only great thing about this room was the 3 beautiful chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. The latter told that this meeting room had had better days…

After the event our team was staying overnight and the first impression didn’t improve. My room, though it was decently decorated with a large comfortable bed, had a shredded & threading cushion and that was distracting. It was clear that the cushion needed replacing but, that hotel could not be bothered… I think. The access to the accommodation was not the easiest as there were way too many sets of stairs and a disabled person would have had serious difficulties reaching the rooms as none were situated on the ground floor.

Having finished late, all we wanted to eat was a salad & chips (French fries) accompanied with a glass of wine…. It took the hotel staff 45 minutes to serve 2 people. The salad wasn’t the most appetising and it seems our chips had been fried in a very old oil by the odour… Goes without saying that I was most suspicious of my salad and preferred to stick with the chip… They were not going to give me a runny tommy…

Looking around us, there were not many diners or drinkers for that matter… an indication perhaps of the “success” of this hotel-venue-pub-gym?

The Royal hotel wants to do too much on this dead side of town, but must focus on one or two things and get better staff… That might secure repeat business from visitors… Focus guys, focus!

I won’t be coming back though…

To you my reader, please do not take my word for it. This is my experience, yours might be better.

Ciao! See you next time!

Ramada Encore - Leicester - UK

Leicester. A city, I never thought I would have a reason visit. It is not a go to place like Birmingham, Manchester or Newcastle.

I arrived in Leicester On a very sunny Thursday afternoon. The train station is on the same street as one of the main shopping area… As I walked down the street taking in the city centre, one of the things that struck me most was the multicultural feel of the town. I was mainly surprised because for some reason I had classified it as a middle England town where there would be no visible ethnic representation. From what I saw walking through the high street to my Hotel, the town has a great population of Asia’s and afro-Caribbean. Isn’t if funny how easy it can be to put places in boxes without having even set foot anywhere near?

So, my impression of Leicester was that it was multi- ethnic. The high-street was no not different from any others in the UK.

My hotel, the Ramada Encore was situated at one end of this high street. At the time I finally finished my work in town and checked in the hotel, the shops had closed for the day and the streets were very quiet as it was a match day.

The reception of the hotel opens on a lounge and a coffee area and the clientele seems tonight seem to be mainly male and lovers of football, 30 and above with the eyes fixed on the 2 large flat screen TVs placed on each side of this space.

The Ramada Encore Leicester is in a very very new grey modern building. From the outside you are given the impression that everything inside would be very square and clinical. It would have been so had it not been for the injection of strong colours and those almost obsessive straight lines everywhere. From the floor carpet, to the upholstery and the curtain, the stripes were everywhere in bright colours. Even the artwork on the walls had stripes,  and square… not sure what it is all about but despite my hate for them, it would have been worst to have white and grey everywhere…

The check in was fairly quick, I went up and quickly took a tour of my room and came back out of the building to take pictures before the sun went down to explore before the sun went down.. The thing I liked most about this hotel was the beautifully finished curvy spiral staircase which can also be seen from the outside of the building.

Stripy curtain and artwork

  My room was not impressive and was minimal with a view of a roof top… I kept the curtains closed. The bathroom was poorly lit and the tiling was … brown. I regretted not having brought my flip-flops for the shower.

I had my dinner in my room as I had no interest.  What so ever in watching football. The hotel did not offer room service as such much to my disappointment as I was really tired. After ordering you’d have to go back down to collect your tray and pay... I really enjoyed the dinner which was a generous in portions as I had 2 fish fillets served with a warm pesto and chunky chips. I really enjoyed my dinner. And was knocked out quiet quickly on a very full belly. I slept like a log. This was either due to tiredness or a good bed… It was very comfortable.

I’d recommend the Ramada Encore Leicester especially for its proximity to the town centre… For anyone who is driving to Leicester, look out for one way streets… IT IS A NIGHTMARE!!!

Thank you for reading!

Next week we are checking in a Royal Hotel. Don’t forget to check in!

http://www.leicestercitycentrehotel.com/