Hotel review - Hilton London Kensington Hotel, London, United Kingdom

The room was decent, although a bit small for two people. The breakfast was good, with hot and cold buffet.

Paid private parking.

Well-stocked executive lounge in the evening.

Hotel review - Renaissance Chancery Court Marriott Hotel - London

A 5 star hotel in the London City Centre.

Prohibitive prices for regular people like us (GBP 210 / room / night) - luckily it was a business trip and the employer paid for it.

Having stayed in the past at similar hotels, we were not particularly impressed.

The marginal extra comfort offered by such hotels just does not justify the astronomical rates for regular people. The hotel is just for business trips and rich people.

One think we particularly dislike about these hotels: it has carpet everywhere and carpet is much more difficult to keep clean, as compared to some other floor covers.

Aaa, and the old furniture is also a downside.

Not to say that at this money, breakfast is NOT included.

English are mad about musicals

Reading the ads in the newspapers in London, we came to the conclusion that English are mad about musicals.

Why do we say that? Because they transform almost all successful movie into a musical.

See below and amaze yourself:

Santa Claus and Snowmen have taken over London

No one can escape from the joy they spread all over:

Hotel review: Grosvenor House, JW Marriott Hotel - London

This is a first article in a series we are starting on reviews of hotels we have stayed in.

Last week we have spent 2 nights in the 5 star hotel mentioned in the title.
Details can be found at http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/longh-grosvenor-house-a-jw-marriott-hotel/

First thing to mention: no, we did not won the lottery (yet :). It was job related and the company paid for it approximately GBP 200/night (taxes included).

Things to mention:

- the room is not fantastic: it is slightly bigger than a regular 2-3 star hotel. The furniture seemed rather old

- however, the bed was the best we have ever slept in

- housemaids did not replace the towels and did not bring additional soap and shower gel

- breakfast is extremely expensive: GBP 27/person. It does not worth the money. It is more or less the same as what we have eaten at a 3 star hotel like Best Western. The accent was put on traditional English breakfast, including beans, bacon, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes

- it takes 2 minutes to start watching TV: when you first turn on the TV, there is a menu with 7 choices, where they try to trick you in buying various services like pay-per-view movies, etc. Worse, when you finally find the regular TV channels, there is only a limited choice

- internet is not for free and costs a fortune

- on the good side, you can use a bathrobe and disposable slippers

- it's cold in the room, as they only have centralised air conditioning system, which does not manage to heat properly the room. Furthermore, you can not sleep with the air conditioning turned on, as it makes a loud noise and dries the air in the room

To conclude: do not stay there, unless somebody else pays for it ...

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Christmas spirit in London

Just in case you did not get enough of Christmas yet, here is another batch of festive decorations:

Oversize art (IV) - London

It's London time for a sample of oversize art:

The virus is spreading !!!

The virus of stupid so-called art is spreading all over the world.

Today: London

Christmas market in London

Christmas has conquered not only the continent, but also London.

Moreover, in London people seemed much more relaxed and ready to party:

Trendy in London

When in London, you must look according to the latest trends.

Even giraffes do:

Trip to London - part 2

Some more photos from London in December:

Trip to London - part 1

Last week we've been on a trip to London.

Since it was the second time in London, we have not visited all the tourist landmarks, but only some of them.

Here are some photos: