I hadn’t been to London, England since May, 1996, so my trip last week was a real treat. I’d spent a week there with my husband, Reg, on our first wedding anniversary and loved the city. But somehow, my travels only took me through Heathrow Airport in London over the past 15 years and hadn’t allowed me time to reacquaint myself with this marvellous city.
A spur-of-the-moment research trip with writer-friend, Suzanne Boles, of London, Ontario, enabled me to spend 6 days in one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the world with one of my dearest friends. Eating chocolate for the next installment of Chocolatour. What could be better than that?
we really enjoyed staying at Dillons
For this journey, we chose to fly Air Transat and were pleased with the service we received. If you can afford the small fee for the upgrade, do opt for Club Class, as it offers you additional space, enhanced service and comfort. For an overseas flight, it’s definitely worth it!
We were fortunate to find affordable and comfortable accommodations at Dillons Hotel (B&B) via the Journeywoman website. If you don’t already subscribe to Evelyn Hannon’s fantastic travel resource for women (and all travellers), I strongly suggest that you do. You’d be amazed at what you’ll find there.
We really enjoyed staying at Dillons. We were offered a complimentary breakfast daily, free in-room wifi, friendly helpful staff, and a convenient location near two Tube stations and the quaint neighbourhood of Belsize Park.
The only deterrent to staying at Dillons are the stairs! We were on the top floor (called the second floor, but it’s 2 levels up from the ground level.) We had a nice view and good air circulation with a large window, but there is no elevator, and so if you have difficulties with stairs or lots of heavy luggage, ask for a room on the lower level or choose another location for your stay.
Belsize Village is a great place to chill out
Belsize Park is a really cool neighbourhood in the London Borough of Hampstead. Lots of ethnic shops and restaurants without the hustle and bustle of staying in one of the more central, trendier locales. Reg and I had stayed in a similar neighbourhood in New York City several years ago and also loved it for its realism, safety factor and more reasonable prices.
Suzanne had been to London a few years ago with her daughter, so she recommended a visit to Covent Garden. I loved it! Lots of shops and restaurants, buskers, and pretty much anything for anyone. Reasonable prices in the flea market kiosks, more unique and fashionable items in the storefronts. And a Thorntons shop for chocolate lovers.
We also enjoyed a walk through Hyde Park. I was surprised at how much it reminded me of Central Park and many other green spaces in some of the world’s most memorable cities. Lots of people walking their dogs, cyclists, families feeding the birds, flowers and greenery for nature lovers.
However, my primary reason for visiting London was to eat British chocolate. I was not disappointed. Tune into the blog during the week of June 21st for more on that.
But for now, let’s talk London highlights. What have been yours?
Travel Diversions with Doreen 
Sounds like you covered a lot during your visit to London. When I last visited London (after stopping there 37 years before I immigrated with my parents to Canada), a couple of highlights come to mind., including time spent at the gates of Buckingham Palace. I had planned to spend only minutes at the gate, take a picture and be on my way — I did not want to be one of those tourists that stay by the gates waiting to get a glimpse of royalty. Nope, not me.. However, it is addictive standing by those gates peering in, seeing movement of cars and people and getting caught up in ”watching for the royals”. I’d tell myself just 15 minutes more….then another 15 minutes after one door did open, flurry of activity, cars being chauffered around….and so it went. There’s a camaderie that developed amongst us ”royal watchers” and it would be two hours later before I left.
Other highlights – visiting the Tower of London (awesome — could ”feel” the history), walking through St. James Park, visiting Madame Tussaud Wax Museum (not on my original list, but daughter wanted to see it — glad I went, it was fascinating). Shopping at Picaddily Fair. The taxi ride from the airport, chatting with the driver who when he found out we were Canadian, said he thought we were Americans and was going to take the long way to the hotel — being Canadian, he said he take us the short way.
Speaking of being Canadian, a highlight was visiting the Canadian Consulate at Trafalgar Square, signing in, reading Canadian papers, catching up on Canadian news. It all felt so…well… Canadian.
We were only in London for a couple of days, but felt we took in a lot.
Awesome – so glad you made it to London! This has to be one of the best places on earth for chocolate lovers. Unlike Brussels, we have lots of artisan chocolate shops scattered all over. we don’t use use one large producer (or three) and all shops sell their chocolates under different names. Nope – we have people innovating and creating wonderful chocolate!
I do hope you’ll be able to make it back here one day so I can take you on a grand chocolate tour. It’s such a weird shame I was in Toronto while you were in London. Also weird our paths crossed in Toronto! But hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet you in London and show you around this wonderful chocaholics dream of a city.
🙂
I had to chuckle a bit when you mentioned stairs and luggage in one sentence…….memories of the Florence train station. London is wonderful (especially when the sun is shining like that, a rare occurrence) and I’m glad you were able to experience it again with Suzanne.
Thanks for your comment, Virginia.
Yes, I don’t know what I would have done without you when were catching all those trains in Italy! By the time we got to Florence, I was truly bagged. Thanks so much for using those impressive muscles to help with my luggage and keep my spirits up.
I was really impressed with the train station in England that we went thru. (I guess it was the one from Gatwick to wherever we hooked up with the Tube system.) Rather than steep stairs, it was a gradual incline that made it much easier to schlep one’s luggage. We had a bit of a tough time then getting via the Tube to our hotel (schlepping luggage down the street) and so we opted for a cab on the return journey. The chocolate made our luggage that much heavier! Between the 2 of us, the cost of 51 pounds was well worthwhile.
Oh my, what an understatement. I was laughing while I read this. We were literally dragging our suitcases to the hotel. We were so luck y to find some wonderful people who grabbed our suitcases and took them on and off the train and Tube for us. And there were so many helpful people to guide us with directions. But I was so happy to take that cab back to the airport on the way home. Yes, the cost was more than well worth it. Fun times!
Thanks for sharing your highlights of London with us, Elle. Yes, I’d done Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Greenwich Village, Harrod’s, Oxford Street, and a day trip to Portsmouth and Winchester on our first trip to London. This time, it was great to visit a few of the other highlights. There is SO much to see in this wonderful city. And it is indeed, so nice to see it as a Canadian, as our historical link to Britain perpetuates a strong link between our countries.
And, Judith, how ironic, indeed, that 2 chocolate-loving girls would meet online over chocolate and form such an instantly deep bond. It was unfortunate that you were in Toronto while I was in London, but at least we got to meet for that afternoon in Toronto before I headed off to London. How lucky you are to live in London, with its plethora of chocolate shops! I was totally blown away by the quality of the chocolate and the passion of its chocolate masters.
But please don’t slam Brussels! The Belgians make wonderful chocolate and are equally as passionate about it. But it is a different kind of chocolate for a different palate. As Keith from Thornotn’s told me in London, “We are here to please the consumer. On the whole, the British consumer likes a sweeter chocolate and so that is what we make for them.” The same goes for the larger Belgian chocolate makers. They are pleasing their customers.
But there are some absolutely wonderful artisan chocolate masters who are making the kind of chocolate that you and I so love. They will be revealed in my book, and some on this blog, so stay tuned!
I think Dillon’s had another flight up Doreen (oh no! Say it’s not so! But I do think it is). Something about stairs and Europe. They call one flight two landings. It was a long way up and down. Got some great exercise but carrying suitcases was a challenge.
One morning I was going down the stairs and the woman who did most everything there (from serving breakfast to changing beds) told me to move to the side and she “kicked” a huge bag of laundry down the stairs. She said “that’s how we do it here.” I thought ‘hope you don’t kick people up the stairs.’
So much fun with Doreen. Can’t wait for the next blog installment. I will post photos on Picassa and give you the link so you can send people there to check out our adventures.
Thanks for your comment, Suzanne, and for accompanying me on this epic journey of chocolate indulgence. So much chocolate … so little time.
You just might be right about the additional floor at Dillons. By the time we got to our floor, all I wanted to do was get in the door and admit to having not looked if there were even MORE stairs!
All the stairs and the walking are likely reasons why you see very few overweight people in Europe and the UK as opposed to North America where we seem to look for the easy way out — and eat far too much! Cheers!
Hello! Thanks for the reminder, I was going to stop by earlier, but you know how it is…twitter, Facebook, squirrels….
Anyway, look the floors thing? In Britain the level you walk in on is the ground floor. The next floor up is the First Floor, so the one after that is the Second Floor. All nice and logical!
Last time I was in the UK, we did stop off in London. My Eldest Weasel is a big Dr Who fan, so we had to go to Olympia to the Exhibition Centre and take in the Dr Who Experience. Since I was at a writing meeting the day before, I got the fun of riding a train from Winchester to London, then taking the Underground acoss the city. We enjoyed the Experience, then walked to Holland Park, which I’d never been to before. It’s beautiful, but as it was a sunny day, the place was packed. After a day on their feet, the weasels were exhausted, so we stopped at a nice little Sushi place before catching the train home (to Grandma’s).
The funiest thing I found about the UK was the twisty nature of the small streets in towns. My friend was getting married and the town they chose has really tiny streets, and you can’t see all the way down them because they weave back and forth. When we stayed in Worcester, the back roads were so small you sometimes had to do three-point turns to get around a corner, because people were parked both sides of the street.
I don’t regret our move out here. Visiting the UK was nice, but I don’t have any great urge to live there again. Even for the chocolate (ooh, Double Deckers! That’s one thing you can’t get out here!)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Damian. I hadn’t realized that you’d lived in the UK. I think I definitely could live there. We found the people to be so wonderfully friendly and helpful. There was only one individual ( a dry-cleaning kiosk operator near Camden Passage) who was a new immigrant and who really could care less that we were in need of assistance. Other than that one unfortunate experience, we felt very welcome and wanted.
Sounds like you had quite the adventure with your family. How lucky children are these days to be taking trans-atlantic trips! The farthest from home I got while growing up was Kenora, Ontario — just a 2 hour drive from home!
Oh, Doreen! You’ve brought back so many memories. Last time I was in London was in March 2001. My daughter, who was 10 at the time, soon mastered the Tube and became our official navigator. There was one Tube station that went down and down into the bowels of the earth – I fully expected to wind up in Australia! (This was pre-knee-problems, of course.)
But my all-time favourite London day started at the Globe Theatre, a place of pilgrimage for me with my Shakespeare obsession. There was no performance that day, but there were schoolkids on stage playing out a pretend battle between the Montagues and the Capulets. I just sat there imagining that I was a “groundlng” around 1600. We had lunch in the Globe café overlooking the Thames. Then my daughter and husband went to see a dungeon museum – I skipped that and went to Vinopolis, a wonderful place devoted to the history and lore of wine. Great tastings, and I got a wine expert all to myself since it wasn’t busy.
I also love to go to the National Portrait Gallery – all those wonderful faces from history! It’s tucked in behind the National Gallery off Trafalgar Square. Then I like to walk up Charing Cross Road and browse in all the fabulous bookstores.
Hm, I guess it’s time to plan another trip to London! (This time with chocolate visits, of course.) Thanks for the memories.
One of my favourite spots in London is the Portobello area. The antique shops and flea markets are wonderful. I remember one lady in particular who sold antique bread cutting boards. She had a wonderful collection of these. I, of course, bought one, and use it only when company comes. It is so pretty. My husband bought me a gold locket which now holds a picture of us. There are so many choices of things to look at and things to buy.
A favourite event in London, was having tea at the Ritz. with the delicious unlimited goodies and friendly service.
I love London and hope to return. When I do, I’ll keep in mind this hotel you mention. It sounds like a good buy.
Looking forward to the chocolate comments,
Barbara
Thanks, Barbara and Kathe, for joining the conversation and sharing London memories.
Kathe: Suzanne did take me to the Globe Theatre, but we didn’t have time to take a tour as we had such limited time. But we did walk about the area and I felt quite inspired as to the history of that spot. I thought of you as such a Shakespeare lover (which I am not) and that it must be quite something to see a live performance there in modern day.
Barbara: Didn’t get to the Portobello area, but we did have a marvellous time exploring the Borough Market (which is joined to Jubilee Market.) Lots of great stuff there!
And we hade the pleasure of enjoying High Tea at the gorgeous Athenaeum Hotel on Piccadilly. Lovely spot, and they served it with a special (but pricey!) champagne cocktail made of French champagne, rose water, and strawberry aroma. It was marvellous!
I did give you a tease about chocolate in this first London post. I mentioned Thortons, which is a mass marketer of premium chocolate. Their most reasonable (and traditional) offering is the Classic collection. The mid-grade block bars are reasonably priced and offer a wide range of contemporary flavours, and there is a couture line of boxed premium chocolates that sell for 100 pounds a box and are offered fresh-made only twice per year. Stay tuned for more chocolate news of an artisinal nature!
Sounds lovely. It’s going to be one awesome book. Look at the author and the subject!
Hi Doreen, Sorry I missed meeting you in London this year ! Your trip sounds exciting – looking forward to hearing about your chocolate ventures. When is your book due out? Looking forward to it!!! Liz
Thanks for joining us here, Rusti! Lovely to have you onboard. And thanks for your encouragement!
Hi Liz: Yes, it’s too bad we just missed one another in London! Looking forward to hearing about your trip as well. Let’s talk this week. And thanks for your interest in the book. It won’t be out until 2012. But stay tuned to this blog for tasty morsels of what I’ll be covering in the book.
Between reading your post, and seeing the photos our son took when he was in London in January, I definitely want to get back there, and would love to do it with Jim this time. (I was on a Girl Guide leaders’ trip in 1992 when I went with one of the young women I’d met at the GG camp–and she and I are still friends, so hopefully she and her husband and kids could join us.)
I have wonderful memories of my short time there–about 3 days–but it was amazing all that Claire and I got in–too many things to mention.
One thing I will mention is the luggage and stairs issue. Jim and I were *so* glad we only had backpacks in Korea. It just made things so much easier, especially getting on and off the subways,trains, boats, and planes we traveled on, and climbing up *many* flights of stairs. When (not if) we get to London, it will be backpacking all the way for us. Who says you have to be in your 20s or 30s to do that? It’s a great way to travel for the 50-somethings too!
Thanks for the inspiration to go back; the suggestions of where to stay; and the stories about the chocolate!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Christine.
I admire you for thinking that backpacking is the way to go. It’s definitely NOT for me! I have to admit that comfort is a major consideration for me, and that vanity/fashion are also major concerns. That is particularly true when I am on sponsored travel and staying in high-end properties where we are expected to dress in a certain style. I have to admit that I have to come to love luxury, and that staying in amazing properties has in many destinations, totally enhanced my visit.
That did not apply to our visit to London, as Visit Britain did not offer any assistance and we were completely on our own concerning expenses, but that has certainly been the case in many of the destinations I have recently visited.
Wow, it never occurred to me that London is such an . . . epicentre for chocolate. I will definitely see it very differently next time I go, which I hope will be soon. And I’m definitley going to subscribe to the Journeywoman website. Looking forward to your book.
Hi Cynthia! Nice to have you join the conversation.
Yes, I never knew that Britain undergone a “chocolate revolution.” It’s truly amazing to see the quality of chocolatiers that have cropped up. To tell you the truth, I’ve never eaten better chocolate. And trust me! I’ve eaten a lot!
I hope you’ll join us here again soon.
I am glad I was able to put you on to Thorntons, and that you got to meet the chocolatier! I used to love Thorntons chocolates, their truffles, and toffee was the best. But it was expensive, so I didn’t get it all the time. I haven’t been to London for 6 years, and when we were there we walked all over, it was wonderful. But I have to admit that I have no interest in moving back, I like Canada and Winnipeg too much. Glad you had a great time!
Thanks for dropping into the blog, Emma. And for mentioning Thorntons to me. I hadn’t heard of them until you brought up the name as you don’t see their products in North America. But do tune into the next post when I’ll introduce you to some of the young, newer British chocolatiers who are making WONDERFUL chocolate.
It is an extremely convenient location close to trendy Notting Hill and High Street Kensington and will make your adventures around London easy to plan. Primrose Hill commands a superb view of central London from its modest summit. London s docks were fundamental to the long prosperity of the empire.
I’m intrigued that you chose to stay out of central London. I agree it’s a great area around Belsize Park and Hampstead and I’m pleased you enjoyed the contrast.
I’ve done a UK and US Chocolate Comparison to show that our chocolate is not the same, even if it has the same name and wrapper!
Thanks for your comment, and for subscribing to the blog, Laura.
On my initial trip to London, we had stayed centrally. But on this trip, cost was more of a factor.
Most of the destinations I have been fortunate enough to have visited were very helpful in helping with arrangements. I cannot say the same for Visit Britain, who provided no assistance whatsoever.
Thank goodness for the Journeywoman site, which lead us to Dillons, a very nice, modestly priced B&B at which I would stay again, and recommend to others. The bonus was indeed the Belsize Park neighbourhood. It was lovely and very safe and relaxing.
I was lucky enough to have a wonderful trip to England recently where I was hosted by none other than William Hansom, acclaimed as one of Britain’s most polite people, and host extraordinaire. We made a sojourn to London and enjoyed a day of shopping before we took in a performance of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I hadn’t been to London for about 12 years and was so happy to see so many familiar sites in my favorite city in the world. I am hoping to resume my semi-annual visits there. Places I enjoy visiting amongst others include Harrod’s Food Court, Fortnum & Mason, Pinks, Grosvenor Prints and The Wolseley (for tea). I did find some unusual green chocolate candy which I purchased for the color. It was powerful good!
Glad you rediscovered London, Jay. It certainly is an amazing city. It had been 15 years since my last visit. I certainly hope I’ll be able to return again soon. Am hoping to have a book launch there. Cheers!