Arrival in London

The lines at immigration are so long and slow that our driver calls to confirm that we've arrived.  We're nearly an hour late exiting the airport.  Heathrow is very difficult to predict but its more likely to have long queues than speed one along.

London traffic is what London traffic is; horrible. Why does one use a pick-up service? First the car is more comfortable; usually a Mercedes.  Second the paid rate is only marginally higher than a taxi fare. Third the hire car comes with amenities such as water, cold towel, etc. And finally, if there is heavy traffic as is the case today and was the case in Bangkok, it turns out to be less expensive since in a taxi that meter is always running!

We had booked the Renaissance St Pancreas with great expectations.  Those expectations had been seriously eroded by on-line reviews from loyal Marriott customers who told a long litany of horror stories related to poor treatment and lack of loyalty recognition.  Even the manager of our home away from home in Arlington was treated with disrespect when he called to lobby for our room upgrade.  With the bar now set so low, we arrive to find they indeed meet and sometime "exceed" our low expectations. There is no acknowledgement of CJ's very limited highest status, the room isn't ready at check-in; they don't inform us when it is as promised, and the room is in the crappy new wing and nothing more than a normal hotel room. Service in the concierge lounge is spotty.

 

In order to fight off the urge to sleep, we take the tube to the Tower of London for a tour. The Yeoman Warders guide, Barney, is a hoot; and also informative. I don't know how they manage but every one of these fellows is excellent and I've been on the tower tour three times. By the end of the tour we're exhausted having missed a night's sleep.

This is the home of ancient British royals, place of beheadings (like Queen Anne Boleyn and two more of Henry VIII's Queens), murder of two princes most likely by their power hungry Uncle and the intrigue goes on and on.

 

Adjacent to the Tower of London are the Tower Bridge and British Battle Cruiser, HMS Belfast.

 

We pass a pleasant evening in the lounge with a couple from Chicago who are dropping their daughter off for four months of study in London. On this arrival evening, we don't make it to nine o'clock.