London: Sightseeing

My first visit to London was in 1995. It was brief and I had my first case of major jetlag.
When my cousin Cody moved there I decided it was time to give it another visit.
London proved challenging to find decent budget accommodations. The prices are up there with New York prices (or higher). We settled on paying a bit more for a room in an Victoria Townhouse near Kensington Gardens. We weren’t too far from the tube and in walking distance to Notting Hill and many attractions. Our room had this lovely terrace.

The hotel was called the London Vicarage Hotel. I just learned that the hotel just closed November 2014 after 50 years of service. It really was a great location and you felt like you were living in another time in history.
To start our sightseeing we started at the nearby Victoria and Albert Museum. It was a great museum that is free to visit (they have a donation box). There was a David Bowie costume exhibit that I really wanted to see but it was hard to get a time to visit and I couldn’t get my companions to go with me (and it cost $$). We did get to see this amazing Chihuly chandelier though.

My cousin met up with us at the museum and we did a tour of the place then went out for a walk in Kensington Gardens (Connected to Hyde Park – Central Park in NY is the equivalent of Hyde and Kensington Gardens combined).

It was a nice walk on a cold sunny day. There are many trails for use. My cousin and I decided we never want to grow up and posed by the Peter Pan statue.

Later we met up with Randy and had dinner at a french restaurant. Côte is a chain restaurant in London but provided the service and quality of a fancy french brasserie.