Posts Tagged ‘London’
Free Things To See And Do In London
Written by MichaelZ on March 27, 2011 – 11:09 pm -London may have a reputation as one of the most expensive cities you can visit, however, with a bit of planning it is possible to find lots of things to do in the city that are absolutely free. Without spending a single penny you can soak up the atmosphere and culture in this historic capital city.
A great place to start is with some historic locations; Trafalgar Square, which was built in the 1830’s and is home to London’s iconic Nelson’s Column, is free to visit. Covent Garden is also nearby and although this area is famous for its shops and eateries there are also lots of street performers here you can watch for free. Performers at Covent Garden must be licensed and they have to audition to earn their spot so you can be sure you’ll be watching something that extra bit special.
The Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Buckingham Palace is free to watch and takes place every day during the summer months, during winter you can see this military tradition every other day. The place to be is just outside the palace gates at 11.30 AM, as this is when the ceremony takes place with the guards marching on the forecourt inside the gates in the grounds of the palace.
A great way to spend a few hours for free in London is to visit one of the city’s galleries or museums. Most of these are free to visitors although some exhibitions within will have a charge, however there will be plenty to see for free in these places. Free museums and galleries include The London Museum, The British Museum, The Science Museum, The RAF Museum, The Natural History Museum, The National Gallery, The Saatchi Gallery and The Tate Modern.
There are lots of free parks and gardens that you can visit when in London. The oldest Royal Park is St James Park where you can take in great views of Buckingham Palace. During the summer months free concerts are held at the park so it is worth taking a look at the schedule. Another Royal Park is Regents Park, which has beautifully maintained gardens including Queen Mary’s Rose Garden and the Wildlife Garden. Kensington Gardens next to Hyde Park is home to the famous Peter Pan statue and the Diana Memorial Playground.
The inside of Westminster Abbey is also free to view if you have come to attend a regular service, although it relies on admission fees to cover costs if you just want to take a look around inside. Evensong is perhaps the most well known service when the Abbey choir sing; this takes place at 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding Wednesdays) and at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Learn More : Budget Hotels London
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Where to book to stay in Central London
Written by MichaelZ on July 3, 2009 – 1:11 pm -London is the most visited city in the world and London has got a lot to offer its tourists in the form of Landmarks and many tourist attractions and many places of interest but thankfully there are a lot of cheap hotels in London and also many places to stay in Central London. Many tourists would like to stay in the London West End. There are many cheap hotels in all areas of Central London. Hotels in the West end get full quickly during major evens in the city.
Select to book your Central London cheap hotels and bed and breakfast based on what you want to see in the City or what you are coming to do in Central London for you may want to be close to a particular area or you may want to stay in some cheap London hotels close to a particular Landmark or tourists attractions in the Capital or may be you may want to be close to London hotels in West End
London Victoria SW1 area has cheap London hotels close to the Buckingham Palace which is the residence of the Queen of England Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and at the same time the administrative headquarters of the United Kingdom monarchy. Just a stone’s throw from the Victoria area are also the Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Tate Gallery, Big Ben Houses of Parliament and the London Eye which gives you a circular cruise for 40 minutes.
Russell Square and the Bloomsbury WC1 area also have many cheap london bed and breakfast as well as cheap London hotels and when you stay in that area, you are close to British Museum, British Library, the Covent garden and the University of London to mention but a few. From the Russell square Bloomsbury, the most famous shopping areas in the United Kingdom; The Oxford street, the Bond Street and the Regent Street are not far if you decide to have a stroll. The China town and the Soho in the West end are also easy to access.
The Oxford Circus area and the Marble Arch areas also have many of the cheap hotels in London and are the busiest Wes End London areas with shoppers and tourist filling the street during the day time making the place heavily choked with traffic.
The Paddington, Bayswater, Lancaster Gate and the Hyde Park area also have fair share of Central London cheap hotels and also cheap London b&b accommodation and the Hyde Park and the Kensington Garden are the major tourist attractions the area can boast of.
The Kensington area and the earl’s Court area are home to landmarks and places of interests like Kensington Olympia Exhibition and Earl’s Court exhibition centres, Kensington gardens, Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, Science museum, the Kensington Palace and a few others.
Tags: cheap bed and breakfast, cheap hotel accommodation, cheap London hotels, London, where to stay
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An Introduction To Boutique Hotels
Written by MichaelZ on June 2, 2009 – 6:05 am -It is becoming increasingly common to see that many of the new, smaller, hotels are describing themselves as a “Boutique Hotel”. All across the world, in such places as the city of London in the UK, there appears to be an increase in the number of hotels describing themselves as a “Boutique Hotel” but what makes a boutique hotel and where did they originate from? The following article provides an explanation.
Boutique hotels are usually small hotels run by a family, couple or small enterprise. However, there has been a recent trend for some of the larger hotel chains to build hotels to meet the specific demand for these hotels so this distinction may not hold true for much longer! One statement that is true for all boutique hotels is that they feature unique elements of decoration and style and, in many cases, this is based upon a specific theme. Such themes can range from a hotel decorated and furnished in the 17th Century style to one which is focused on chocolate for avid chocoholics. Sometimes a boutique hotel may feature rooms which have different themes to each other with no overall theme but this is rare.
Where Was The First Boutique Hotel?
Boutique hotels first appeared in the late 1980s in New York USA. Although some hotels claim to have been boutique hotels as far back as 1981 in places such as London UK and San Francisco the first hotel to be described as such was the ‘Morgans’ hotel, New York, in 1984. These earlier claimants were, therefore, subsequently described as such and can not, realistically, claim to be the first.
‘Morgans’ hotel was owned by Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager who had commissioned the Parisian designer Andrée Putman to create a unique, highly stylized, hotel in New York. Putman created the hotel in what has become known as an “America meets Europe” fashion. Steven Rubell needed to promote his hotel to compete with those owned by large hotel chains and, to do this, he decided to attempt to set his apart from all others. He described other hotels as “department store” hotels and his own as a “boutique hotel” to show the distinctive difference - thus the phrase entered the English language for the first time.
Interesting Boutique Hotels in the United Kingdom
42 The Calls (hotel) in Leeds claims to be one of the first to appear in the UK. The Calls was a hotel built in the carcass of an old corn mill and used that as the overall theme. The hotel features some of the original corn mill machinery and is renowned for having luxurious hand made beds in its rooms.
The Blake’s Hotel in South Kensington, London, is often quoted as being one of the first boutique hotels in the world but, although this appeared before Morgans in New York, for the reasons outlined above this claim is often dismissed. Ever since the first boutique hotels appeared they have spread across the United Kingdom until they recently reached the remote island of Harris, where a boutique hotel recently opened in the small village of Tarbert, however the vast majority are to be found in London.
If you are planning a trip to, or a vacation in, London and you are considering booking a boutique hotel you may wish to check out the listings of boutique hotels in London at http://www.londonhotelhelper.com/
Tags: boutique hotel, hotel, hotels, London, New YorkPosted in Air Travel | Comments Off