LONDON'S CALLING

Advantages: Pleasent stay, good food, central location
Disadvantages: Views from room

...a question to be faced with either, a non speaking recipient, or a down right rude English person. A simple polite answer is all that?s required and if that?s too hard don?t do the job. Lastly is food ? good food, goes without say8ing doesn?t it? The Strand Palace hotel has some 783 rooms on some nine floors (I counted them all!) And having spied in several others I was convinced they were all up to the standard of my own room. I booked my weekend theatre break through Superbreak for a cost of £196 for two persons the price included full English breakfast. ~~~Our room~~~ We arrived at our second floor room and slid the credit card style key into the slot and waited for the green light ? you know the standard stuff. The first thing you notice as you enter into the room is the darkness. There is a main light so we flicked the switched but...

dabmim 28.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

  Definitive London

Advantages: A great collection
Disadvantages: More ancient and medieval information would be nice

...The Oxford Book of London by Paul Bailey Oxford University Press Well, perhaps not definitive London, but a good collection nonetheless. Like most modern histories of London, the books pays only cursory attention to the period prior the Norman Conquest; there is a simple reason for this -- not much exists text-wise to give account of life, history, etc. prior to this time. However, there is increasing documentation from archaeological finds as well as extended knowledge of non-English document sources now available that refer to London; London's history predates even the Roman settlement of Londinium, but certainly it has been a centre of life, if not for the whole nation, at least the south-east of Britain, for over two thousand years. The Oxford Book of London, edited by Paul Bailey, is divided into three sections: Part I...

frkurt 22.01.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Oxford Book of London - Paul Bailey (Editor)

Stranded in London!

Advantages: Excellent central location; good bars and restaurants
Disadvantages: Rooms a bit old fashioned; a little pricey

..." - the inner courtyard of the hotel with the humming air conditioners at the bottom. I can live (or sleep) with that, but there was also an awful rattling, like pipes, coming from somewhere in the ceiling. We went back downstairs to complain, and were told there were no other rooms. After standing our ground they eventually checked us in to an alternative room on the 4th floor. A little bigger, but still not brilliant - probably "average", from past business stays down in London hotels. The reception staff weren't particularly friendly, as other reviews have mentioned. Despite being "club" rooms, all that appeared to be different was the decor. Instead of old-fashioned wall-to-wall flowerey decor and furnishings, it was plain duck-egg walls, and a "modern" bed (faux-leather headboard and plain brown and green blankets). Not worth the extra money...

tall_andy 12.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

LUXURY IN LONDON!

Advantages: Brilliant rooms, service, food, internet etc
Disadvantages: expensive!!!

...In the middle of February, I was lucky enough to be whisked away for a long weekend in London with my grandma. I?m a huge fan of west end shows and musicals, and so our trip was booked- we would go and see various different shows. I couldn?t wait to go. One thing I hadn?t thought of before going however was which hotel we were staying in. I reckoned that we wouldn?t be spending too much time in the hotel itself, as we were going to be very busy, so as long as it had two beds, a bathroom and some sort of wardrobe I?d have been happy. I knew the name of the hotel was The Grosvenor, however I didn?t have a clue what its reviews were like, or in fact how many stars it had. Getting to the hotel We had absolutely no problem finding the hotel. We took the train from our hometown, to King?s Cross in London. We only had to wait...

SweetTooth93 08.03.2009 (12.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of The Grosvenor, London

London's history in 1 book

Advantages: Easy reading, full of facts and amusing details
Disadvantages: size of the book, 1500 pages !!

...I have lived in London for 2 1/2 years and picked up this book as I was somehow interested to find more about the city. I had taken the open tour bus a couple of time to entertain some visiting friend and family and was amazed of the gabble and funny historical details the guides had to tell. ~The Book~ So here we are, in the beginning of time for the city, Celts at the time... Imagine these guys actually used the Thames river to drink and cook !! I had to read that bit a couple of times. The book will transport you from that long forgotten time to Roman occupation, different royalty, events, catastrophies - Great Fire, Plague - until nowadaysish London - it stops just after WWII. During all that time, you are following the life of a handful of families with intricate links who always manage to be...

FrenchCancan 17.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of London - Edward Rutherford

The Tower of London

Advantages: Full of History, great tours, Crown Jewels
Disadvantages: None

...things are American friend was "all castled out"!! Amazing really as the Tower of London is probably the greatest example of British monarchy in this country and an amazingly site to rival anything in America, but oh well. We did manage to squeeze in some time to see the gift shop. They had a really good selection of books about the castle. I recommend the book on the Crown Jewels and at only £4 had lots of information in. If you are after more history about the tower itself look for the official Tower of London guide book. The nice thing is that even though we were at the Tower for about 1 and a half hours we still saw a lot. On their website they do give you suggestions for planning your visit if you only have an hour or two to spare. If you do have more time I definitely recommend the following: A visit to the Chapel where Anne...

Spottydog11 12.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Tower of London, London

London Underground

Advantages: Convenient method of transport, frequent trains, Easy to get around
Disadvantages: Signal Failures, Broken Trains and Heat!

...♣ The London Underground ♣ ----------------------------------------- Considering I travel on the London Underground at least 6 days a week, it seemed fitting that I came across this category to write under. On top of that, two years ago I spent two days raising money for St Helena Hospice by visiting all of the 275 stations on the network. By the way, if anyone ever feels the urge to do that, I would certainly recommend it as it is great fun. When I did it I wasn?t working to any time schedule but you may want to try and do it in the shortest time as possible for example. However, be aware that this may be affected by any engineering works or delays experienced. I will begin with a history of the London Underground as a whole before moving on to look at each of the lines in more detail and give you some information...

TheHairyGodmother 23.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of London Underground

London

Advantages: Education
Disadvantages: Exspensive City Accommodation

...flamboyant, we liked it! We all wished and hoped that our hotel rooms turn out to be as nice as the reception area. We checked in and directed to our rooms, a family room we had booked. Several minutes later after a struggle opening the door we were in. What a clutter. Net curtains shredded beyond repair and wallpaper hanging off the walls like Christmas decorations that went out of fashion 20 years ago, carpet frayed at the edges looking like someone had taken an axe to the Minster. My Impressions of London hotels are never really as good has your own home comforts unless you really pay top prices; the Ritz maybe? Affordable and family orientated hotels with swimming pools are very few and far between, The Britannia hotels have taken heed and know its time to make changes and this Hotel in canary wharf as realised that they are in...

halk 14.06.2007 (17.05.2008) · Read review
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Review of London (England)

Oscar Wilde's obsession with books

Advantages: Full of fascinating information about Wilde's life and love of books
Disadvantages: None really, except maybe best enjoyed by those with some prior knowledge of Wilde

...The controversial Victorian playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, so the introduction to this book tells us, ?devoured and luxuriated in books?. He had a lifelong thirst for reading, so it?s not surprising to find that his house in Chelsea was packed with them. Not only was he an avid collector, but he was also an accomplished speed reader with a remarkable ? and to some extent photographic ? memory which helped him to absorb and recall instantly vast amounts of prose and verse. As a reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette, he could master a book's content, plot or argument in minutes. (If only ciao had been around in those days as well). Maybe it is only fair to get the one major chink in his armour out of the way quickly. Once, when he was preparing a lecture on the poet Chatterton, most of his notes were made up of entire pages and paragraphs...

JOHNV 24.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Oscar's Books - Thomas Wright

A Book Lover

Advantages: Well-drawn characters. Creative use of words.
Disadvantages: A little difficult to adjust to the changing style of writing

...The Book Thief written by Australian author Marcus Zusak was published in Australia in 2005 as an adult novel and in America in 2006 as a children?s novel. It finally came to the UK in 2007 published by Doubleday and Black Swan in both adult and teen-age versions. Though I have to admit, I do not know what the differences between the two versions are! My copy and the one I am reviewing is the adult version. The novel proved to be a triumphant success greeted by glowing accolades from a wide range of literary reviewers ? excerpts of which can be found in the book. The most apt from The Irish Examiner, ?A peculiar tale, whose deceptively plain language and cryptic style describe the most profound of human emotions and the most hideous of human actions . . . an unusual and compelling novel? Set in Nazi Germany during the Second World...

MAFARRIMOND 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Book Thief - Markus Zusak