THE ROAD HOME - DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN LONDON TOWN

Advantages: A thought provoking book
Disadvantages: NONE

...*THE ROAD HOME* *ROSE TREMAIN* Publisher: Vintage ISBN-10: 0099478463 ISBN-13: 978-0099478461 What a fantastic read!!!!!! I must say that I have always found Rose Tremain an excellent writer, and I think that this is her best book yet, quite a change from her more normal historical novel. The Road Home is full of her usual wonderful elegant prose and imagery and is both funny and tragic. It tells the sad and yet optimistic, story of Lev, a 42 year old widower who leaves behind his young daughter, Maya, with her grandmother in Eastern Europe (just where we never do find out) and makes the journey to London in search of a job that would let him send money home to make a better life for them. Lev is a likeable and hardworking man who quickly fits in to his new surroundings, but...

oldchem 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Road Home - Rose Tremain

LONDON'S CALLING

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

...eateries/drinking places and chose 372, which offers carvery selection. I was surprise how hot and fresh the food was. Not only that it was tasty too! We opted for lamb with roast potatoes, new potatoes and three vegetables. However, my only complaint about the meal was the vegetables; they were a tad on the raw side for my liking. That said I ALWAYS OVER cook my veggies. Dessert was for me home made apple pie and cream, while the other half opted for home made cheesecake ? both were consumed without any complaints and very much enjoyed. Our meal for two with drinks cost £29) Hotel: the hotel it situated in the Strand which is in central London and easy to walk to theatres such as the Aldwych, Lyceum, and many more. Come out the front of the hotel and turn right, and you?ll be heading towards Trafalgar square with Nelson, bear left and you...

dabmim 28.03.2003 · 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

Goldfinger: He's the man with the modernist ouch!

Advantages: fascinatng piece of 20th century architechture
Disadvantages: few facilities, not of interenst to children

...When I think of the National Trust I think of 18th and 19th century grand country houses with tea rooms, shops full of jams and volunteers in Laura Ashley. However its portfolio of properties is far wider than that ranging from Roman bathes to the childhood homes of the Beatless. 2 Willow Road in London's leafiest area hampstead certainly is not the stereotyped National Trust property. 2 Willow Road was built by the Hungarian Architect Erno Goldfinger (yes here is some connection between him and the James bond film. Apparently Ian Fleming sent Goldfinger first edition copies of the book) in 1939 and is one a fine example of Modernist architecture. 2 Willow Road was home to the Goldfinger family for 50 years and is pretty much , as how Erno and his wife Ursula (Ne Blackwell and heiress to the Cross and Blackwell soup company...

duskmaiden 19.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of 2 Willow Road, London

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

On the Road, On the Mind!

Advantages: The feeling that you're holding the author's hand the entire time.
Disadvantages: Spontaneous prose will not necessarily suit everyone's tastes

...On The Road is an exciting and enchanting perpsective on post-war America's cultural enlightenment, denoting a people's social revolution on the backdrop of an American 'halcyon' idealism. It highlights the desperate yet opportunistic nature of the 'beat' generation as they expand their horizons across the huge stretch of an entire continent. Outlining the experiences and revelations of a fragmented group of college peers and other random associates, it delves into the fiery-hearted life of drug experimentation and liberal thinking, in a decade where the clasp of the state was becoming ever more relinquished. As a psuedo-biographical work the author loosely basis the narrator, Sal Paradise, on his own turbulent past, and specifically that of the character he befriends and idolises, Dean Moriarty. The scope of the events that...

ChristopherAMorrison 29.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Revoulationary Road

Advantages: Good acting
Disadvantages: NA

...This is based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates. Set in 1955, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) move to Revolutionary Road in one of New York City's wealthy suburbs, and have a daughter and a son. Everything seemed to be in place for a perfect family. However, after 7 years of being together, April is not satisfied with her life as a housewife, and Frank despises his job at Knox Business Machines, where his father worked for twenty years in a similar position. The Wheelers feel they are trapped in the way of life of the suburb and the normal "happy family scene". On Frank's thirtieth birthday he seduces a young secretary from work and begin to have an affair with her.. Returning home late, April surprises him with a birthday cake and a proposal that they move to Paris, with April...

medgenie 24.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Revolutionary Road (DVD)

Fast and tasty, behind the London Eye

Advantages: Handy location, tasty healthy food
Disadvantages: Frustrating if someone takes the item you want off the belt!

...This is the Yo Sushi that we always visit when we go to London, as it is close to Waterloo Station. We usually walk off the train and into here for lunch. It is also near to the London Eye, as well as the County Hall art museums and the Aquarium. The road is not open to through traffic so it is quite a quiet street; people going by can look down on you as the restaurant has a large glass window, but you don't feel too overlooked as it is not a street packed with people. The restaurant is below ground level, you walk down several steps to reach it. I haven't noticed any kind of disabled access but I guess regulations must mean there is some. As you enter the very heavy swing doors (I always struggle with them) there is a desk to the right which is where you pay your bill at the end. Walking down the steps the focus is...

xameeurc 21.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Yo! Sushi, Belvedere Road County Hall, London

London Underground

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

...operate a generally poor service and the trains are in desperate need of upgrading. Many of the stations are falling apart and the general atmosphere on this line is glum. The control centre for the District Line is located at Earls Court, and all trains on the line pass through here. Earls Court also provides a link to the Piccadilly Line. Perhaps surprisingly, the District Line operates two different types of train. The main line services run D stock trains. The branches that run to Edgware Road and Olympia run C type trains. Don?t ask me what the difference is because I don?t know, but I thought it was quite remarkable that one line is capable of running two different types of rolling stock. ○ Fact: The District Line covers a distance of 40 miles! ♣ The East London Line ♣...

TheHairyGodmother 23.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of London Underground

London

Advantages: Education
Disadvantages: Exspensive City Accommodation

...We arrived at London St Pancras and for a split second we questioned ourselves, is this actually St Pancras. The train came to a standstill. Immediately we were overwhelmed with the swish new surroundings and by the grandeur of a once, shadowy and very old tarnished rail station; St Pancras had been transformed. This State of the art new construction towered over us and blended in perfect with the old structure. St Pancras had become another world of unrecognizable architecture; it had been modernized and instantly brought into the 20th century, though still retaining the original character of old. We boarded our underground train, the northern line, the 3 D line, Dark; Dingy and Dirty. Next stop the jubilee line or could it be the orient express. What dissimilarity, It was far more contemporary than the northern line...

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