We are underway

 Arrived at LHR 30 hours after leaving home on Saturday.

 

Though the flights were long enough to get some sleep, sleeping is not that easy to achieve with noise and lights in the cabin from time to time so when we arrived at 5.30 this morning both of us felt somewhat jaded.

 

Heathrow was relatively quiet save for the folk who got off our flight and so getting through immigration was a breeze.

 

As we couldn’t book into the apartment until 3pm we had 9.5 hours to fill in, so getting to the Heathrow Express, the train from the airport to Paddington, was completed leisurely - the total walk from the plane to the train was in excess of 1.2kms

 

From the Paddington Station we then “navigated” our way, sure as hell wasn’t by the shortest route unfortunately, to the apartment to put all but one of our bags in a locker – would have been all 4 if the locker was big enough- before heading to the shopping area on Queensway.

 

Even at 8.00am on a Sunday morning the area was starting to liven up and in the cafe we choose to go for a coffee there was a queue before us and a very steady flow of patrons while we were there – probably due to the baking that was on display which was mouth watering.

Having had our caffeine kick we started exploring the area and it wasn’t long before we were entering Kensington Park and standing outside Kensington Palace.

The palace doesn’t make you go Wow when looking at it but the park area which is vast had attracted hundreds of folk who were engaged in all of the traditional healthy pursuits- walking, running, cycling etc.

 We spent a couple of hours ambling through the park and the adjacent Hyde Park (though mainly through Kensington) before returning to Queensway to have lunch and a rest.

After lunch we then returned to Paddington Station area to get a feel of the wider area where we are staying (we would say London but officially we are in the City of Westminister). The area has a lot of vibe, some of the old buildings are quite majestic, and we think we will enjoy our stay here.

Finally got access to the apartment, smallish but clean and adequate, which was a lifesaver as by now we were knackered and getting off our feet felt so good.

 

All that remains now is to go back out a little later for a meal before returning and crashing.

 

Our London and Ireland holiday is now underway.