London was the very first city I visited outside of the United States.  I was 12 and my grandmother took me for a little vacation.  We stayed at the InterContinental, there was a middle of the night fire alarm.  Gaga was mortified to be forced downstairs in her rollers, until a woman with the most amazing head of hair commented that she adored them.  I was too young to realize it, but the gorgeous woman was Diana Ross.   I don’t remember much else about London

Chris has been dying to visit, and I used the beautiful city as a bargaining chip for my five weeks in Paris.  It worked and was the loveliest opening act for this amazing trip.

We stayed in Notting Hill, at a simple little hotel, 10 Pembridge Gardens.  We did the touristy sites and splurged on Christmas tea at Brown’s Hotel.  We popped into pubs and sampled lots of the local brews, one of my favorites in Soho, The Crown and Churchill Arms in Notting Hill.  We spent our last morning wandering through Notting Hills markets and antique shop, highly recommended!

Because we were there over Christmas and Boxing Day, getting around the city and visiting almost anything was pretty tough.  If you’re thinking about going, know that the tube & all buses are completely shutdown for Christmas Day.  You can walk, take a cab (which was so incredibly expensive) or rent a bike (there are stands throughout the city.)  We didn’t do it, but apparently Addison Lee is a minicab company, running about half the cost of a black cab (I imagine it’s similar to an Uber.)  Most restaurants were closed, so we stuck to hotels that would be open for their guests and headed for an Indian restaurant for dinner.  Even though it was tough, it was oh so lovely.  The city is decorated so beautifully for the holidays, and you can feel the Christmas spirit in the air.  Not a bad place to be