Edinburgh

For St. Patrick's Day we hopped on a 4.5 hour train and went to Edinburgh, Scotland.  For a train journey this long I recommend the First Class cabin, it really does make a huge different. 

It was our 2nd time to visit the city and we were pretty excited.  The city is small, cute, and easy to walk.  The downside of this trip is that I felt like I had a cold coming on for a week or so, just my luck by the time we arrived I was feeling pretty rough I hung in there until about 8:30pm and then I had no choice, but to go to bed.  The cold was no longer "coming on" it was "there" and I felt like crud.  I was such a dud.  Poor Mike, I ruined his big St. P Day in Scotland.  He was so nice about it though so that really helped.

The upside to going to bed early was that our room was cute and colorful so I didn't mind being trapped in it for a while:

The Rutland House - overlooking Prince Street (the main street in Edinburgh)

Room #2 - The Rutland House

Room #2 @ The Rutland House

It also didn't hurt my feelings that I got to eat at Wannaburger again.  The burgers are pretty good there so I made sure to go back this trip.

Wannburger

Wannaburger

When you walk out of the hotel this is your cute view of the Edinburgh Castle - Can't beat the location of the Rutland House

Hotels in London

While my friend was in town and in the name of research for my private tour guide company "London in a Day" we went on a "Hotel Crawl".

I love seeing new hotels so this was a lot of fun.

We checked out the bar area, afternoon tea area, lobby and even the bathrooms.

Here are the pictures that will walk you through our Hotel Crawl of London: 

Intercontinental Park Lane ~ Loved the decor and it had a lovely smell running throughout

Intercontinental Park Lane ~ Bar area

Intercontinental Park Lane: Lobby area looking into the bar area

We really liked the Intercontinental Park Lane, the decor was lovely, the smell was even better, the bathrooms were spotless and up to date. The people were very friendly and the location can't be beat.

Park Lane Hotel located on Piccadilly... This is the tea area, it was nice. The lobby was a bit drab. The bar/restaurant area was a bit weird with wallpaper that had weird faces all over it. Sheraton owns this particular hotel.

Le Meridien Hotel located on Piccadilly - This is an inside picture of their cool bar called " Longitude 0. 8. ~ This picture really doesn't give this bar justice. I really liked the inside.

Bar entrance

Le Meridien Hotel ~ The Terrace Restaurant/ Bar~ This is where they serve afternoon tea, lunch and dinner.  It was nice, but on a warm day all that glass and sunshine made for a very warm environment... they need to work on turning up the air...  They also have some 2 and 3 course lunch specials if you are interested... On a side note...they have very high quality products in their bathrooms which is always a plus.

Claridge's Hotel on Brook Street ...located off Oxford Street just a bit

Claridge's Hotel lobby and afternoon tea area

Claridge's Hotel Afternoon Tea area - the chandelier was absolutely beautiful (If you want to book, book at least 12 weeks in advance or you are very likely not to get a booking)

Claridges Hotel: Mens bathroom ( my friend took this picture not me. The womens was nice, but I was too busy sitting at the vanity inside it brushing my hair to take a picture...sorry...)

Swissotel: located just across the street from Temple Station and down the street from popular Fleet Street ~ This is their bar/afternoon tea area facing their fantastic outside area

Swissotel: bar, restaurant, afternoon tea area

Swissotel: I love this outside area. I will definitely be back to have drinks out there on sunny day or a warm evening.

Brown's Hotel: located just off Piccadilly. We forgot to take pictures once we got inside...oops!... We loved the bar area, very cool!, nice bathrooms... Did we like the afternoon tea area? No, we found it kind of boring and sleepy.  Did we like their restaurant area? Yeah, it was ok.  We mostly just fell in love with their nice bar.

Stay tuned for the scoop on the Connaught Hotel where we had Afternoon tea...