A few hours in London
The First Class car is quite nice, spacious and quite comfortable. And free Wifi worked well.
Decisions, decisions. Where to go.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Paddington Station in Central London. Wow, that was fast. Now what? No idea where I was going but decided to try to find a Hop On Hop Off bus which was supposed to have a Paddington Station stop.
This would have been a good choice to exit...
... but no, I followed the Exit and Taxi signs and got to the Taxi Queue. Didn't want a taxi, just the exit. With the help of my iPhone map app, I tried to navigate my way to the other side of the station.
About 10 minutes later, I found a Big Bus sign, bought a ticket and hopped on the Hop On Hop Off Big Bus for the next 2+ hours. Sure, it's hokey and touristy but, except for New Orleans and Tallinn, it is a great way to get an overview of most cities.
I hopped off at the return stop at the Parliament Buildings and walked for 20 minutes up to and past Picadilly to Bocca Di Lupo, a West End restaurant recommended by London-based Flyertalker baggageinhall who unfortunately had a last minute work conflict and couldn't make it.
Cream of langoustine & red prawn risotto was very good.
Chicken scallopine with lemon & parsley was delicious.
But the surprise dish was the Courgettes trifolate - sauteed with garlic & chilli. This was spectacular.
After dinner, I walked the block and a half back to Shaftesbury and hailed a passing taxi for ride back to Paddington Station.
And was just in time to catch the 7:35pm train back to Heathrow.
My own private train car.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Terminal 3. Wow, what a great way to get into and out of the city.
