Making the best of it.....London

We had the highest of hopes for our last lag of the trip. Three nights in London staying at the new Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard, enjoying a play, dining at one of our favorite restaurants in the world, and just kicking back and experiencing some of the myriad of things this marvelous city has to offer.

It started off well. We disembarked in Dover to marvelous weather and a great view of why they are called "The White Cliffs".

Our limo driver was there to meet us at the pier and off we went for the two hour trip to London. The first hour was spent zipping up the highway. The last hour was spent crawling through London"s notoriously bad rush hour traffic to get to our hotel. We didn't mind because the sights of the city are always interesting and we were staying at the newly opened Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard.

Ok, you ask, why the excitement about a building and a hotel? The Shard was finished in 2012 and when we saw it in September of that year it captivated us. At 87 stories it is the tallest building in the EU and certainly in London. It is striking in person, dominating the skyline and we love the Shangri-La hotel chain. The views promised to be spectacular and it was opening up a new part of London. We, especially me, couldn't wait.

I am not sure these pictures do it justice, but I hope they give you some idea of it's beauty.

The hotel itself starts on the 35th floor and god up to the 52nd where is there a fantastic bar, infinity pool and gym. As you can imagine the views are fantastic from every vantage point. Here are the views from our room.

The Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

The City. See if you can find Lloyd's.

Tower Bridge at night

Then there is the view from the bathroom... It is a glass box and not for the squeamish. You have views from every part of it. The floor is even heated as are the towel racks.

From the shower...

From the tub

Even while brushing your teeth!

The room itself is quite well appointed although a tad on the small size, but as it everything Shangri-La, the service and the amenities are fantastic. They just can't do enough for you.

Which was a blessing because the cold Kathy took off of the ship just kept getting worse and then I caught it as well. Friday was the best day she had and things have gone downhill from there.

We were just blocks away from the Borough Market, which has been here for hundreds of years, but recently has become the epicenter for the slow food and locavore movement. It is just jammed with fabulous food stalls and fantastic restaurants. We had lunch at an incredible Tapas bar called Brandisa. We just loved the food, including an iberico bellota ham platter and patatas bravas, washed down with sangria, among the many great things we ate. The place was jammed, but we got to meet the owner and when he determined we were Amercians, he told us the Barefoot Contessa and her husband ate there every time they were in London. The next morning I went to the market and got the best almond croissant and an out of this world caramel fluer d sel honey comb cream donut. They were the best pastries we have ever had. The market is huge, crowded and full of life. Put this on your must do list for London.

Friday night we finally got around to seeing the acclaimed play Billy Elliott. It was fantastic and full of multiple messages. While most people see it as a play of redemption and hope, I came away feeling you could also call it a labor or socialist manifesto and it certainly was anti-Thatcher. We discussed it over drinks at the bar on the 52nd floor of the hotel. I think my ideas made Kathy have two Old Fashioned's instead of one.

That was the best of it for us. Kathy woke up Saturday morning very sick from her cold and I was off to find a pharmacy. The weather turned ugly overnight and it rained pretty hard until noon. I went off to see the Tate Modern Museum and Kathy rested. She rallied for dinner at Rasoi, which was fabulous, but we went right back to the hotel for her to get some rest. I am not sure she enjoyed it as mush as I did, but what a trooper she is.

We were going to go to the British Museum today, but instead are heading to our airport hotel. Kathy isn't still pretty sick and I have the cold now as well. I feel sorry for the people who will sit around has we sound pretty bad with our hacking.

We've been pretty fortunate in our travels concerning our health so we can't complain. Sometimes the travel gods just aren't on your side. Nevertheless, we are pretty happy to be in a marvelous room, on a perfect day, overlooking the Thames and London.

Tomorrow we fly home. Once we are settled, I will finish the trip with some exciting place like Rabat, Tenerife and Ceuta.