Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505050030
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: G-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Long
- Samuel Johnson
If you've always wanted to go abroad, but never quite had the courage, an easy way to begin is with a visit to London.
The locals speak the same language - almost; they share similar customs; and they are unfailingly polite and even friendly to visiting Americans.
And it's possible - with some planning and advice from well-traveled friends - to enjoy a vacation in London and environs that has touches of luxury at economy prices.
Even on your first morning there, the excitement of seeing a city you've heard about since childhood nursery rhymes will overwhelm your jet lag.
London spreads out before you as a smorgasbord of fascinating shops, museums, historic sites, palaces and theaters - any big-city delight you would like to sample.
If you like to walk, exploring the city's famous sites can be a bargain because most are within comfortable walking distance of downtown hotels. Many travelers believe walking is the best way to get a feel for a new city - and to get your bearings.
Last fall, my husband and I wanted to look in all corners of this fascinating city - and finding our way to a palace or cathedral on foot was part of the fun. This form of transportation had the additional advantage of working off at least some of the meals we worked into our schedule each day.
And the sites are virtually limitless in London - you can walk to Buckingham Palace and take in the Changing of the Guard, or stroll down Picadilly with its famous shops and hotels, browse in the arcades in Covent Garden or just sit in Trafalgar Square and watch the world whirl around you.
The city is also full of fascinating museums at reasonable fees, from the Victoria and Albert Museum with its eclectic collection of international crafts and art to the British Museum with its incomparable collections, including Egyptian and Greek art. Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral are two landmarks where the sense of English history and tradition are awe inspiring to even the casual tourist.
Food can be a big expense in a large city, but there are also ways of dining divinely in London without exploding your wallet.
English breakfasts, complete with eggs, English bacon and grilled tomatoes, are often included in your lodgings cost. If not, you can usually buy breakfast quite reasonably either at the hotel or in nearby patisseries.
Lunch - aaaah, the second best part of the day.
Instead of going out for fancy dinners each night, we found that we could indulge in a really posh lunch in charming restaurants for a reasonable - if not cheap - price. Rarebits with English Cheddar cheese and bacon, elegant salads, seafood entrees served in the famous food fortress of Fortnam and Mason became our favorite splurge.
Crowd watching in the store's small restaurant, The Fountain, with its international clientele was almost as pleasurable as the food.
After a leisurely lunch, it's on to a hard afternoon of shopping - looking for scarves at Liberty's; browsing the famous food halls in Harrod's for gourmet teas and chocolates; or window shopping along Regent Street or Beauchamp Place.
But come 4 p.m., my feet would invariably head toward a favorite tearoom. My favorite part of the day.
From 4 to 5:30 p.m., we would curl up in the comfortable lounge at a quintessentially English hotel or settle in to a tearoom for the ritual of afternoon tea. Don't miss tea at the Ritz or at Brown's Hotel, both London landmarks.
It was only on our last day in England that my husband finally caught on. He looked up after working his daily disappearing act on two scones piled with clotted Devonshire cream and jam and a pot of tea and commented, "I've finally got it. This isn't about food at all. It's about relaxing."
Such rituals explain much of the charm of England.
One of the little secrets of London that has added to the pleasure of vacationing there is the Basil Street Hotel.
A friend steered me years ago to the Basil Street when it was relatively unknown. Today it regularly makes the list of favorite small hotels in London.
Its location in Knightsbridge is one of its best features - just crane your neck out the casement window and there is Harrod's at the end of the block. Peek the other way, and you're looking at Sloane Street - ground zero for shopping in London with its row of high-fashion boutiques such as Chanel and Hermes.
The hotel's advertised room rates have scared some of my friends away, but having stayed there before, I unhesitatingly ask for the rooms without private baths - a bargain within a luxury hotel.
Such accommodations seem normal in Europe - they were the rule when I first ventured abroad. And in hotels such as the Basil Street, the shared baths are invariably close by, never occupied and often quite charming.
The result is that for a modest amount of money you can stay in a quintessentially English hotel in a neighborhood that combines wonderful shops and restaurants with rows of elegant town houses.
If the hotel prices are still too steep - and remember these are big city prices more comparable to those in New York City than Roanoke - London also boasts numerous bed and breakfasts both in town and in surrounding suburbs such as Wimbleton and Tooting Broadway (I'm not making this up) that can be reached easily by the city's subway and trains. You can find a bed and breakfast through the Tourist Office in London or in any of the surrounding towns or you can also book ahead through B&B services listed in most travel guides.
Another advantage to staying in the heart of Knightsbridge, a popular residential as well as shopping area, is that its streets are lined with wonderful little restaurants. A favorite is a charming French eaterie called the St. Quentin.
But most nights when the scones from tea lingered, we only wanted a light snack. Just a few blocks down Sloane Street was not just a grocery store, but the grocery store - Partridge's, "provisioner to the queen."
After half an hour of strolling the tiny grocery store and assessing its specialities, we'd settle for simple fare such as Mushroom Pate Wellington, English cheddar cheese, salad with curried vegetables and English biscuits to carry back to our room. Just the thing to round off our day - and ourselves. The Basil Street probably would have frowned, but we figured what its doormen didn't know, didn't hurt them.
What an adventure, what delights.
I can't wait to go back.
Some favorites
Hotels:
The Basil Street Hotel just off Knightsbridge Road; address: Knightsbridge, London SW3 1AH England; phone: 071/581-3311
Eleven Cadogan Gardens just off Sloan Square; address: 11 Cadogan Gardens, Sloan Square, SW3 3RJ, London, England; phone: 071/730-3426.
Restaurants:
The Fountain Restaurant in Fortnum & Mason's on Piccadilly; the restaurant actually fronts on Jermyn Street, a shopping street famous for its men's tailors and specialty stores.
St. Quentin, French restaurant at 243 Brompton Road.
For tea:
The Ritz on Piccadilly at Green Park
Brown's Hotel at 34 Albemarle St.
by CNB