A while back I made Anthony use his Hilton Honours points to book us a night in the London Docklands Hilton but didn't tell him why. Goodness knows what he thought we were doing, but he certainly didn't guess what it was!
We travelled down on Tuesday and after witnessing a 3 car pile up in the fast lane of the M4 and in trying to avoid the Congestion Charge it took us 3 hours. Aaaarrrgh.But never mind, when we finally arrived we were given a room with a balcony and this view, which kind of made up for it.
After a swim in the most bizzare pool I have ever been in (it was tiny and had bloody great pillars in the middle of it, plus it was freezing!) and a dip in the spa pool just to warm up, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner, which we had in the hotel. It was ok, but nothing overly exciting, although the view across the river to Canary Wharf was fab. Wish we had caught the free ferry across the Thames to there now, but at the time we didn't know how nice it was!
The next morning after a glass of champagne in bed, I gave Anthony his birthday present (and no it wasn't that!!) You can see it here. Not that it was his real present, but it was a good clue as to why we were in London!
After a 3 course breakfast (which would have been 5 courses if I could have eaten any more) we caught the courtesy bus to the nearest tube station and headed for Greenwich. We wanted to do the geocache at the Observatory, and here I am standing on the Meridian Line (which for interest if any of you care isn't at W 000 00.000!) It was an amazing place, and the park is gorgeous too. Somewhere we definately want to visit again, as we were in a bit of a rush and didn't have long enough for a good look around.After heading back to the train and crossing back over the Thames again (frustratingly the tube doesn't go to Greenwich, you have to catch the DLR but to do that you have to go North of the Thames!) we caught the tube at Canary Wharf. Never expected a business area to be so vibrant and full of places to eat / drink and socialise. If we ever stay in the Docklands Hilton again, this is where we will be going for dinner!
Finally got off the tube at North Greenwich just in time. Our tickets to Anthony's real birthday present were timed for entry between 11.00 and 11.30am and we only just made it. Sadly I can't post any photos of where we went as no photography was allowed but this is what we went to see.
It was amazing, and some of the things we saw were unbelievable. How could they make such beautiful things that long ago?! I can thoroughly recommend it!
After lunch on Entertainment Avenue (for those who have never been to the O2 arena, it has a huge array of restaurants around the outside of the arena space) we walked along the Thames Path grabbing a few geocaches along the way. Some of the local artwork was the focus of these caches, and we probably wouldn't have seen these otherwise. If you saw the BBC coverage of the Olympic torch relay, you might recognise one of the sculptures!
By the time we had circumnavigated the O2 my feet were sore and we were weary. But thanks to the priviledges of Hilton Honours we hadn't checked out of the hotel, so after yet another tube trip we were able to go back to our room, change shoes and then pack up the car for the journey home.
All in all a very enjoyable and successful surprise! So pleased you liked it love.
Happy Birthday.
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