Hello!!

Blogging from our great room at the Hoxton Hotel in the Shoreditch area of London.

It's been a very, very, did I say very?, long day. We left Vancouver on Wednesday evening and after 9 hrs landed in Amsterdam for our connection through to Heathrow. KLM was a great airline to fly with. Dinner was yummy, we had hot towlettes, private tv screens and our own choice of top movies and tv. There was a screw up with our seats - I had booked mid plane, aisle and centre of the overnight flight and for some reason they gave us center and window - problem? Last time I flew overnight in a window seat I had a bit of a panic attack, so after some negotiating with the staff, we got two seats alone, aisle and window with one downside - back of the bus, next to the the washrooms. Oh well... we slept okay, probably about 4 hours on and off. Flight from AMS to LHR was uneventful, but we did get into LHR early.

After clearing customs and getting our luggage, we headed to the underground towards Kings Cross. It was rush hour so the tube was crazy, but because the airport is the first (or last) stop on the line, we had seats and could put our luggage right next to us for safe keeping. Transferring to the Northern Line was interesting to say the least. I was yelled at for being in the way of the doors, even though I was trying to move myself and my luggage out of the way, but there was no where to go! Took about an hour altogether from LHR to Old Street Station. Next was to find our hotel... Knew the street, and the address, but with such a busy intersection and poor street signage, it took a while to get to the hotel.

Hoxton Hotel is GORGEOUS!!! We got as requested - the top floor (6th) and a courtyard facing room. I knew to ask for this because of my research on trip advisor - the bar downstairs is very trendy and lively until the wee hours of the morning, and Great Eastern street is quite busy. Manaen is very impressed how much they ingeniously have fit into this small room. Little surprises everywhere. And OH! the shower is awesome. It's a rain type faucet from the ceiling and felt AMAZING after such a long, sweaty, sleepless day.

Once we had organized ourselves and cleaned up, we explored the area a bit just as the sun was setting. Gorgeous little streets, really trendy, young, up and coming neighourhood with a few places that are a but more "rough around the edges" type as the neighbourhood refreshes itself, but we felt very comfortable in the area and there's young ppl everywhere.

Had an amazing, fairly well priced dinner at a restaurant called The Yard. I had a yummy baked goats cheese salad and Manaen had a fire grilled pizza. Delicious and really great atmosphere. After dinner we walked off some of the food and slowly made our way back to the hotel.

It's only 9pm but we're settling in for the night. The room is starting to spin a bit and I think we need to get some zzz's asap. Proud of us for lasting this long though! and without even a nap!

Love, Kate and Manaen

PS: Posting a couple photos from today.