Craig Cross's Blog, page 20

London blog: Jason's Canal Trip

Most of the boats I go on head up the Thames to Greenwich, but Jason's Canal Trip is nice and gentle. There are no waves on the Regent's Canal. No one ever gets seasick on a canal boat. The odds of getting shipwrecked in north London are zero. It's just a nice gentle chug along the waterway past Little Venice and London Zoo to the wooden lock at Camden. You can find the landing stage by the little blue bridge in Little Venice. There's a canal boat cafe across the other side if you fancy a...

London blog: Benjamin Franklin House

Benjamin Franklin's House is the kind of place you don't notice even when you're staring at it. For something that's called the "first American Embassy", you might be hoping for something a little bit grand, but it's basically just a townhouse in a side street off Charing Cross. Franklin was just a normal guy back then, negotiating between the government and the colonies, so he didn't have much cash to spend on rent. The tour begins in the basement where they've got a couple of...

London blog: Chelsea Physic Garden

Have you ever been to a garden that can kill you? The first thing that you see when you step through the front door is a sign which says "Some of these plants are highly poisonous -- Do not touch!" But here's the worrying thing: a lot of the vines and creepers are overhanging the path so it's pretty scary -- I kept my hands in my pockets the whole time just in case. I don't want to get killed by a flower -- that is not the way that I want to die. I am sure they're just being...

London blog: The Trafalgar (Hilton)

You can generally tell whether you're going to like a place within the first two minutes; and it took me even less than that for The Trafalgar Hilton -- I liked it as soon as I clapped eyes on the front door. This hotel is situated on one corner of Trafalgar Square (I can see into Canada House from my bedroom window). So it's literally sixty seconds to the National Gallery and five minutes from Big Ben. If you want a good location then you can't get any better than that -- it's perfect. I...

London blog: Mercure Paddington

I'm staying at the Mercure London Paddington this week. So let's get straight down to business: number of teabags = two (but one of them is apple flavour); milks = two; biscuits = three. So straight away that is more than you get at The Ritz, which is a good start. You also get a wardrobe without any walls -- just a load of coat hangars on a pole -- but there is a very good reason for that: because there isn't enough room for a cupboard! This is without any shadow of a doubt the smallest...

London blog: Buckingham Palace -- Summer Opening

I wonder how difficult it would be to find an empty cupboard at Buckingham Palace and hide in it when no one is looking? They've got about three million of them and they can't check them all, surely. I'll wait until one of the tourists tumbles into a piece of furniture (because that always springs the guards into action) and then I'll jump behind a heavy velvet curtain until nightfall. Then when I hear the Queen coming past in her pyjamas I'll jump out and say hello. And then I'll bore her...

London blog: Cambridge

In this country you either cheer for Oxford or you cheer for Cambridge -- it's a bit like loving The Beatles or the Stones. When the University Boat Race comes on we are all secretly hoping that the other side will sink (or is that just me?). I'm actually not that fussed, to be honest. I wasn't much of an academic at school so the only way that I was coming here was on a day-trip on the train. Your first view of Cambridge when you pull into the station will be disappointing, to say the...