We went to eat dinner the first night at Porters, an English restaurant. I can recommend the Shepard’s pie and the chicken and broccoli pie. Then we took the Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was fine, but I kept getting distracted by the absolutely wonderful architecture that I am really getting into now. If you don't like crowds, don't go on the Jack the Ripper tour. Despite rain, there were still 60-70 people that showed up to take it. Thankfully, there were two guides and the group was split.
My best tip on London is to try and take the buses instead of the Tube. The bus stops have very easy to read maps, and if you have a remote clue about a few of the stops near your final destination and what general direction the bus should be going, you'll do just fine. The real treat of using the buses is going to the second floor and finding the front seats open. Plus, you get to see how the city connects together, instead of popping out of the Underground at your destination. Totally worth the extra effort, IMHO.
When we got back to the Waldorf, our bed was turned down, there was a chocolate and water for both of us and the room had been picked up. I could get used to this level of service.
Our first three days in London can only be described as wet. The Waldorf acknowledges this by providing an umbrella with every room. Sunday we got up late and took a guided walk entitled The London Walk, where my wife and I met up with cruisr. I always enjoy meeting other FTers. Our guide was very knowledgeable and despite the rain an enjoyable experience.
We ended up walking back to the hotel for a rest, and our room had been upgraded. In this case, not a good thing as it faced the main road and was above a bus stop. Luckily, the last two nights our room was switched to a nice upgraded room overlooking the center of the hotel. I really enjoyed our first non upgraded room and our third room. IMHO, after having experienced both executive and regular rooms, as well as the executive lounge supplied breakfast versus the restaurant supplied continental breakfast, I prefer the regular room and a far superior breakfast experience. My understanding is that the Waldorf tries to upgrade everyone that they can, so as not to pay for you to eat in the restaurant. You must try the homemade Bircher muesli, which is offered in the restaurant only, if you get the chance. It consists of muesli soaked overnight in milk, cream, and maple syrup, or so I was told. The executive lounge was severely understaffed at all times. There was never, and I am not exaggerating, all the items that should have been offered at the same time.
Went to a singing service at St. Brites on Sunday at 6:30. As most plays don’t offer performances on Sundays, we had a late dinner and strolled around.
On Monday, my wife wanted to work out, which gave me time to purchase some theater tickets for the next two days. I ended up getting tickets for We Will Rock You at the half price ticket booth and Wicked at the theater. Both my wife and I didn't care for WWRY, with both of us thinking the first 45 minutes were slow and our rating of Wicked, although much better than WWRY, wasn't as good as we expected. We both thought Mama Mia, which we saw a few years ago in London, was much better than these two.
Monday afternoon was spent taking a bus to the Millennium Bridge and walking across it to the Tate Modern. Enjoyed a free guided tour there (available at 2 and 3 PM from the 5th floor) and then walked the south bank of the Thames back to our hotel. The views were fabulous. I was surprised at the amount of construction cranes on the north side of the river. I counted over 30.
On Tuesday we took the Greenwich tour provided by Walk London, which we'd recommend. You end up taking a boat to Greenwich and then the tour begins. We enjoyed lounging in our room relaxing for the last half of the afternoon. We were originally going to try the millennium eye, the huge Ferris wheel, but chose the rest instead. As we have three kids, ages 7, 5 and 1, the rest was much appreciated. We saw Wicked that night.
The other tip for people staying at the Waldorf is because we had to leave before any breakfast was available our last day, the food price of room service was waived. So, it ended up being just the delivery charge (5pounds) and the tip. I ordered two bowls of the beloved Bircher muesli.