Ibis Hotel nearly ready (87)

All that glitters in West Ealing 

There was a time when West London (excluding Heathrow) was seriously short of affordable hotels now there are half a dozen at least within 3 miles of home.
Some of them are very boring to look at but some less so (I didn't use to like the West Ealing Holiday Inn Extra but now quite like it).


I've been watching the Ibis Hotel as this building develops and it does look a little different.

Before the facade

Starting to add the finishing touches

Almost finished 

£112 60p

Doors

Some roads change into other ones and Ealing High Street does  some twists and turns into South Ealing Road

And the home of No 87 too

At the top above the knocker we can see it's 87

Beatles connection in Plymouth and Red 216

Last day we spent time at gift shops -and I got a print of Beatles visit to Plymouth in 1967  ( during the filming of the Magical Mystery Tour they visited) - there's a sort shrine to it now.

Plymouth's a mixture of old and new

So our general reaction to Plymouth is a good one - plenty going on, some nice restaurants and 'arty' shops as well as a fair amount of cultural activity.


In terms of the rail service - glad that we had booked seats as the return train was very full, sadly GWR not such a bargain with the premium service plenty of coffee and crisps etc. but nothing more - WiFi limited too (no streaming)  and I'd been hoping for a green train- service was more or less on time (and this is generally more down to Network Rail).

Sadly as with most major cities in the UK there's some evidence of homelessness, lots of empty shops (as I think a result of continuously building new retail centres), also pavements a bit uneven and needing some attention.

Hotel reception area - away from the butts

Considering that the weather wasn't great our impression of the place was pretty good - if the sun had come out a bity more we'd have had a go on the 'Pitch and Putt' too -We're not sure if the sun dial works but it's big and metal.

Sadly untested by us

Our Hotel (Holiday Inn) was so-so but a rather bad first impression as a result of the smoking area being at front of hotel, plenty of smokers and cigarette rubbish does not create a great impression.
A very laid back style on cleaning of rooms too.- on the plus side reception was efficient and breakfast good.

Not sure if it's just for Easter but a bunch of quirkiness too with these artificial sheep 'grazing

Red 216

is it only Red sofas that get thrown out?

I'll only go So far

Red 218 and Plymouth day 2

Red 218

During our few days away I actually managed to read a book (admittedly a slim one) - bill Bryson not too sure what all the fuss is about.

Hashtag Happy Reading

Day 2 in Plymouth

Our hotel in Plymouth was well located (Holiday Inn) and did a pretty good full English but not overly impressed with room cleaning (perhaps 4 in a bed has raised my  expectations to unrealisable levels?).
Walking to Mayflower museum was very interested to learn of the history of CPR (Continuous Plankton Recorder) survey and Plymouth's part in it today.

No cleaning prizes for our hotel I fear

Information about the CPR Survey

Apart from Sir Frances Drake there are many other sea stories from Plymouth.

What we found at The recently refurbished Mayflower Museum was genuinely educative and included referenced to Pocahontas (she visited Plymouth too).

Lots of stuff about the preparation and journey made by these plucky religious types - they weren't of course inhabitants of Plymouth but are forever associated with the port.

Not the Mayflower but a model of a Ship

Said to be the Plymouth embarkation point