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Day 24 - Oxford to London by train, around London - 8.6 miles

     This was our last day in Oxford. We did our laundry at the hostel while eating breakfast. Before leaving we wanted to see the Botanical Gardens so we arranged to leave our bags at the hostel while we rode over to the gardens for a morning visit. The ride to the gardens was a short one. We spent three and a half hours walking through the various groups of plants before riding back to the hostel and then to the train. The ride to London cost 13 pounds each.

     We arrived at Paddington Station and this time knew exactly where we were. We headed for the western exit and rode the few blocks to our waiting hotel, "The Atlantic." We arrived the same time as about 50 German teenagers on a group vacation. The man at the desk gave us the key to our room and told us that we'd have to walk through several first floor flats before getting to the stairs to our room on the third floor. We asked about our bikes and he said we could take them to our room if we wanted.

     We found that the hotel was really a row of townhouses, all interconnected. We walked through the first floor of seven houses before finally finding the stairs that led to our room. The stairway was worn, narrow and dingy. We walked up the three and a half flights of stairs to find our room. When we opened the door we were pretty much speechless. The room was so narrow that the two beds were both on one wall, with almost no space to walk along side. The paint was falling off in places. A single pedestal, rust stained sink was at the end, next to an open window. The carpet was worn and threadbare. We were being charged about $65 for the room each night, not a lot for London, but this was nothing more than a flop house. Jeanette broke into tears.

    We had already been charged for the full stay at the desk. We dumped our stuff and headed down stairs. Jeanette needed to get a breath of fresh air. I suggested that we take a ride in the park to think about what we were going to do. We headed down the street towards the park. Two blocks from the Atlantic, I saw another hotel with a sign in the window, double rooms, 49.50. Jeanette hadn't seen it so I called her back. We went in and asked if we could see the room. I waited with the bikes while Jeanette looked. She came back in tears. "It's beautiful," she said. I explained our situation to the clerk. He told us to go back to the Atlantic and demand our money. He said that it was required that our money be returned if we were not satisfied with our lodging and had not used it.

     "We'll take it." I booked the room and told the clerk we'd be back in about 20 minutes. We rode back to the Atlantic and walked through the rabbit warren of passageways up to our rooms and got our bags. I loaded up the bikes and Jeanette went in and dealt with the clerk at the counter. After about 15 minutes I went in. The clerk was willing to refund all but the first day. We argued for a while and then just said we'd deal with it with our credit card company.

     We rode back to the Elysee, our new hotel and unloaded our bikes. The clerk allowed us to store our bikes in an old office next to the lobby. The room was great. The shower worked, the toilet flushed, the TV worked, the double bed was comfortable, it was great.

     We still had time for a ride around Hyde Park. We followed the path and finally figured out which paths are for bicycles with the help of a local cyclist. The ride cleared our heads and got rid of the bad karma that we had experienced over the hotel. Relaxed once again and ready for dinner, we rode back to our lodgings and parked the bikes.

     We were directly across from The Mitre, the first pub that we had stopped in on the day we landed in London, 27 days ago. We thought it only fitting that we go there for dinner and for a few pints. The dinner was really only OK but after the day's experiences, we were in a good mood. We headed back to our room. Life was good.

Total miles 8.6

Recommended:
The Elysee Hotel
25-26 Craven Terrace
Hyde Park
London W2 3EL
Tel: 020 7402 7633
Fax: 020 7402 4193

Days 25, 26, 27 - London: Museums, Museums, Museums - 15.6 Miles
Day 28 - Kew Gardens - 0 miles

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