Weekend at the Hilton....

Off to snowy, blowy, freezing cold London for my OAVT conference...we had some snazzy digs at the London Hilton (although we're told that it is only 'average' on the Hilton scale by a seasoned-traveler friend) it was fancy enough to impress us simple folk....

The view from our room on Friday morning...yes, it's as cold as it looks.


A little home-away-from-home...ye olde trusty laptop for watching movies and playing games...

I was being treated to a fabulous spread put on by the conference for my breakfast so everyone else got room service - kids six and under eat free with an adult order - which was good because half a grapefruit cost $4.99.....

....eggs and toast for B and a bacon and eggs and toast for Savannah....with a goblet of orange juice fit for a queen.

Sebastian's platter of pancakes with WARM syrup...he'll be expecting that sort of service at home now...

I headed out to a day full of wonderful lectures and learning and the gang spent the morning recuperating from the late night before.....

Sebastian discovered the controls on the DVD playing software and showed shades of his Uncle Simon by re-editing Jumanji several hundred times over....

Then it was off to explore the hotel...escalators - a first for them, and rather unnerving...

....didn't take long to get the hang of it though.

Sitting on the ledge of the Skywalk that connected the hotel to the convention centre - nice to not have to venture out of doors!

And, of course, the pool and whirlpool....apparently they believe in mega-doses of chlorine so Savannah's eczema roared out of latency after a few minutes in the whirlpool and she didn't want to stay....

Sebastian enjoyed it though.....

After my lectures we went out again for an explore - so they could show me all the great things they'd found...

The exercise room...

A fancy-schmancy horse statue.....

And some comfy chairs in the lobby.

Savannah is waiting (patiently) for our trip to Build-A-Bear to cash in her gift certificate...she's chosen to build the Jack Russell Terrier and wanted to show the spirit of it a good time...

And finally...after a Pay-per-View viewing of Madagascar 2, it was sleep, sweet, sleep....

A grand time had by all....but it's really great to be home.