London: Our Neighborhood

 Let's take a look at the neighborhood around our hotel!  The Portrait Gallery, directly south from the W Hotel.

 This is Chinatown...Gerrard Street. Notice the Will and Kate banner from their marriage two weeks prior.

 The white bus went up on a curb and almost clipped the stoplight, but it really doesn't come across that way in this photo.

 The Queen's Theater at the corner of Shaftesbury and Wardour.

 We walked a few blocks east on Shaftesbury and came across this place - St James Tavern. Lucky for us, it was dinnertime and this place looked good.

 So we went in for dinner! They had all the normal British Pub food, and we liked it so much we came back several nights. I particularly liked their Steak and Ale Pie. Here is my wife contemplating her choice.

 The windows, the nearby buildings, all very picturesque.

 The folks at the next table offered to take our photo. It looks like the wine had kicked in!

 Another night, we sat at a different spot and at about dusk, we saw the bouncer (in yellow jacket) talking to these interesting characters.

 He let them in.

They got the place a'Buzzin!

 As is always the case, it wasn't long before their cohorts followed them in.

Little Bo?

 Other customers had their photos taken with them.

 And then the rumours started.

 This truck had an interesting ad on the side: "WARNING: SmartWater Anti Robbery System In Use. 100% Conviction Rate." I have now had a chance to look this up on smartwater.com. Apparentely they install water systems that sprays intruders with a water-based solution that has a "forensic code" that can ID who set off the alarm. Interesting.

 Another tavern patron picked up our camera and took our photo for us....what a friendly place!

Lisle Street. The hotel is barely visible on the left side of the street. And there you have it! A look around the neighborhood. It felt very safe and lively. We recommend it highly.