August 13 - 14  At the Radisson Blu Hotel

Day 1 at our Heathrow Hotel turned out to be a good day!  We were able to be outdoors, enjoying the lovely weather.  It got hotter as the day went on, but we found a shady spot to sit with a light breeze as we watched the world go by!  The scene was lots of traffic whizzing by and of course, we saw London’s famous double decker busses.  Because our hotel is across the road from Heathrow airport, we are amazed at how frequently the planes take off!  The larger jets seemed to head off to the Northeast, while the smaller planes tended to veer off to the Southeast.  

We had a rather dysfunctional family to keep us entertained as well!  Grandma, Mom, Dad, and 4 children. Clearly the 6 year old was used to having her own way and getting attention!  The older boy, who obviously had been given a responsible role, seemed to be trying to ‘manage’ her, but it was a challenge!  Grandma was attempting to get the youngest one to go to sleep.  The bratty 6 year old moved chairs from other tables, and at one point lay down on the deck and had a mini tantrum!  Her final act was to take two glasses from their table over to the next table and slam them down with such force that she broke them off at the stems - broken glass everywhere!!  The Mom whisked her off and next thing we knew, as Grandma had succeeded in getting the 2 year old to fall asleep, she and the rest of the family packed up and left!  We felt sorry for Grandma and for the boy!  And for the wait staff who appeared to clean up the broken glass!  

We had a very nice dinner at the Marriott hotel next door, Carluccio’s.   The wine was fine, the meal was the real deal, and the sweets were a treat!  LOL

Day 2 was much like Day 1!  The family returned without much to see, except today the bratty 6 year old  came out of the restaurant holding two stemmed water glasses over her ears as if she was testing the sound waves! No breakage this time and then they went to check out!

Another source of entertainment was the people watching at the Golden Arches next door. it is a very busy place, but it is extremely clean, with staff constantly wiping surfaces, sanitizing the trays before returning them for reuse, and even doing the high dusting of the ceiling vents!

Then there were the helmet guys!  These were guys who work for the various food delivery services like Deliveroo!!  They park their motorcycles, come into the store still clad in their helmets and carrying an insulated bag.  As their orders come up, they pack the food into the bag and off they go!  

There are several types of service at McDonald’s we discovered - drive thru, walk up to the counter and order, or order from one of four touch screens!  We were amazed at how many people order from the touch screens - even when there is no one ordering at the counter.  All I could think of is how many people touch those screens!!!  YUCK!

Tonight we’ve decided to go back to Carluccio’s for dinner…. There’s still so many choices on that menu worth exploring!  It’s a short walk and the atmosphere is like being in Tuscany!

I think there is rain in the forecast in the next couple of days, so we’ll see what we do.  The outdoor seating area here at the Radisson is covered, so we must just snag a table and plant ourselves there!!!

Stay tuned!

The Happy Heathrow Hotelers

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