Our apartment at 8 Grape Street was located in the West End, on the edge of the theatre district, right next to Bloomsbury and the British Museum. It was a short 5 minute walk to Covent Garden, Soho, and Trafalgar Square - very convenient. We had 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, living room with sofabed, and a full eat-in kitchen.

Our 3rd floor apartment was entered by way of this balcony terrace (geraniums in full bloom!) A tiny one person lift took us up to a landing with a sign "3B" over an exterior door marked "escape stair to street." Here Joe is taking a picture of the view from the terrace.

This is the lovely full-size kitchen - heart of the apartment. The gas stove was a beautiful old one, fully functional, although each burner had to be lit with a match - as did the grill and the oven . A sleek yellow cordless electric water kettle provided us with strong hot tea on demand.

To make it more festive we bought a pointsettia plant and some small (packable) gifts to exchange. I couldn't find ribbon anywhere - the best I could do was green twine from the stationers at the post office. I guess Londoners have their presents gift-wrapped by the store.

There was an electric fireplace enclosed in this beautiful elaborate mantel. It was very welcome when we came home on raw windy days. Most days were quite mild, though.

This corner of the living room shows one of the many pieces of art collected by the owner, an artist herself. The chest opens up into a fully equipped drinks cabinet. See more pictures of the apartment on this website.

This was the view from our corner. There was an old pub, The Crown, beside a little triangular park with picnic tables. Must be nice in the summer.

 
 
 

Our apartment was located on the street behind the Shaftesbury Theatre. When this sight came into view at night we knew we were almost home. There was a South African musical playing there - with lots of drumming. If we were home in the evening hours (before 10) we could hear the drums - very exciting!