This week, I am going to continue where I left off with my last minute, secretive trip to London.
My taxi pulled up to the Garden Court Hotel in London’s Bayswater neighborhood. As I said before, it was nestled on a beautiful, quaint street. As a Mary Poppins super fan, it gave me a lot of childhood nostalgia. The receptionist was kind, accommodating, and allowed me to check-in even though it was only 10: 00 AM (this is quite rare as in my experience with hotels in Europe, an early check-in is usually a no-no. They will take your bags if you wanted to get some sightseeing done before the formal check-in time, but that’s about it. This just goes to show you never know unless you ask). Exhausted, I decided to take a nap before I got ready to go to my audition. I had about five hours before I had to head out.
Aside from the friendlessness of the staff, I won’t go into too much detail about my experience at this hotel. I will say that there are plenty of hotels in London and with websites like Expedia; you will likely find one that is perfect for you.
Somewhat rested, I got up to shower and warm-up on my viola before making my way to my 4:25 PM audition. I am always concerned about practicing in hotels because the last thing I want is a noise complaint. This time, however, I brought a practice mute to help dampen the sound. This is a metal, in my case, clip that goes over the bridge of my viola. Although I hate to use them because I cannot hear the ring of the instrument and they make my viola sound funny after I take them off, I had no choice...Read the rest HERE!
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