The Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel in London is one of the original London railway hotels, formerly opened as the Great Eastern Hotel and housed in a beautiful red brick Victorian building dating back to 1884 right behind the Liverpool train station and a couple blocks away from iconic Gherkin building. The Andaz is the perfect hotel to help you overcome your jet lag after a long transatlantic flight and welcome you with a perfectly nested and nicely stocked watch boutique —Carr Watches— right next door. Once inside the hotel, you will be pleasantly surprised by its ultra modern and minimalist decor that is the common denominator in boutique hotels like this. As you walk in, you will realize there's no check-in desk so just go ahead and make yourself comfortable in one of their elegant leather chairs or chaise lounges. Within seconds, someone from their friendly staff will come greet you, ask you if you need any water and check you in without any hassles. As you take a deep breath, you'll sense the beautiful scents from their candles that are perfectly placed around the lobby area and that make the space super cozy and intimate.
Before heading upstairs to your room, make sure you stop by their intimate coffee lounge —right before the lifts— to get some well needed caffeine from their perfectly calibrated Nespresso machines or perhaps a cup of English tea or maybe just some pear elderflower refreshing soda. Now, if you have a sweet tooth and you like to have your coffee or tea with some shortbread biscuits, just help yourself to the canisters on top of the wooden block table filled with delicate and freshly baked goodies, all at your fingertips.
As you head upstairs to your room, you can't stop thinking about the beautiful watches you saw at Carr Watches as you were walking into the hotel. As you walk into one of their beautiful modern rooms and you sit down on the inviting red chair in the corner of the room to do the first watch change, you realize you shouldn't be in the room too long as you want to head downstairs and make sure you take a closer look at the amazing Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore End of Days you saw upon arrival. The last thing you want, is for another watchlifestyler to get there before you do and buy it.
As you head out of your room, you spend some time checking out the space and the tasteful architecture inside the hotel. For some reason, the circular opening across from the lifts reminds you of the Guggenheim as you look downstairs. After snapping a few pictures you are finally back in the lobby to go do some watch shopping.
After a nice visit at Carr Watches —featured here—, you walk all the way to the London Bridge with your mind full of ideas on what to buy next and see if you can make a decision the next morning. Honestly, you just flew across the globe and you still have a full day of watch shopping in London —one of the watch shopping capitals of the world as we published it here— before you end up making an impulse buy. As you walk back into the hotel you are starving; therefore, you decide to check one of their seven restaurants and bars to choose from. You can savor some afternoon tea and British fine dining in London's highly-reviewed 1901 Restaurant & Wine Bar; have some authentic Japanese cuisine in Miyako; a brasserie grill menu in Eastway; traditional English pub fare in George or for the perfect place to meet, relax or party the night away, the new Catch Champagne Bar & Lounge. Since it's your first night, you want to take it easy and you head to Catch Champagne Bar & Lounge where you can have a little bit of everything while sipping a few glasses of your favorite Laurent Perrier Rose champagne.
Pleasantly satisfied with your meal, you feel you're not ready for bed yet and you decide to have a nightcap drink at their pub named George. Since the name of the pub reminds you of a very dear 'drinking friend' from New York City, you decide to have a few Bombardiers and even a Symonds cider. Now, you are perfectly relaxed and ready for bed. As you head upstairs to dream about watches and peacefully rest in your comfy bed, you realize you might not even be able to fall asleep thinking of all the watches you'll see the next day on Old Bond Street and New Bond Street. Sweet watch dreams!
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