London Day 6: March 27, 2006

Today was my most unproductive day ever. Aargh! I was going to try the shopping places I'd read about. What a fiasco! My first goal was Harrods'. Should have been simple, no?

I wanted to ride the bus, because you can see more and it's a prettier view than the tube. So I walked to the bus stop, about half a block, and waited for the bus. And waited and waited and 3 of every other bus that uses that stop came and went but not my bus. In London, 25 minutes is 3 times as long as normal to wait for a bus, and in the cold wind it seemed like forever. When I finally got on, I asked the driver if he went to Harrod's. He looked at me funny and said yes. At the bottom of the road, I thought he should have turned left, but he went right.

I figured that was because of all the one-way streets. At the next corner and the next and the next he didn't go the way I thought he should. I knew he was heading out of town, but the only other person on the top deck of the bus with me was a pretty girl yakking away on her cell phone in German. I finally interrupted her to ask if the bus went to Harrod's and she said, "No, you are going the wrong direction!" so I quickly jumped off and ran across the street and up a block to catch the bus going the other way. It took forever, but we finally came right past the same stop where I got on ( a one-way street) and at the bottom of the street, he turned left! So it took me an hour to get there, and if I'd taken the tube it would have been 10 minutes! That's why this pretrip is so valuable . . .

At Harrod's I was very impressed with all the ceilings, which are fabulous. There's a picture of one below. In every room they are different. You have to see the Egyptian Staircase to believe it! There's a big statue of Dodi & Princess Di and a realistic wax statue of his father, who owns Harrod's. It looks like he's really there, greeting you from his pedestal. There are fabulous food courts and a whole room devoted to chocolate! You see me there in chocolate heaven at the top of today's blog post.

I bought 2 blue & white Spode mugs on sale for £6 (about $11) each. Now I have to carry them all day and my suitcases are getting really heavy! Harrod's has pretty good prices for china. I've seen the same mugs in the States for $18.

So, like I was saying, today has been fairly unproductive! The computer I was using in Burger King in Piccadilly Circus cut off after only 30 minutes. It wasn't a very new computer, so I just thought it gypped me. When I went to buy more time, I noticed it was £2 per hour, twice the rate I've paid everywhere else! So now I'm over on Charing Cross Road, past Leicester Square in a combo patisserie/internet cafe run by Indians. As in, from India.

So Harrod's was a really impressive version of ZCMI, someplace you have to go to say you've been there, and to buy chocolates or china.

Since I've heard that Harvey Nichols (Harvey Nick's) is the best department store in London, I went there next, only a block away. I think their buyers have lots of style. They sell expensive clothes, very cool, none of which I would wear. All their evening gowns and wedding gowns were strapless, but cool colors and fancy designs. Nothing at all for the teeny-bop set or anything Heidi would wear. Great makeup try-on area, though. So that was a bust.

Next I lucked onto a store I had actually planned to look for, Shanghai Tang. I expected an oriental-type Chinatown market. It's oriental, all right, with lovely atmospheric music going; but quite small and so upscale they only have a few things set out. Everything was beautifully displayed, of course. I saw a way cool brightly colored vinyl bag with matching wallet, and asked the price. (I should know, no price tags is never good.) £98! That's the equivalent of $175.00 American! I very meekly said thank you and left!

So then I caught the bus for Sloane Square where I planned to find a shop called Jo Malone where they make great bath and beauty products for half their American price. When I got off the bus it was raining, so I ducked into this old church. To eat the chocolate eclair I bought at Harrods' I would have to sneak it. I went up to the front and sat down as far as possible from the guy watching at the entrance. Probably he thought I was praying or admiring the church or maybe I was just one of the old people about to have a heart attack in the church, I don't know!

So it was still raining and blowing while I walked all around the square, asking people where Jo Malone was. No one knew. I finally found a lady who pointed it out to me. It was just on the other side of the church where I got off the bus!

Jo Malone is also very small and upscale. They make their own perfumes etc. A small bottle costs £50. That's 90 bucks! A very nice African lady in a navy suit kept trying to persuade me to accept the free hand massage she wanted to give me. I said no, figuring she'd expect me to buy something. Another bust and another bus outta there!

I'd been counting on the 2:00 "London Westminster Abbey Walking Tour," but I arrived at 1:00 and it was too cold to wait outside, so I ducked into a little church just beside Westminster Abbey. More time lost! At 1:50 I went back to the tube stop to join the tour. A mob was there already, all trying to pay for the tour. I think I was almost the last person they let come. Cost me £14 instead of just £9 to get into the Abbey. So this "great tour" I'd read so much about lasted 2 hours while the guide lady with an Oxford accent told us about every statue, memorial and person buried in the whole dang place. I was so bored I could die. I would have left the tour, but I paid that £14 and I was going to get my money's worth if it killed me, and it almost did!

So then I thought it was probably my only chance to get into Parliament to watch a session, so I went to the gate and asked. The lady advised me to go have a "cuppa" (hot tea) and come back in 45 minutes, when there would be no line. So the serendipity was while I waited, I wandered around the far end of the wall and found a great view of Parliament and a nice statue, which I took a picture of together. Then I went around the statue and read the inscription. "Burghers of Calais" by Rodin! And I almost missed it! And then I remembered Kim told me about this, and I found it by accident! That was so cool!

So I went back and had to wait in not one, but 3 separate lines, one after another. I did get in to see the House of Lords in Action. We sat up on the highest balcony, in the "Strangers Gallery" and had to fill out a form and sign a thing saying we wouldn't make any noise, chew gum, smoke, eat, talk, or cause any disruption whatsoever. Lord Somebody was giving what seemed to me an intelligent set of comments about the European countries all becoming dependent on Russian oil, the war in Iraq, and a few other topics. A few members were scattered about on the seats below, listening respectfully. Then Lord Somebody Else got up to talk, and his English was even more blue-blood than the first guy. It was amazing. Here is the old aristocracy, still the most educated and playing their part, but the people don't really allow them much power. The House of Lords has no say whatsoever in financial matters, and simply acts as a check on the House of Commons. The Commons isn't nearly as well behaved!

After 10 minutes of observation, I was antsy to get back to my hotel and pick up my suitcases for the trip across town to the next hotel, where I will stay for the last 2 nights. So after waiting 45 minutes and observing for 10, I left. Back in the hotel basement storage room, I packed everything, including my purse, into the 2 suitcases and set off for the tube. By this time it was 5:30 and the tube was so packed it was hot and steamy, but I squished up against the end of the car and talked to a young French-speaking Swiss man and a recently divorced New Yorker. They were quite pleasant. The guy from New York was going to see the new production of "Mary Poppins" which I also planned to see.

By the time I finally got to my next hotel (St. Margaret's in the picture at left) and got situated, it was after 7:00. I beat a trail back to try to get into the show, but I turned the wrong way coming out of the tube station, got thoroughly turned around, had to backtrack several times, and by the time I got to the theatre, the box office was closed. Another bust! So I walked back to Leicester Square and over to Picadilly Circus and bought a piece of pizza and looked for an internet cafe, which is how I ended up in Burger King.

It seems to me there are 3 kinds of people here in London: tourists, immigrants, and native British people. They are about equally divided, too! All of the hotel personnel in all 3 hotels have been immigrants; Pakistani, Polish, Indian. Chinese maids, Brazilian. I have not had one native Brit except for the tour guide. Remind me not to do that again!