London Part 2

After our delicious lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and souvenier shopping at the Hard Rock Store, it was time to move on.

London is a super busy city, more so than I was really comfortable with. Everywhere I looked there were people rushing about, well-dressed business men on tiny cell phones, conducting what seemed to be life and death conversations. We took a short cut thru a park in the center of town (we think it was Green Park) and saw this cool statue.

I wish we had such cool statues everywhere in the states like here. Here's another one:

The walk we were on had this plaque in the concrete. I think Princess Diana was one of the most loved British people of all time...

We also started to notice that there were a lot of people hanging out in the park, eating lunch, reading books, just enjoying the day. No one seemed to be bothering anyone else, all was peaceful.

I snuck this picture of this man, and blew it up on my pc as best I could. He just looked like my idea of Aqualung (minus a park bench) watching the frilly panties run.

"and a foreign student said to me, "Was it really true there are elephants and lions too in Piccadilly Circus?" .....Jethro Tull, 1972

One of the shopping areas we passed by once we were out of the park was very exclusive. It was pedestrian only access, and it was just a block of shops. Security - complete with personal communication devices like the secret service uses with the little curled up wire behind the ears - was at the front of this little area and at the back. Most of the shops were locked, and they ad to buzz in any customers that wanted to talk. We saw Faberge' eggs, antique and current Rolex watches, Patek Philippe watches, diamonds, jewelry of all sorts, sterling silver and enamel tiny animals that were tens of thousands of dollars each, leather goods, - and everything was of the best quality, and the most rare. The Hubs remembered the name of this area for me, it is "The Burlington Arcade", and was first built around 1819. Click here to see the website. (Go on and click, it should work this time!) Here is a picture of the front of this row of covered shops...

I think this is the entrance to Buckingham Palace, but we were miffed that the Queen forgot to invite us for tea, so we didn't even call on her this time. :-)

We wandered around for a while, and came across one of the Queen's guards. OMG, this was a BIG man. Ok, I'm kind of short too, but this man just is massive....I felt like a midget. The guards are not supposed to smile or talk to anyone, yet, when I thanked him for letting the Hubster take my pic with him, he kept his eyes forward.....and nodded almost imperceptively. I thought that was pretty cool that I got him to aknowledge me even just a teeny bit.

He must have been guarding some sort of horse barn, as in the front of where the giant guard was were two others on horseback. If you know me, you know I love all animals, and these horses were so clean, so well groomed and beautiful. Since both were black, I wonder if that is part of the Queen's criteria. It sounds like it is, or should be if it isn't...

You know, it occurs to me that all of our holiday pics are defined in my head as to what animals I come into contact with! This horse was sweet..

Here is a pic of Brad with the other horse...note the sign says Horses may kick or bite, ha. Not us, we know our way around horses! (And maybe someday.......)

So then we also saw some nice old architectural stuff. (Can you tell I'd rather hang with the horses? heehee)

One of the old buildings was pretty cool, it was on the street...

and we were prepared to see some magnicifent building with the greatest master-minds in the criminal world, all driving cool cars and working on difficult cases.....but instead, this is the original building for the great Scotland Yard...

WTF! And the reason it's such a narrow shot is because I was trying (and succeeding) to shoot around the mound of trash on the street beside the building! Man, what a let-down....like finding out Quantico is in a tent, or something..

However, right around the corner was Trafalgar Square. This is a giant tourist attraction, and it was literally crawling with people, so I just took a few shots of the giant lions and we walked on. (Only one lion is posted here, but there was a pair of them, equally infested with kids and adults.)

Are we thirsty yet? Oh yeah! Let's go to Sherlock Holmes Pub. Now, we don't know if this is a pub that is old or not. We DO know that they play Sherlock Holmes movies on their tv's 24/7. And, their bar was very cool. I wish I could just travel around and find old pub stuff, and ship it to the states for others to enjoy.

Then, it was getting a little late. People were starting to migrate from London back to their homes. But we were not finished looking around. We wanted to go to Harrod's (note the Hub's expression on the bus, haha!) before we left. but where were we? How do we get there? I asked a nice Turkis-ish man in a pharmacy, and he told me to walk 2 blocks and get he tube to..someplace. ok. So we walked a little more. On the way, we saw these things...I was really tired by this time, twisted my stupid ankle, just wanted to go back to the Thatched House.

OMG! It's a beautiful - and more importantly - a FUNCTIONAL oven and stove! We want it! We must have it! Uh....ok, wait....it's like 40,000 pounds....and the pound is almost 2 to 1....can we pay 80K for a stove and oven for a house we don't have....uh, no. But look at it! (stamping of frustrated feet) It's beautiful!

You could actually put an entire turkey in there! You could cook anything and not sear your flesh of your hands to the interior of the oven!!

(Calm down....your oven at home is a piece of crap and everyone knows it, but it isn't permanent or anything....deep breaths...)

Ok, so then I saw this sign, and it cracked me up. Is there a surname in America that is this name? Man, I hope not!

There was also an embassy that the Hubs thought was funny...and it was! It's the embassy of that Borak dude, so here's the Hubs being Borak..

Ok. So then we found the underground and went to catch another tube to Harrods. This pic was taken about half of the way down the escalator thing, they were wicked steep and really long..

And then, as if a miracle, we ended up in Harrods. I have no clear memory of how that happened, as I was way into information overload at that point.

As I said, the British love Princess Diana. This is a pic of a life-sized, bronzed statue of her and Dodi in Harrods and the words under it say "Innocent Victims". Dodi's father owns Harrods.

I couldn't capture it well as we were on an escalator, but we intended to go back and get a better shot of it...however, we never saw it again. Harrods is a GIANT store, and some of the floors are not connected to the others, and it is very confusing to get around in. I can find my way back home in the woods with a flashlight, but I couldn't seem to find my way from one department to the next in Harrods..

The Hubs wanted something from there, and I did too. After we scored our stuff, it was time to find the tube to the train. Again, confusion for me as I held on to the Hubs' hand and followed. When we eventually got on the train, we were some of the last people that were on, and we had to stand up for a few stops. Gradually, as the people got off, we found seats...and then, we were back in the country..

Ahh! That is much better! As more and more people got off the train, we were some of the very last ones left on it.

Right before our stop, we saw a very big fox just walking casually along the track. :-) I love the country!

When we got back to the Thatched House, Jeff and Mary were waiting up for us and wanted to know everything about our day, what did we do, where did we go, what did we see?? Whoa, we just want to chill out, not have to socialize too much! We hit the highlights for them to appease them, and went to our room - where again everything was super straightened up and there was a fresh decanter of wine and fresh fruit. (Can't say enough about that part, that was really cool!)

That was our day in London....next post..... Brighton!