It was rainy for about an hour, heavy at times, this morning. So we visited Stanfords Map Store, which has lots of maps, but also travel books, travel gifts and cool stuff like a shower curtain of the London Underground (which Gene plans to hang in his bathroom). Then as the rain let up, we walked to the Covent Gardens Markets & had a little mid-morning snack. And by the time we got out of there, not only had the rain stopped, but there were big patches of blue sky, which stayed the whole day.
Gene needed to take a nap and I needed to keep shopping, so we parted ways and I went off to Harrods!
This is a behemoth of a department store: on a 5-acre site, 5 floors up, with over a million square feet of selling space in over 330 departments. Other high-end department stores have, maybe, a nice restaurant inside the store somewhere. Here's what Harrods has:
That's right -- 19 different places where you can get food and 1 where you can get frozen yogurt.
The "Egyptian" escalators will take you up and down all the floors, but they don't want you to bring a baby stroller on there. We have the same problem at Sky Harbor Airport and we're always trying to stop people from taking their strollers, often complete with baby on board on the moving steps. At Harrods, no means no:
and they make sure you can't by placing these in front of the entry of every escalator on every floor. You have to turn a little sideways to just get on those things, let alone bring a baby stroller with you. Got a baby? Take the elevator. Loved it.
Harrods motto is Omnia Omnibus Ubique—All Things for All People, Everywhere. But sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder which people these things were for:
The piano is on sale for 220,000 pounds
There was no price on the clock. I should have had Gene stand next to it; it's as tall as he is -- about 6 feet.
On the bottom floor, Harrods there is a permanent shrine to Princess Diana & Dodi Al-Fayed. Got Mixed feelings on this one. I can't decide if it's touching or tacky:
The pyramid in front of their photos holds a wine glass smudged with lipstick from Diana's last dinner and a ring, allegedly the engagement ring Dodi purchased the day before they died. Any money thrown in the fountain is given over to the charity that was established to help injured children. Okay, the glass gives me a little of the chills; don't you think it might have been washed before they realized its significance? Did the restaurant just keep it because it was Diana? Did they "recreate" a glass? Not gonna go there. Opposite this memorial is this:
This is a a bronze statue of the Diana and Dodi dancing on a beach beneath the wings of an albatross, a bird said to symbolize the "Holy Spirit". On the base of the sculpture is written "Innocent Victims". Dodi's shirt is open and Diana's dress appears to be of a very flowy & gossamery (did I just make up a word?) material.
People take turns standing in front of this and smiling and lifting up their arms in various model-type poses like they're holding up the albatross. One woman poked her head between the two from the back. Like I said, touching? tacky? Couldn't decide (and still can't).
So I took my lavender honey and went back to our apartment & woke Gene up, so we could visit the fabulous British Museum. Free to get in, with a 5 pound donation requested, but not required. We didn't have that much time, so we limited our visit to the Rosetta Stone, the mummies & the Greek antiquities. But the highlight of the visit, and perhaps even the highlight of the trip to date was this.
Here is a sculpture of an ancient cat. Notice he has the paw from his right side crossed over the paw in the front.. They are broken, but you can see his paws are crossed. Kinda cool.
Now here is our kitty, Buddy, in a photo taken just after we got him (and I'm noticing that his face looks so much more relaxed these days. That's kinda cool as well):
That's right! We have found Buddy's ancestors and will start to worship him in the manner that the ancient Egyptians worshipped kittehs. And probably in that manner that he's wondering why we're not worshipping him now. And we won't tell him he might end up like this:
You know it's time to leave when you see kitty mummies.
Gene, the ever driven bicyclist still could not get the possibility of biking in Hyde Park out of his head, so off he went to have a turn around the park and off I went to sit and have a beer and wait for him to return (I promised that if he got injured, I would come back for him after I visited Paris. Really, I promised).
While there, all the people at the outdoor seating area of the restaurant were treated to this big beauty who sat on the post for a while and posed for photos, then flew away when he got bored apparently.
Another way-too-active day: 21,419 steps. Am I out of my mind?
Total = 105,174
Tomorrow: The Tower of London (along with a gazillion other tourists) and packing! I'm finishing up this blog on Sunday morning and again the day is perfect. I'm looking at blue sky, no clouds and a nice breeze coming through the window. Outstanding!
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