London Day 2

 June 7th.  Woke to fine blue sky and the promise of no rain.

We breakfasted at Pret A Manger on a delicious Bircher muesli and fruit with a huge cup of tea.   Thus fortified we strolled up to the bus stop outside Harrods and were accosted by a tout from the Big Bus Company who wanted us to ride her hop on hop off.   We, however wanted the same company we’d had in Windsor, Oxford and Cambridge so we walked along to the end of the Harrods block trying to shake this limpet like sales woman off our backs.   

At the far end of Harrods we ran into a model, her two photographers, a couple of gophers and a car with four police.  It seems there was a photo shoot.   Little  Sister  and I know nothing about celebrity models but it was interesting to watch this group carefully funnelling off the general public, taking over the footpath and filming.   

A careful study of our map and we saw that the bus company we wanted to use had a sign on the bus stop over the road and as we crossed a bus came along and the lovely driver waited for us to board and climb up to the top deck.   Earphones in and cameras at the ready we rode the Blue Route collecting Monopoly names!  Park Lane, Mayfair and all the expensive ones!   

Traffic was really congested at some points and once while we were waiting we saw an Aston Martin come around the corner and pull up onto the pavement in front of the store whereupon a suave looking suited gentleman, a young and upwardly mobile type and a flunkey all appeared.   

The driver vanished.   Flunkey opened the boot and laid a jacket carefully inside before closing it gently and vanishing.   Suited gentleman and younger man both got in the car and the doors shut.   Pedestrians coming from both directions took photographs; some even took selfies.  A young teenager quickly snapped his shot but his father was less proficient and hadn’t the same finesse so ended up dropping his phone.   After a time the suited gentleman got out, snapped the cuffs of what even from my distance looked like an expensive shirt, went out to the edge of the pavement and proceeded to flag down the traffic, allowing what we now realised was the purchaser of this brand new car to slide slowly into the traffic and off into the distance.  Show over but what a show!  And I thought Monopoly was all about buying Hotels and houses.

Mayfair, the commentary told us is home to some of the most expensive real estate in London and a one bedroom apartment will set you back at least £2 million 

We saw The Dorchester twice from the bus route and remarked to each other we wished my travel savings had extended to three nights there!   So many of the hotels we passed have top hatted doormen who hail taxi cabs, handle designer luggage and immaculately dressed females of all ages.   I particularly liked the colourful uniform of the man at The Lanesborough which apparently has a butler service for every room.

Royal Albert Hall,   Kensington Palace, Natural History Museum, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch - all the names seemed familiar but it was so exciting to see them in real life.   At Hyde Park Corner we changed to the Red Route and while waiting spied the horses of the Household Cavalry going off to the scheduled changing of the guard.   It wasn’t easy to get a photo from this distance but we distinctly saw the white plumage of the  hats and heard the clip clop of the horses.   

Then we rode the Red Route to Piccadilly Circus where we were amazed at the number of people, the congestion, the sheer hub bub.  We walked up Regent Street past shops of fancy designer goods and amazing shop windows, while we looked for somewhere to eat.

  Eventually the realisation dawned that we would have to go off to side streets and so we ended up in Carnaby  which is singularly lacking in “ordinary cafes”, if I may say so.  At desperation point we spied E L & N (Eat Live & Nourish) which had designer sandwiches and rolls and tempting little cakes.  We ordered, sat at a seat outside and looked up to find that we were directly behind the Liberty Store we were aiming for.  How’s that for good planning?  While eating and fending off over familiar pigeons, we watched a group of OAC folks doing street evangelism.  

So after lunch it was bee line for Liberty of London.   Five floors of specialty items but we were really only interested in the fabrics and haberdashery on Levels 3 and 4.   Little Sister found more buttons while I wandered the fabric selections and was sorely tempted by the silks.  The Tudor Belle Tana Lawn is a depiction of the actual Liberty  building and comes in several colour ways.   A small tape measure made its way into my hand and is my souvenir of this wonderful store.   

Currently they have a special collaboration and selection of fabrics called Bridgerton after the TV series.   There are silks, cottons, poplins and twills in the collection- something for everyone.   In one corner of the third floor there were some comfortable chairs where men were sitting while their wives were shopping.   

We called at Hamleys just because.

Then, without mishap we made our way back to Piccadilly Circus and up to Charing Cross Road via Leicester Square.   Number 60 is a shop dedicated completely to Rubber Ducks.  The downstairs was reserved for “Duck Dealers Only”.   I never knew that Rubber Ducks, well to be honest, plastic ducks, were a collectors item.  But this shop had every imaginable including ear rings, key holders and other trivia.  Little Sister was given a tiny green duck charm but I was totally ignored!

And onwards up the street to 80, then 82 and finally across the intersection and outside a McDonalds, the plaque for 84 Charing Cross Road.   Highly inconspicuous to all but the intensely interested; we had to ask an affable West Indian man to move aside so we could take a photo. 

No longer is this street full of book shops.  It is now an eclectic mix of restaurants, specialty shops,  around four remaining bookshops and of course Duck World.   We needed a cup of tea so found another Pret A Manger and while sitting there saw memorial to Agatha Christie.  Couldn’t miss that one!

We were close to some of the iconic theatres in London and it was a real buzz of atmosphere.

We got a little off course on our return and instead of reaching Piccadilly Circus found ourselves at Trafalgar Square which had been taken over by the MLB where there were exceptionally long queues of people waiting to enter and take up the chance to participate in all things baseball.   The poor old lions around Nelson’s Column were all but obscured.   

Then at Piccadilly we once more picked up the Red Route and rode around famous landmarks.   As we have 48 hour passes we intend to do this Red Route again tomorrow and will hop off at Westminster and explore around there.    

We got off at Hyde Park Corner around ten past five and walked back to South Kensington past Harvey Nichols, Harrods, V&A to a small Polish Restaurant opposite the South Kensington Tube Station.   A delicious dinner of chicken and vegetables and  a restorative cup of tea for dessert; after which we walked back to our hotel, tired but satisfied.   This has been a splendid day out.