London, London! June 2007 Part 5

One afternoon I visited Westminster Abbey, in memory of my Mom, who had made some artistic pottery that she sent there for the sacristy. Its probably long gone, but I knew that if she visited London, she would go to the Abbey. I was not prepared for how much this visit affected me. I was raised in the Episcopalian church (The Anglican Church of England in America...at least that's what it was a long time ago; today it is full of controversy and rifts), I haven't gone to church for myself for forty years, yet there was something so familiar about being there. I took a guided tour, 90 minutes. All the history, all the centuries. Just spendid.

Chimneys masquerading as ice cream cones. I like this photo a lot.
The actual motorcycle (totally restored, of course...the English apparently do this a lot, restoring things...see earlier photo in earlier post about Montgomery's tank) that T. H. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) was riding when he veered off the road to avoid boys on bikes, and sustained a terrible head injury which killed him within a few days. There it is, in the museum.

For my daughter, Sandra, I visited Covent Garden, where she had been on a school trip. It was fun, noisy, full of people, wonderful stuff.
And, yes, I went to Harrod's. From the guidebook: No backpacks, no torn jeans...Harrods' doormen ensure even the people in the store are in the best possible taste. This world-famous emporium began life in 1849 as a small, impeccable grocer's, and the present terracotta building was built in 1905. It is most striking at night, when it is illuminated by 11,500 lights. It has more than 150 departments full of extraordinay things at extraordinary prices. The photo above is part of the escalator well, rebuilt by the current owner, Mr. Al Fayed, in an Egyptian theme at a cost of over 21 million BPS ... incredible to see. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one snapping photos.

That's it, my wonderful visit to London. The 2:1 exchange rate of the US$ to the British Pound Sterling was a little bit of a damper, but not enough to make me second-guess the trip. I loved London. And, not surprisingly, one of the things I loved most was being able to speak ENGLISH for four days, be understood, ask questions, be understood, listen to guides, be understood...did I mention being understood??? And the people were terrific, everyone was friendly. I learned to ride the tube and by the second day was scooting around without problems. Color me independent.