We have finally had our first day of traditional English weather. 42 degrees and raining, and we thought, what a beautiful day why don’t we go down to London for the day? So we got up early and headed down to the tube stop in Epping. Epping is what we would call in the states a suburb of London. It is 47 miles to the south of the base and it is the closest tube (subway) stop. We could ride the train down from one of the local train stations but we figured we were going to have to drive and park either way we might as well as save ourselves the cost of train tickets. We figure we will ride the train more often once we are in Ely since we can walk to the train station. On the trip down we had a great time watching a guy that was enjoying a bottle of vodka (mind you it is just after 9:30am) and rapping to the music in his head. He was dancing and provided us with a lot of entertainment that made 60 minute tube ride go by fast.
Andrea Outside of Harrods
After arriving in downtown London our first stop was the famous Harrods. I’ve only heard stories and read on the internet about this place, but they all fell short. It is a Nordstroms on crack! If you are not familiar with the store it is one of the largest department stores in the world. I believe only one is bigger. They have over 330 departments and everything is high end and very expensive. We were fortunate to be going during their only sale of the year, but we still didn’t buy anything besides a snack. There was a scarf in their 50% bin that was still 120 pounds (191 US dollars) after the discount! They sell everything from sporting good and clothes to furniture, fine art, electronics, and my favorite section...food. Harrods is very exclusive and high end. They have a strict dress code that they enforce. The second you step through the door there are at least two security guards checking everybody out. They looked everybody up and down. You can’t be wearing anything that is dirty, torn, or cutoff. Your shoes have to be clean and neat in appearance. They recently started letting people wear trainers (tennis shoes) into the store. Forget about wearing something like shorts and flip flops, they are not allowed. If you wore any of these things they would kindly ask you to leave.
Tyler Drinking Tea in the "English" Fashion
The first thing we did was to go and get a snack and a cup of coffee/tea. Andrea had and I quote, “one of the best coffees I’ve ever had.” I had what is called cream tea. It is traditional afternoon tea, served with scones, cream, and preserves. It was delicious. After that we spent hours browsing around the store, gasping at prices and laughing at some of the ridiculous high fashion items they were selling. We were there a couple of hours and we didn’t even scratch the surface of what Harrods has to offer.
Some of the Tasty Looking Treats at Harrods
After we were tired of the crowds and wanted to do something else, we hopped on the tube again, our destination: Dominion Theater. They are showing the musical We Will Rock You. It is a show based on the music of Queen. We have heard good reviews and thought it would be a lot of fun. We were hoping to get some last minute tickets that are usually sold at a good discount. Unfortunately when we got there the show was almost sold out and we decided to wait for another day. We had a great lunch at a pub close to the theater called Jack Horner pub. I finally got my steak and ale pie. If you’ve never had one, imagine a chicken pot pie filled with steak, veggies, and delicious gravy. All kinds of goodness! I’ve been waiting to have one, and I’m glad I did, theirs was excellent. Andrea had a chicken and apple version. I also had a new beer called Honeydew by Fullers. It was very good. I’m hoping I can find a pub around here that serves it. I have to thank Kristin for the beer magazine she gave me because I wouldn’t have tried it if it wasn’t for the magazine’s review of it. Thanks Kristin!
Andrea Trying to Pick Out Her Favorite Baked Goodie
Since we didn’t go to the show we decided to hit up the Natural History Museum. It was raining and we wanted something inside. Neither of us had been there before and best of all it is free. Apparently the rest of London was thinking the same thing! The museum was huge and in an awesome building. We had a pretty good time browsing around and looking at the displays. We didn’t get to go into the area we really wanted to, the dinosaur room, because there was a queue (line) to enter the exhibit that was over 45 minutes long. Needless to say the place was packed. We decided not to wait and come back on a day when school is in session and it is not raining.
Natural History Museum
We had a great time bumming around downtown London. It is a huge city with so much to offer. I can’t wait until I feel more comfortable walking around and knowing where to go. Good thing I have my tour guide (Andrea) to show me around and make sure I don’t miss anything interesting or get lost in a tube stop.
The Line for the Dinosaur Room
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