Last Friday I think H and I headed into London for the first time ever without any agenda. A was in Paris. It’s funny I have been thinking very romantically about London the last few weeks and how much I will miss it. On the train ride into London I started reading the paper and started feeling very nauseous because we were taking the super bumpy train line. When we got into London we headed to
Borough Market for lunch and naturally my first choice was my favourite Greek vendor , upset at the thought that this might be my last visit. My lamb burger was pretty lacking, not the delicious treat I was expecting and as we ate we were harassed by pan handlers. Our favourite cheese shop was extra crowded with less selection. As we left I wanted to have one last glass of mulled wine. I stopped at a different vendor than my usual and got a putrid glass. After two sips, I couldn’t take anymore. The trains were all very crowded and we headed off to the
Museum of London, which I had read is one of those great museums that not many people visit. We were not that impressed. They are in the middle of a redesign which opens at the end of April and I think then it will be a place to visit. Now, we spent more time looking in the gift shop than we did at the exhibits.
We then headed off to the
Wellcome Collection, an exhibit I have passed a number of times and always wanted to visit. We sat down for a cup of coffee in their café which was packed with people and then started to walk through their exhibit. It was more interesting than the Museum of London and we both wished we had started there because we had to leave early without finishing due to our reservation.
It was a great day because it was just the two of us. But H is no lover of cities, and on the train journey home I was kinda feeling the same way. But by Saturday I was back longing for London.
The V&A is the one museum I can usually get A to go to. It does hold a special place in my heart as well because the collection is so diverse. On the day before our flight she and I went there for a walk through. We hadn’t been since they opened the new Medieval and Renaissance rooms and the space is gorgeous. We didn’t spend long enough in there. 
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I went on the LondonWalks’ Magical Mystery Tour which is a tour through London to various Beatles-related sites. The guy leading the tour has been doing this for some time and he’s a combination circus barker/super fan. I was a bit envious of him that he has been able to turn his obsession into profit. The final stop on the tour was Abbey Road Studios. I stopped paying attention to what he was saying at that point because close to Abbey Road Studios is the infamous crosswalk that was on the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road. It’s become a very popular tourist destination and on that Sunday it was particularly busy with people trying to pose for pics on the crosswalk. I could have watched this all day! There was a group of teenage boys with an older lady that took a lot of time trying to get the pic right, changing shirts, taking off shoes, all in the name of flattering imitation. You can watch a live webcam from the crosswalk here.
I got out of work on time on a Friday night for the first time in many nights and A met me at the train station and we headed into London. We both have colds and it was one of those chilly and rainy nights so we didn’t go far, but needed to buy a gift for her French host family. I had a couple of ideas in mind based on some suggestions from my friend L. I can’t really pick out a gift for anyone without major assistance, LOL. We were going to go by Fortnum and Mason and pick up some tea but we headed to Liberty first. This store is fabulous. The building alone is gorgeous inside and out and filled with tons of stuff that had A going “Who can afford this? Who buys this?” Up on the 3rd floor they have a sewing department. Did I ever think we’d be spending a Friday night looking at buttons? Probably not, but that’s what we did. It was the fanciest sewing department I have ever seen and everything was beautiful down to the pin cushions. They had these birds for sale that were little statues probably about four inches tall that instead of being covered with feathers were covered with bits of fabric of different patterns and colors like quilts. Hard to describe without making them sound tacky but they were very intricate. A wanted one until we saw the £150 price tag.
There were sooo many people. In fact I have never seen that many people in Leicester Square which is usually swarming with tourists. As we stood there I was counting the languages that I heard: Spanish, Italian, Polish, German, French, and Cockney. Of course you would hear this string of foreign words and then “Johnny Depp” somewhere in the middle. The cockney was a dad whose daughter was standing next to A and would not give up waiting for a glimpse of the celebrities after it was pretty certain they were not going to come as far as where we were standing. His words were something like, “Bloody hell Elizabeth, I’m standing out in this blasted rain any longer!” Yes, it was raining, and cold, and well English. So any Hollywood glitz and glamour was soggy like our shoes. The screams from the crowd were, in A’s terms “Epic”. At one point when Johnny looked to maybe be heading down the line of people close to A a woman yelled out a very serious “JOHNNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYY”. It sounded a little like a very loud coyote. This prompted a guy standing next to me to double over in laughter.
