london blogging - i stole that title from TB

What else did we do in london. we walked. we walked for days and miles to see the city. it's beautiful and grand and really frikkin' old. we walked so much that i still have blood blisters on the bottoms of my toes.

Things to know - the Thames is dirty. There is a floating monster in the Thames which has a sign that reads: I eat garbage. It's rigged with nets and sifts the garbage out of the water. And yet she is a grand and pretty twisty thing that moves through the city with a great deal of grace.

The Tower of London tour is totally worth every pound. The guides are hilarious, their knowledge of GBR's history is extensive and the tour around the palace, yes the Tower is an official castle/palace/royal residence--in addition to being the place where many a fine soul lost their head or just flat out disappeared. The ravens are fascinating and ungodly huge. There has to be, i think, 6 ravens in residence at the Tower at all times because there is an old prophecy that says when the ravens leave the Tower the royals will no longer rule Britain. Or something like that. The ravens are cared for, fed great chunks of meat and keep all the smaller birds away:)

The Big Bus Tour (the double decker red bus) is helpful, if you can pay attention to all the twists and turns. The ticket is good for 48 hours, and you can hop on and off and many stops all over the city. It also includes walking tours and free boat ride on the Thames. It's pretty cool and the bus dudes are chock full of information. I saw the Bank of England which is Gringott's bank in Harry Potter. That pleased me a great deal. Lame, i know, but there it is.

Things I might not do again
Piccadilly Circus is a special kind of hell--but iconic. As was Oxford Circus, but i think that was induced by the holiday shopping frenzy. Oxford was decked out in Christmas lights and it was a sea of humanity shopping for gifts and then shopping the boxind day sales. Pretty but koo koo.

Other good things
Leicester Square - great for theatre tickets and tonnes of book shops which i did not get enough time to root through. Also mental and bit like Yonge Street circa 1983 but the discount theatre tickets and the books are enough to bring me back.

With regret we did not go the British Museum (rosetta stone) or the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs) mostly because they were closed for many of the days of our trip. But these places are free (like most museums and galleries in London). But the Natural History was just down the street from our hotel and they had a big skating rink and christmas market out front - quite cute.

Blackfriars Pub - on the city side of the Blackfriars Bridge - YUM! Our first introduction to jacket potatoes. Basically a baked potato dressed in yummy things like baked beans and cheese served with a lovely salad. Much to our delight Blackfriars was a smoke-free pub. Which is a huge blessing if you don't smoke and if you are from a country where smoking in a bar is no longer permitted. The one thing that chased us out of more pubs and restaurants was smoking. It is so disgusting, perhaps more so when you are not used to it at all.

Waitrose - a grocery store chain - I could have moved in. The selection of cheese and meats and crunchy things blew my mind. Someone dropped a bottle of scotch on the floor while we were there so it also smelled pretty good.

High Tea at Fortnum & Mason is perhaps worth the very steep price tag just dine off their robin egg-shell blue china and to sit in the very comfy 4th floor tea room, complete with piano player. Tasty.

Both F&M and Harrods were mad full of people both before Christmas and after. The Christmas windows at Harrods featured James Bond and were kind of lame. I think F&M had an Alice in Wonderland theme which was very beautiful.

Something that disappointed me was the lack of obvious unique shopping. I mean, if you have loads of cash you can shop anywhere and go to all the really posh places - but that is not us. But even places like South Kensington, Sloane Square, Covent Garden, Carnaby Street etc were mostly filled with chain stores like H&M, Zara, Mango, Monsoon, Hobbs etc. As C reminded me, we weren't there to shop but i was a little crushed i didn't return with something uniquely london. Maybe next time.

I did buy a pair of fantastically ugly shoes that i love. i can't wait to wear them. they are all black spectators with a heel. if i knew how to post a photo, i would.

Question - on my mac my blogger doesn't let me add colour, links, photos etc like it does when i blog from my work PC. What's that about?