Last Day in London

Our last day in London was decidedly more relaxed. We realized we need this every so often! Wait.. now I'm remembering what we did... hmm... maybe not that true after all. We headed out of the apartment in the morning, amidst a bit of rain, and happened upon a little shop which sold used designer clothing and shoes for women (sorry Andrew). Sure enough--a pair of Gucci stillettos are coming home with me.

This little florist and plant shop claimed on the sign to be the longest garden shop in London. It ran alongside a train overpass, and delighted us every couple steps. My favourite was their description of Evergreen Jasmine--made me want one, but I'm not so sure it would do well in my luggage.

We spent the afternoon back at the Victoria & Albert Museum to see one of the exhibits, which featured the development of Italian fashion since 1951. We saw some beautiful dresses (they always steal my heart), and a suit made by Emengildo Zenga. Andrew's grandparents, who were tailors in Italy, worked alongside him. The exhibit also talked about the offerings of different regions of Italy, and Biella was featured for its wool. We head to Biella tomorrow. 

We ran out of the gift shop to meet with these two, only a couple blocks away. I went to school with Geordie and Christine in Brandon School of Music. Geordie is doing studies for his doctorate on the effects of certain elements of performance and how the audience reacts to them. Christine is teaching music at an upper middle school which presents many challenges in its variety of ethnicities and religious conflicts. It was really great to see some old friends, and catch up on what life has been like in the meantime.

We walked through neighbouring Hyde Park, and stopped for a wee sit while Andrew tried out his pipe for the first time. I've learned since that the birds we saw were storks. They were definitely not ruffled by human presence!

And so we walked down the street, bought Andrew a few more 'James May' shirts on sale at Debenham's, and waited until just past times that kitchens were open, even in Soho, and ended up at a Diner trying to be American. They were suitably obnoxious to our senses, and the food tasted oddly like MacDonald's, but with high quality ingredients. It was weird, and we wished to have gone elsewhere... but food was the priority by that point, so we must forgive ourselves.

Friday morning we packed up and headed out to St. Pancras Station to catch our train through the Chunnel. While we waited to go through security, and to spend the rest of our cash pounds, we stopped at the little Fortnum & Mason's. This was my first experience of truly British tea. We had a pot of the St. Pancras blend, particular to that station. It was delicious... nevermind the crumpets with fine marmalade and raspberry preserve, all served up on beautiful china. We were glad for this last minute experience--it was Britain, after all, and Brits drink tea--beautiful tea!