Jolly Old England!

Big Ben!

Greetings from London! We arrived on Thursday morning after a very early wake up call in Berlin. We departed Berlin at 6:00 am for an 8:05 am flight. We flew from Berlin to London City. The city of London has numerous demonstrators including an event which happened on Wednesday. Protesters opposed to building a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport unfurled banners from the roof of Britain's Parliament building near the Big Ben tower. They are from a group called "PlaneStupid" and some of them were engineering students who flew paper airplanes off the building. Londoners were up in arms that they managed to get by security and the papers yesterday had an article in which one protester said they exited the elevator to have a cup of tea and made their way to the rooftop. Others say it was also assisted by an insider.

After we landed we had a driver meet us at the airport and took us to the start of our numerous tours. We began our day at one of many Waitrose Supermarkets. Waitrose is a high-end grocery retailer who combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop. It was very impressive. After Waitrose we made our way to a Tesco then to a Sainsbury and then to a brand new Whole Foods. After Whole Foods we toured Peter Jones; a department store which is owned by John Lewis. There's a whole interesting read on the history of who Peter Jones was and who John Lewis was; Londoners consider the Peter Jones store their local corner shop. Click on http://www.peterjones.co.uk/info/corporate/dsinfo.asp?str=301&storeid=27&detailtypeid=11 to read more.

We had lunch at the Whole Foods. After lunch and touring the Peter Jones department store we made our way to LUSH; they are a fresh handmade cosmetics store with locations all over the world. Currently in Texas they are only in Dallas but if you go to their website http://usa.lush.com/cgi-bin/lushdb/stores.html?mv_arg=USA&expand=stores you can view all their US store locations. They have an interesting store concept in London in that they replicate a fresh produce section of a grocery store. A very fragrant store; asthmatics and allergy suffers take note!

After lunch we toured the Conran Shop; or simply known in London as Conrans. The store is known for selling a carefully chosen selection of contemporary, well-designed furniture and home furnishings, much of it exclusive. It was founded by Sir Terrence Conran and originally opened in 1973. The store struck me as very reminiscent of a MoMA store (Museum of Modern Art). Today the store is located in the Michelin House which itself is a great photo.

Michelin Bibendum Building:


After Conrans we made our way to the famed Harrods! For those of you who have never travelled to the UK or London; Harrods is an icon which opened it's doors in 1849. It was founded by Charles Henry Harrod who set it up originally as a wholesale grocery. It has since over the years turned into this massive luxury grocery/department store and has everything imaginable under the sun. There is an Egyptian room and a memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed.

Below: doorman at Harrods


Dave and I had afternoon tea at the Ladurée tea room. They even have private event function space at the top of the building on the fifth floor! It's truly an experience one should take in.

Isaphan; Amy's macaroon and raspberry pastry from tea at Harrod's:



After making our way back to our hotel in Kensington via the "tube" or underground we had an early dinner at the Stanhope Arms pub. Dave had the fish and chips and I had the shepherd's pie.

Today Dave is off on business with just the H-E-Bers and I'm on my own. I have the start of a sore throat and weather is supposed to turn windy and rainy today so I may stick to the tube lines and find my way around on my own.

Saturday we hope to get over to the Tower of London and the London Eye. Check back for write-ups and photos.

Cheers!

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