Our plan today is do some shopping on Oxford Street, which is known as London's shopping district. Ranie would like a break from all the walking today. I don't blame her. Her left foot and ankle are hurting and my back is acting up a little. I'm sure my discomfort is age related. Ranie is so much younger I'm sure her discomfort is the result of something else.
A little bit of conflict today. I'd like to walk through the St. James, Green and Hyde parks. So we have come up with a plan to use the Tube to get to and from our destinations. We'll see how our plan plays out. For now, it's off to breakfast. And did I mention, breakfast is included?!
The plan came together beautifully. We hopped on the Underground and rode to St. James Park. A short walk later and we were at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We had a great spot right on the wall of the Victoria Monument. We got there at 11:00 as the crowd grew. The pomp and circumstance was to begin at 11:15. By noon, nothing had happened. Turns out there was no changing of the guard ceremony today. Oops. At least I got some nice photos of the Victoria Monument.
After realizing we weren't going see the changing of the guard, we decided to wander through Green Park toward the Wellington Museum. The park was beautiful but cold. The leaves are falling off the trees and everyone is bundled up. At the end of Green Park near the museum are several monuments commissioned to remember different groups who served in various wars. They are quite impressive. Our plan was to get back on the Underground and ride to the shopping district. The parks were so beautiful we decided to continue our walk in Hyde park.
Hyde Park is a 300 acre park was once used as Royal hunting ground. Serpentine Lake is a man made lake built in 1730 for Queen Caroline. There is no longer hunting in the park but people enjoy the lake in the middle of London's version of Central Park. We walked through the park to Speakers Corner where anyone can speak their mind about topics of the day or anything else. I noticed, just like in the United States, the only people speaking seemed to be crack pots!
We left the park, crossed the street and we were on Oxford Street. Oxford Street is an upscale shopping district. It was packed! People were shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalks. You could hardly move without bumping into someone. Ranie had a good time visiting the stores. I had good time fighting through the crowds trying to keep up with Ranie. The highlight of our shopping experience was Selfridges Department Store. Selfridges has been at this location since 1909 and is still a family owned store. We learned about Selfridges through a series on PBS that portrayed the store as big, flamboyant and extravagant. It didn't disappoint. The store was incredible. It was huge and beautifully decorated for Christmas. Unlike stores in the U.S. there were helpful store staff everywhere. All the cash registers were open so, even though the store was packed, checking out was a breeze.
We walked the length of Oxford Street until there were no more stores. We hopped on the Underground and headed back toward our hotel. We were looking for the Red Lion pub to have some original English pub grub. The Red Lion has been at its current location since the mid 1400s and has been a pub the entire time. Prime ministers have dined there for years and Charles Dikens referred to it in his books. Besids all the history, the food was great. Ranie had the fish & chips and I had a meat pie. Of course Ranie sampled a local ale. We had a really nice time.
London is a very international cosmopolitan city. Today we heard at least five languages spoken. In fact, the clerk who checked us into the hotel had an Eastern European accent, the concierge's accent was from Spain and the waitress in the pub was French. Seems hardly anyone we've met has a British accent.
Here are some picks from today.
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