Wednesday 20 October 2010

Views of London - the rest

So, we continue!

Day 3 we took a bus to Knightsbridge. We showed the munchkin Harrods which involved coffee:



ice-cream:



and then a trip round the hilarious pet section:



The photo of 'pet fashion' I posted the other day was from there too... and they have a pet food section that includes a dog cookie and 'pupcake' store. You couldn't make it up.

Next we walked to South Kensington, took in some French atmosphere and then made for the Natural History Museum (hence the other Poetry Bus poem this week). I did my last two years of school just over the road from there so I do remember visiting the museum... and it has changed a lot since those days. Our girl looked at the dinosaurs (no, not me!) but really preferred the mammals:



Sadly though the escalator through the world wasn't working (typical!):



Next we walked up to Kensington Gardens and looked at the Anish Kapoor sculptures currently dotted about the park (interview with Kapoor here):







Next a bus trip along to Soho and Chinatown for a snack for the young one:



before heading back to our hosts for us grown-ups to share a meal with many cousins.

Day 4 and it's family business for me but the Science Museum for Mark and girl. They wore these:



and saw this:



and this:



Our last full day in London was Day 5. Our hosts took us down to Columbia Road flower market in E2. We did indeed see flowers:



walked to Spitalfields market (now a mix of old and new) for lunch and then paid a visit to the lovely Living Museum on Folgate Street, E1 (photos not allowed in there but their site is here and more info here). On our way back to our hosts' we ended up seeing St Paul's again:



And then, pretty much, we came home again (trains on time and not unbearable both ways, a bleedin' miracle!).

x

14 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

And a good time was had by all - I can see that from the pics.

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, it's always a bit mad on these city trips but it's... stimulating!
x

Marion McCready said...

aye them were the days when pc's were proper big sturdy things!

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, more i-claudius than i-phone...
x

Uncle Dick Madeley said...

I like the fetishistic dog in leather and a wig...

Rachel Fox said...

There were so many photo opportunities in that department alone!

Liz said...

Enjoyed the photos, does sound stimulating and jam-packed too. Hope to make it back there this Summer.

Rachel Fox said...

This was our Girl's first proper old-enough-to-remember-stuff trip to London (hence all the tourism). Her favourite bits were puppies on sale in Harrods (£1,500 for a spaniel anyone?), Chinatown and squirrels, I think. My goodness there are a lot of squirrels in London! Also she kept saying 'London has EVERYTHING' (to which I would answer...'no beach, my love, at least no beach like we're got at home!').
x

Eryl said...

Now I'm feeling really homesick, even the clouds in London look like they were painted by Constable.

Must, must remember to visit Harrods pet department next time I go.

Rachel Fox said...

We ended up in the pet department by chance... the loos downstairs were out of order (?) so we had to go up to the ones on the top floor (where the pet dept is). I've only been in the shop maybe once before. Not really our price range...
x

Totalfeckineejit said...

OOh! They've upgraded my computer!
London is great, ya gotta love that Coffee in Harridges!

Rachel Fox said...

Twas Mark drank the coffee... I can only drink coffee in quiet places with lots of space...
x

Anonymous said...

I have so enjoyed seeing all your wonderful photos of London. She really is an amazing city. It looks like you had a brilliant time!

Rachel Fox said...

Glad you enjoyed them, Selma. It can feel a bit odd... essentially putting your holiday photos online (and I never used to put any up with our faces on...) but the regular bloggers who call here have become such friends over the years that it now seems a perfectly normal thing to do!
x