London Long Review Part 2

Next we decided we wanted to go see Harrods andBuckingham Palace. On the way to Harrods, which was first, we walked through Hyde Park, which was a nice break from cars, but still full of people (probably because it was a nice day). Especially prevalent were the runners. Crowds of them just going down the path. We were just going to go straight to the famed luxury store, but realized Kensington Palace was right next to Hyde Park/ in it, so we stopped there.

But in actuality, we couldn't really see much. The gardens were laid out nicely but nothing much was growing and we couldn't see much of the "palace" or what I expected to see, so we moved on instead turning to watching small children get almost attacked by geese.

Which is what happened/ will happen if you give a baby bread near a pond full of giant swans. Seriously, they were probably 4 feet tall and not scared of people at all.

Moving on so as not to killed Birds-style, we found a memorial and concert hall dedicated to Prince Albert, which were a gilded golden statue and a giant collesium-esque building.

We found Harrads and then found Harrods completely overwheleming. We didn't get past the second floor. There was just too many rooms, and I felt the whole place was very contrived. Not fancy, just tacky; like the store was trying too hard to be high class and just putting in too many costumes, too much gold, too much polish. So we left, and it was relief to get back out onto the street, where we took the subway close to Buckingham palace.

Buckingham Palace was super crowed and though we missed the changing of the guard I still really enjoyed seeing it, even though once again, it wasn't quite what I was expecting from a palace. I guess I was envisioning more of a castle rather than just a really big stone house...

We walked more. We walked a lot and by this point I was getting kind of tired and hungry. But we saw Big Ben and Parliament and Westminster Abbey (all from the outside) before we went to get sandwiches and rest at a Costa near Trafalgar Square. Big Ben, etc. were all very impressive in their size and how they imposed their presence over the city, as well as the incredible amount of detail in all the stonework. I wish I had been a little less tired, so that I could appreciate them a little more, but I do plan on going back to London.

Next, the end of the day at the British Museum, London Eye and Covent Gardens.