Harrods

The English service industry are renowned for being surly,rude and unhelpful. However, my experiences so far had been anything but. Then there was Harrods.

Harrods is certainly a lovely building. They had some very cool interior decorating and it all looks very posh. Plus there was some interesting history to do with them having the first escalators etc....

The security was a bit overkill. Worse even than the airport. If I hadn't been inclined to blow the place up, the stupid security measures might have pushed me to it. For whatever preposterous reason, one was not allowed to carry one's backpack on ones back. Anything larger than a handbag had to be carried by the straps. You weren't even allowed to hold it in front of you. If I was a thief, I would think great. Easier access to my bag. But anyway.

We were there to have an English afternoon tea i.e. scones, jam and lashings of cream. We got the scones and the jam but for some reason our clotted cream never arrived. We made enquiries and our waitress made all the right noises about getting us some cream. So we waited. No cream.

We made further enquiries about the cream, but this time we made sure we directed our enquiries to the manager only to be informed that we were given butter instead of cream.!!! I was unimpressed and made it as clear as I was able to about my state of being unimpressed. Whereby we were assured that an attempt to find some cream would ensue. Some time later, we were informed that happily, some cream and been sent for and would be coming very soon.

Well, you can imagine how we felt to see our much awaited cream, sail right past us and be delivered to another table. Finally finally after yet further "enquiries" were made, the cream arrived and sad to say, it wasn't really that nice.

To add further insult to injury, I think it made me sick. Luckily I didn't need to use the "bag", cos I couldn't find it. But I did need to use the facilities. So, tourists beware.

The London Eye

We didn't manage to get to the London Eye as early as we wanted so there was an almighty queue when we arrived. Someone must've been smilin' down on us tho', because they were organising the throng and we ended up being at the head of the queue.

Vivian had already done the London Eye so she headed off to the aquarium. We were just about on the Eye when Cecilia suddenly remembered that she's afraid of heights. So once we were in, she sat for most of the journey on the seats in the middle of the Eye away from the windows.

She did manage to steel herself for long enough to take a quick photo. The organisers take a very nice photo of you in the Eye with a remote camera but as expected, it costs an arm and a leg.

When we came out, we thought that the queue had disappeared and then we saw that actually no, it had moved to the other side of the footpath and it looked to be at least a 1 hour wait if not more.

Les Miserables

Taking in a play, was an absolute must. You can get cheap tickets at a few different outlets. We knew there was a good possibility that we wouldn't get our first pick so we lined up with a list of possibilities to try which was lucky cos our last pick was the only one at a reasonable price with a not bad view.

We almost weren't going to take it, because of the impeded view but the seller said it wasn't too bad and we were pleased to see that he hadn't lied.

I always forget just how fabulous stage shows are. Thanks to Vivian for being so generous and shouting us to the play.

Tate Modern and the National Gallery

Yes, it looks like a brain sucker... you know the joke of the brain sucker you used to play on your friends when you were in primary school? Anyway, it was by far the coolest bit of art at this gallery.

I was pleasantly surprised by this modern art gallery. After our other experiences, I have been unwilling to repeat the experience but since Greg recommended it, I thought I'd give it a try. Plus...it's free. That's always worth a few brownie points.

What's with the crack in the floor? I don't know. I didn't find it interesting enough to find out. Madara and Max got a lot of attention. And one time Madara almost got lost but some kind stranger pointed him out to me.

There's seats outside, so we had a break and ate our packed lunch in the sun. It was very nice. We had wanted a drink but there was a big queue leading into the cafeteria. What's with that?

The national gallery is another site that I would recommend.