Last Day in London

Hyde Park, London

As this was to be our final full day in London, Paul and I decided to just wander the streets and see what we found. We began by walking across the now familiar Kensington and Hyde Parks towards the palace. Since we now felt that we were on first name terms with her majesty, we would not have been surprised if she had invited us in for tea and scones. In spite of our expectations, there was no sign of the Queen but we did see some of her coachmen out road testing a new carriage with about 8 well groomed horses. I guessed that, if the horses are not run regularly, they will have trouble starting them when the next ceremonial occasion demands a full equine display.

We watched the horses disappear into the Queen’s front yard and then continued on our way towards Piccadilly Circus. Of course anyone looking for a “circus” at Piccadilly would be sadly mistaken. The name has nothing to do with a circus in the Barnum and Baileys tradition, but simply means a central point where a number of roads meet together. There are a number of these “circuses” throughout London, each one has become a popular meeting point for wandering tourists and a staging point for the dozens of “hop on hop off” tourist buses.

Our journey towards Piccadilly Circus took us along the famous Piccadilly Street and past such establishments as the Ritz Hotel. This street is also home to a large number of fancy outlets selling unpriced goods to the wealthy. We stepped inside a couple of these but our appearance in shorts and Tshirts probably quickly gave the well dressed attendants little optimism there we were there to buy anything. These shops reek of the smell of polished veneer, leather, Harris Tweed and old money. It is here you can come to buy a 200 pound shaving brush, a pair of 700 pound shoes or even a 61,000 pound watch!

As I looked around at the array of pompous items I could not help but think that they were just as tacky as the gaudy collections of “I Love London” T shirts and plastic models of the Tower of London that you find in the numerous souvenir shops. When it was all said and done, it was all just stuff. I suspect that both types of stuff were equally unnecessary and I suspect that the eager tourists buying the cheap souvenirs would probably get just as much enjoyment as the foppish snobs buying the leather hunting boots. It made me sad to think that some people actually measured their personal value by how much they spent on clothes and accessories. At least the cheap crappy souvenirs did not even pretend to increase the status of their purchasers.

I wandered along Piccadilly and the adjacent streets, paid a visit to the Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum and then decided that it was time to move on. Although there are plenty of other tourist sights in London, I had lost my appetite for jostling with crowds of other visitors, flag toting tour guides and hordes of shouting schoolchildren. It was time to retreat to the relative solitude of the parks and spend time watching the squirrels and pigeons instead. Although they didn’t have a penny or a pound to their names they seemed to enjoy a very happy existence regardless.

Early tomorrow Paul and I will catch the Eurostar to Paris for the next leg of our adventure.

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