Lovely and Warm

Westminster -- I thought I was getting the hang of London fashion. As it turned out Converses are very trendy there right now, and jeans are very common, though not so much with the boot cut flared low rise that's everywhere here and an anathema to me.

So what do I decide to wear on Thursday when I go to this part of town? My Converse and jeans. You know where people don't wear these things? In the Westminster area! Of course this makes sense -- this is the government part of town. Everyone is in serious black suits. Heh, now I look like an American tourist. Oh well.

Again, I'm glad that I decided to take this trip in the off season and that I get to Westminster Abby right when it opens. So many places here have signs asking you to keep moving through the small spaces. There were only a few people in the same chapels with me when there was anyone, so I could stay as long as I wanted to look at everything. Westminster was kind of weird. Maybe it was that the tour took you around the edges of the the church, but it was packed with tombs. The place didn't feel so much like a church as a cemetary. I know the two aren't mutually exclusive, but some of the memorials were soo elaborate, it was kind of claustriphobic, like an overly fussy Victoria parlor. Maybe this is it -- the statues and everything overshadowed the architecture of the building in some of these places.

Anyway, rain again as I left and walked through the area. Headed to the Banqueting Room which I really wanted to see. Yet another Christopher Wren building. Found it, but it was unexpected closed, just this day, for a private event. Damn. Headed from here to Charing Cross area and the church of St. Martin in the Field. Not a Wren building this time, but James Gibbs. Per one of my tour books, it is the design that a lot of American Colonial churches were based on. So no surprise that it looked pretty familiar. Very elegant and simple. The other lures of St. Martin were the highly recommended cafe in the crypt, and checking out tickets for concerts. I managed to get there maybe 10 min before they served lunch and wound up filling up on tea and scones so I didn't get any of the very tasty smelling lunch food. There was a concert that night, but tickets were kind of expensive and I wanted to look into theatre tickets before I decided what to do.

Did a little window shopping and then headed for the Tate Britan art Museum. No way I could get to see everything I would like to, but I did spend quite a bit of time in the Pre-Raphialites rooms. Some of my favorite art ever, I could easily have spent hours there. But too much to do, I then headed over to Liechester Square to check out the 1/2 price ticket office for shows that night. What I really wanted to see was Patrick Stewart's Christmas Carol. I knew I'd have to be pretty lucky to get any since the office opens around 10 and it was afternoon by the time I got there. No such luck, and no other shows that really struck me for the price.

So I headed back to my neighborhood for some India takeaway (prices are usually cheaper for takeaway over eating in the restaurant, not even including tip) and took it back to my room. So after lunch/dinner I headed back out to do the big London shopping thing. Went to Harrods and was overwhelmed by the place. It really is huge, and the food hall is definately something to see. But prices were rather excessive. Art supplies I saw earlier that day at the Tate were significantly more expensive. Did I mention it was big? I couldn't find my way out, had to ask a guard how to get out! Next, went to Oxford St and the shops there, including Selfridges. Again a huge store, not quite as overwhelming as Harods, but still quite a nice place. I tried to find something cool and British for the kids Christmas there. Now I probably could have gotten some clothes had I any idea what sizes they wear. Toys? exactly the same as what we've got here, no point buying that stuff here.