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After almost two months of being culturally stifled in Bristol (not that I had much more opportunity in Houston, Texas, one would just expect more from a country with royalty) I was ecstatic when PAB's sister arrived and provided a much needed excuse to escape the city limits into the big city. Little did I know that half the European and Asian world were at that very moment planning their own "escapes"...I had never been to London in August, when most of Europe is on summer holiday. And now I know why. Somehow crowded streets and metros add to the charm of nouveau cities like New York, but in Paris and London there is nothing so charming about squeezing your way down tiny cobblestone streets while half a million other tourists are bumping you with their fanny packs and asking you to take pictures of them and their extended families.
We parked in a London suburb, the first secret of a London tourist who doesn't want to pay the Emission fee for the city nor the ridiculous parking rates inside city limits. The London suburbs definitely have their charms (though I have avoided the dodgy ones), and PAB safely wedged himself between a BMW and an Audi, reassured that if someone's car were to be stolen it wouldn't be his :)
We made our way first to Picadilly Circus, stuffed into a metro between three Italian friends who kept whacking us during their conversation with their zealous gesturing and a Russian couple who said nothing but looked very cross (either at each other or at the loud Italians). Picadilly Circus and its animated advertisements doesn't have quite the umph of Time Square (maybe it's because they are posted on 18th century buildings instead of skyscrapers) and I would guess the Japanese tourists fill the same. The circus does, however, lead to two brilliant streets of shopping, Regent and Oxford. Regent street was as crowded as the rest of London, it seemed only the stores were empty. It's funny how you hardly ever see anyone go into a Burberry or a Gucci, almost makes you wonder how they stay in business. H&M and Next, on the otherhand, were fit to burst. But PAB and I had one objective--PRIMARK.
The Irish may have done many things wrong, they may be raging alcoholics and be at a loss when the potatoes aren't blooming as they should, but the one thing they have done amazingly and inexplicably right is Primark. Please, if you go to London, avoid the overpriced British retailers, Next, Dorothy Perkins and Topshop (which seems more of an overpriced store for teeny boppers), and head straight for Primark. I don't know how they do it, but Primark has managed to combine fashionable clothes with an incredibly cheap price (they put H&M to shame). Imagine, Primark is the equivalent of the designer for WalMart obtaining an actual sense of new and trendy fashions. It is BRILLIANT! I don't know whether it's that Ireland has no child labor laws or they're just going for broke to please the British, but however they do it I LOVE it, along with thousands of other London shoppers without the funds for Regent street. The lines for the dressing rooms are always crazy (I've tried early in the morning, late at night, nothing seems to shorten them in the least), but it is well worth it. The clothes fit well, they are of good quality and the most you'll pay for a shirt is £8. Absolutely LOVELY.
PAB finally dragged us out of the store and back into the crowded streets where it promptly started raining. We headed for the museums, a natural course of action in bad weather, and found ourselves squashed into the café of the National Galleries with tourists of every shape and size trying to devour their afternoon meal in a heated and dry environment. After eating our packed lunch (and getting angry stares from the café workers for taking up a table with our homemade sandwiches) we headed to the British National museum to see what the the Brits had in the way of old things.
I have never been a fan of museums of history; I like a mummy or Greek statue as much as the next person, but when it comes to row after row of broken pots and rusting swords, I'd just as soon spend a day in the sanitarium. We had to fight our way to see the Rosetta stone and the extensive collection of Greek ruins, but had almost free range of Japan and the Middle East. It reminded me of the Louvre, where everyone crowds around a 12"x12" painting of a woman with a stupid smirk while hardly anyone stops to look at the enormous canvases that showcase some of DaVinci's more interesting work. In any case, PAB and I lucked out because a great majority of the tourists were Japanese, thus giving us at least a 5 inch advantage on all the exhibits.
We ended the day with an incredible dinner at La Locanda, an Italian restaurant off Regent Street that PAB found in a guide book. Typically I am disappointed with guide book recommendations, but this one is a keeper. The restaurant is owned by an Italian man (black shirt with grey chest hair poking up over the top, gold chains, 100% Mafia) and serves the most incredible pizza and pasta at an affordable price, especially for London. Five stars in my book.
Overall, a nice trip. PAB and I will have to take advantage of our easy accessibility to London and visit during the low season (if it exists). I am open for any other visitors who would be so kind as to give me an excuse to go back :)
