Today we hit the streets of London for a day of shopping. We beat a well worn path down Oxford Street, stopping in all the big names, Zara, Top Shop, Marks and Spencer, the list goes on. However we were obviously in a fussy mood, by the end of the day I had only bought one pair of trousers (hint, in the UK, trousers are the word for outerwear, pants means undies) and S had a pair of shoes and some shorts.
A small haul but we still enjoyed ourselves looking through all the different shops and were consistently amazed at how much cheaper the prices are here.
As lunch time arrived, we headed down a random side street and found an incredibly popular looking resturant. It was based on Lebanese street food and it was delicious. I had a meze plate and S had a wrap but we shared and it was all so good. I washed mine down with a delicious watermelon lemonade, S had a reasonable cappuchino - an achievement in London.
After lunch we took a break from the shopping and headed to the British Museum. We wandered from exhibits like the Rosetta Stone (S's comment "it can't be the real one" - oh yes it was) to the marbles of the Parthenon, through rooms of rare and ancient clocks, to the treasures of Egypt. It is an amazing place. They even had a set of the gold medals that will be used at this year's olympics - they are huge probably at least 15cm across. The city is really, really in olympics mode with the rings on just about everything that isn't draped with bunting from the jubilee.
But all cultured up more shopping called. Well I don't know if it is exactly shopping, more of an experience. I took S to Harrods. It is a crazy shopping mecca, filled with excited tourists as far as I can tell. To tell the truth it was rather overwhelming.
It has been another full on day in London, so tomorrow we are headed to the country-side.
Oooh, watermelon lemonade sounds delightful! And the British Museum looks to be a 'must visit'. Very much enjoying the bits and pieces of your holiday ... makes my own potential planning even more confusing though! :)
ReplyDeleteOh Lisa, this is like my perfect first London day. After a week I've settled away from the shops and realise I should be focusing more on culture and the like, but a day on Oxford St fresh off the plane - oh, my heart aches for it. Those department stores are magical places (including Harrods, albeit one not on Oxford St)!
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