War Heroes, Fur Activists, and a Naughty Emporium.

  London, United Kingdom
Saturday, November 18, 2006

Yesterday Kat and Ryan offered to take us on a London sightseeing walk. The four of us have been getting along great, and after mentioning one night that we hadn't really seen too much of London, they insisted we go out for a Saturday stroll.

02 London Police

We started on Fulham Rd. and walked past the Chelsea Stadium where a football game was about to start. Already the fans were gathering in near by pubs, their loud beer-induced singing attracting squads of police officers on horseback and on foot. Reminded me of Football Sundays in Argentina, where entire neighborhoods were closed down because of a soccer match.

We continued to walk down Fulham Rd. privileged by the light Autumn sun that still bathed the streets. Lately, the days had been gray and foggy, cold and rainy so a little sunlight was happily welcomed. The trees shone with auburn colors while some were still green, resisting the sleep that comes upon them in this season. Ed explained that the first leaves to turn red in a tree are always the ones highest up, because they are the furthest from the trunk, where the strength of the tree comes from.

05 Expensive Terraced Houses

As we entered Chelsea, Ryan noted that the properties had gone from expensive to ridiculous here. To buy a property you'd have to look at £ 7 to 8 million and that leasing a 2 bedroom flat in this area is just insane. I could tell by the lovely townhouses, beautifully kept and cared for. The cars that sped by with fascinating engine roars also gave us the feeling this was a rich neighborhood.

06 Another Chelsea Street

We turned into Knigtsbridge Rd. were we passed fashion stores of the biggest names like Emporio Armani and Cavalli. The streets were packed of Saturday-strollers, just like us. Kat and I stopped in every bakery we spotted to see the pink glazed cupcakes decorated with bits of grapefruit or figs, and the chocolate mousse cakes or the sweet raspberry or blackberry tarts.

We came across Harrods were hundreds if not thousands of people were peering into the amazing window displays. The theme was James Bond's new film, Casino Royale. The attention to detail was astounding; it was like looking into a life-size doll house. The mannequins (aka, Bond Girls) were displaying sexy cocktail dresses, covered in diamonds from head to toe. Even Bond's car was displayed in one of the windows, which was hard to get past due to the large male agglomeration.

13 Harrods under siege

On the main entrance of Harrods were activists protesting against the famous department store because of its fur commerce. They were handing out flyers with pictures of skinned animals. I was heartbroken by the pictures and stayed back from the group to see what I could hear. Suddenly a snobbish looking woman came along, wearing a hideous turquoise fur coat. She was smiling at the entire scene, in a mocking kind of way. She went up to one of the activists that I was closest to, and she asked in broken English, why they were protesting. The guy was so soft spoken I could hardly hear what he answered, but I heard the woman reply: "I quite like fur, you're just wasting your time here" and she walked away purposely sawing her deformed hips as if she were Marilyn Monroe. I was infuriated and wondered if she'd enjoyed being skinned alive.

The sun started going down on us and it started getting a bit chilly as we walked apst the main entrance of Hyde Park. I remembered Hyde Park from my first visit to London in 1995, in Springtime. I remembered sitting in the grass with my sisters, watching the squirrels hurry up a tree trunk.

We walked toward the monument to the Unknown Soldier were endless amounts of wreaths made of paper poppies were decorating the site. I asked Ryan why the poppies and he answered that the poppy flower is used to commemorate Remembrance Day, in memory of the fallen in WWII. The poppy flower was later changed to a paper poppy since Opium was a big problem after the war. The reason the poppy was used as a symbol, was because on the last battlefield the first thing to grow on that land were poppy flowers. Their seeds can lay in the ground for years without germinating, and only grow after the ground has been disturbed. I thought it was kind of romantic.

14 Grave of the Unknown Soldier

Ryan seemed to have an answer for everything, and I later learned he was a history buff, kinda like me, except I don't remember dates and events with such precision as he does. This, when you're being shown around town by a local, is always a privilege. Ryan not only seemed to have the scoop on the history but also on the interesting facts you're left ooooohing to.

We continue to walk through a park lined with tall trees, dropping its weaker leaves into the ground, but nonetheless creating a golden and bronze dome above us. We managed to get a glimpse of a few gray squirrels picking up nuts and fruits fallen from the trees. Ryan said that this is the best moment of the year to see squirrels, since they're recollecting food for the winter. When the real cold comes, none come in sight. And to make his point, he ran off chasing after a lone squirrel, which frantically scurried up a trunk.

17 Self shot of the four

Past the park we stumbled upon Buckingham Palace, surrounded by the daily hordes of tourists. Ryan commented on how ridiculous the back-and-forth of the guards were, while people grabbed on the iron gates posing for a picture. Ed and I decided to stay away from the typical Buckingham Palace picture and just took a quick self shot for remembrance's sake.

24 Pond

We walked through yet another park with wide open meadows and lonely trees. The English taste for landscape has always been so much more austere than the rest of Europe's. In the 16-17th centuries when landscaping for palaces and castles began to be fashionable, the French designed their gardens subjecting Nature to the will of man, whereas English design opted for trimming Nature up and making Her shine opting for natural looking lagoons and lakes instead of statues and fountains and swan shaped bushes. This is the kind of landscape present in London, not at all like the pompous parks of Madrid or Barcelona.

Past the park, we got our first view of Big Ben. Ed had been wanting to see this icon of London since we got here, so he was excited to finally feast his eyes. And so began his photographic shoot, along with the rest of the tourists that were in that corner.

28 Big Ben from afar

By this point our feet were aching and now it was beyond chilly and just plain out freezing. Our next objective was to reach Ryan's favorite coffee and cakes place in Covent Garden. On our way we passed the National Gallery guarded by two immense lions and an even bigger army of tourists. Apparently there was a candlelight Mozart concert starting in a few minutes, which I thought would be lovely, but the need for coffee was greater.

Kat mentioned that her favorite spot in London was Covent Garden. She was right to think so. The cobblestone streets lined with tiny shops selling different cheese and coffees, perfumes and candles, oils and vegetables filled the cold air with a million scents. But the best thing was purposely walking into the smoke that roasted and sweetened chestnuts let out from big pans in the street cars. There were beautiful Christmas chandeliers hanging from the center of the streets which made the entire place look completely magical.

32 Xmas Spirit

We finally reached the tiny French coffee shop where we had warm chocolate cupcakes fresh out of the oven with amazing smelling cappuccinos. Finally feeling a little warmer we crossed the street to a shop that caught our gaze. Decorated with burgundy walls and black lace-looking designs, it was an Erotic Emporium called Coco de Mer; we just had to go in. Inside it smelled like sexy aromatherapy candles and oils. There were erotic books and statues all over the shelves, feathers of all colors and sizes next to a book called "The Perfect Tickle". Edible oils scented with wild arousing smells in tiny old-fashioned glass bottles, coconut powder for a sexy milky bath, naughty lingerie in flowered silk, black and red lace and small see-through nightgowns of the softest materials, spanking devices and whipping lashes together with fluffy handcuffs and collars. The shopkeeper was a beautiful blond woman with bloodshot shiny lips, dressed more like the Madame of a Parisian brothel of the early 20th Century.

38 St. Paul's Angle

We scrutinized every detail of shop, but eventually had to leave when there was no more to look at. Ryan said our next stop was St. Paul's, so we took a bus and got off where the huge grandiose dome was light up for the night. I was amazed when Ryan told me that the foundations for this building go back to Roman times. The building underwent fires and wars during the centuries, forcing it to be redesigned and re built quite a few times. The version that is standing today is Sir Christopher Wren's Neo Renaissance design from the 17th Century. We walked to the façade that would give us greater photographic perspective but we found it was covered up for restoration.

Since it was already past supper time, and our feet were in pain, we decided to call it a day. Ryan and Kat wanted one last stop in Chinatown for their favorite supermarket, to get ingredients for dinner. Ed and I said we'd tag along to see Chinatown, but I really wanted to see if I could find some decent green tea.

We knew we were entering Chinatown's domains when we saw the tiny lights on the typical pointy corners of a Chinese-style roof. Countless restaurants, come trendy and others plain traditional, were serving Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese food. People were coming in and out of the shops with bags full of food, and others were just strolling.

42 Chinatown

While Ryan and Kat did their grocery shopping, Ed and I picked out some nice green and jasmine teas and those twirly noodles we love with spicy Soya sauce. Endless shelves of different types of spicy sauces were lined from floor to ceiling: soy, oyster, fish, spicy, mild, thick, sweet, sour, sweet ´n sour, chilly, garlic, chutney, ginger.

Finally we made it home, and while Ryan cooked for Kat, I cooked for Ed. But instead of getting the delicious-smelling stir fried noodles with Chinese vegetables, Ed got a nutritious tomato and onion salad with a hot soup. Yum!