HARROD’S and the rest of London.

I was a little excited for the next portion of our day. I love Harrod’s, just like I love Sak’s on Michigan Ave in Chicago and St. John’s clothes. Just being there, the ambience, there is something about it that I can’t verbalize. I think it is the dream of someday living in that world.

Before we got to Harrod’s we walked over towards Hyde Park. We arrived first at the Wellington Arch.

Wellington Arch is a triumphal arch located to the south of Hyde Park in central London and at the north western corner of Green Park. The arch, and Marble Arch to the north of Hyde Park, were both planned in 1825 by George IV to commemorate Britain's victories in the Napoleonic Wars.

Here is the arch. The top of the arch. From the Arch we walked across the street to the Hyde Park Corner. There the Hyde Park Corner Screen is located – it is the grand entrance to the park. In this picture I happen to get a picture of a car advertising Chicago the musical. From Hyde Park Corner we walked down Knightsbridge Road away from the park towards Harrods. Walking down this stretch of the road was so nostalgic for me. The Knightsbridge tube station was the closest to the place I stayed last time I was in London and I walked this way many times a day.

There is Harrod’s down the street. We are almost there. Getting closer – love the double-decker bus in the shot. I actually did have a reason for going to Harrod’s other then wanting to get my fix. Harrod’s has a gift shop that sells annual teddy bear Christmas ornaments. Previously I had brought these ornaments home as souvenirs for my family (and myself.) So that is why I planned a quick trip in the store. We just walked in the door by the cosmetics and went over to the Harrods Gift Shop. I quickly found the ornaments and got in line to check out. The cashier asked me if I wanted to join the Harrod’s Reward program. At first I was like, no I don’t get here very often it is not worth it. The cashier explained it did not cost anything to join and it would save me 15% on my purchase. Hey I am all about saving a little money and figured they would never actually send me anything back home, so I signed up.

Here is my Harrods Reward card. (Side note, a few weeks after I got back home I did get a letter from them in the mail, I was quiet surprised!) Leaving the gift shop we walked the length of the store on the ground floor and exited on to Brampton Street. At this point we were both hungry so we decided to go to the McDonalds down the road. I decided to try some hamburger that is not on the menu here, I forget the name of it, but it was not very good. Thankfully I also got a chocolate shake. I don’t think I have ever had a chocolate shake at home, I really don’t like them, but the ones in England are made with Cadbury chocolate and are so good. I also got some diet coke since I knew once we left England I would not have any until we got to the ship. Most of Europe serves Coke Light which has chemicals which are banned in the US and UK and I decided I was not going to drink Coke Light.

From McDonalds we walked back down to Montpelier and took that to Montpelier Walk. This is the road my friend Lynne lived on while she was in London and where I stayed when I came to visit her. I had to stop and take a picture.
While I was taking the picture one of the neighbors came home, I bet they were thinking why is that person taking a picture of that flat. Oh well….

We then took a back way to Hyde Park and walked through the park.

This is the Prince Albert Memorial.

We tried to find the Princess Diana playground, but could not find it; I am not fully convinced it actually exists.

We walked the length of the park and ended up at Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century. Today it is the official residence of The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Kensington Palace is also used on an unofficial basis by Prince Harry, as well as his cousin Zara Phillips. It was the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales (until her death in 1997), of Princess Margaret (until her death in 2002) and of Princess Alice (until her death in 2004).

Here is the back of the Palace.

The Queen Victoria Statue A close up of one of the gates. The William III statue in front of the palace. The gates – unfortunately they were open, they are much more impressive when they are closed. Looking at the palace through the gates. From Kensington Palace we were heading up to Knotting Hill and we ended up taking Kensington Palace Garden up to Bayswater.

Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI9 centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.

A tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of embassy land, Kensington Palace Gardens is the "most exclusive address" in London, according to Knight Frank. It is one of the most expensive residential streets in the world, and has long been known as "Billionaires Row", due to the wealth of its private residents, although the majority of its current occupants are embassies and ambassadorial residences.

I did not know the significance of this road until we started walking and saw the embassies. Several of them we recognized by their flag or a discrete sign out front, but there were a few that were unmarked. I later found out that some of the unmarked homes are owned by the Saudi royal family and the Sultan of Brunei. There were many sign up along the road asking people not to take any pictures, so we did not. Good thing, once we got up to Bayswater we found a gate with a check point and several heavily armed police.

Then were in Knotting Hill. Knotting Hill is a trendy section of London that became known to many American by the movie “Knotting Hill.” One of the most notable things in this area is the Portobello Street Market. By the time we got there on a nice fall Saturday afternoon, the whole area was packed.

Here is the entry to the market area. Look at the cute, colorful flats.
Just a few people out in the street. The street sign. One of the little shops on the corner. It was really busy in the market area and it took us quite a bit longer to get through the crowd then I expected. By the time we left and got back to the tube station we were about 30 minutes behind schedule. Next on our list was to go to Abbey Road. To get there we needed to go to Paddington Station and catch a bus – again due to the tube closures. When we got to Paddington we went out to the bus station only to find the next bus was not for quite a while. It was at the bus stop we realized we just did not have enough time to go both to Abbey Road and Kings Cross Station. Shannon asked me what I would rather do and for me, it was no contest – Kings Cross, but I was willing to do either. Shannon decided to skip Abbey Road and just go to Kings Cross.

We headed back into Paddington Station, which is a large complex housing both rail service and 4 tube line, in two separate locations. We had arrived in one area of the station and needed to find the other tube stations to catch the Hammersmith and City line. The London tube system is so easy to navigate and each line is designated by a color. Hammersmith and City is the pink line. Since Paddington Station can be confusing, they have actually painted a pink line on the ground leading you from the main section to the tube substation. It is the best thing every. We just followed the pink line through the maze of the station and easily arrived to the train.

We then arrived at Kings Cross Station to find Platform 9 ¾ otherwise known as the Harry Potter wall.

King's Cross is featured in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express. The train uses a secret platform 9¾ located by passing through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10. When the first film was released, a large floor panel was placed on the ground outside platforms 9 and 10 indicating the Hogwarts Express. It was later removed. Within King's Cross, a cast-iron "Platform 9¾" sign has been erected on a wall of the station's suburban building containing the real platforms 9 and 10. Part of a luggage trolley has also been installed below the sign; whilst the near end is visible, the rest of the trolley seems to have disappeared into the wall.

Here is a picture of a bunch of bikes at Kings Cross Station.

When we got to Platform 9 ¾ there was actually a line to get your picture taken. It the longest line we had to stand in for any touristy thing in London.

Here is Shannon going through the wall. Here I am. From Kings Cross we took the tube back to Victoria Station we were cutting it really close on time. We had a flight to catch that night to Venice.