More Of London

London sights:


We were near Buckingham Palace and in time to catch the last bit of the Changing of The Guards. Lucky for us because I can't imagine standing in the sun for a silly ceremony the purpose of which is to draw silly tourists to a boring palace. I'm not much of a monarchist as you probably can tell.

The grassy area behind Big Ben and next to Westminister is favorite for protestors who pitch tents and live there. Most of them were protesting against the presence of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghan. I love countries that allow freedom of speech.

British pubs are cosy and fun.

Double decker buses and antiquated (and silly-looking) cabs

London underground. Check out the Metropolitan station. It is perfect for a horror flick.

Chinatown, small and cosy with good restaurants.

We saw a big crowd barricaded off an red-carpeted area next to cinema in Soho. Will Smith, his son and Jacky Chan were there for the premiere of Karate Kid 11.

 Harrods is an AMAZING store. I've never seen a store like Harrods' and I don't think there's any store that can beat it. It's just the most luxurious and decadent store in the world. The things in the store, from the furniture to the clothes to the food, are unbelievably beautiful and expensive. 99% of the shoppers in Harrods were Arab women, who shopped in a group with body guards. Their handbags were either  Hermes or Chanel and they actually wore jewels on their foreheads. A couple of masked ladies wore golden moustaches and Yi saw one who wore a moustache AND fake eyebrows , making her look like Groucho Marx. Can anyone tell me the significance of that??

That's the super hot yet cool--and brainy--Kimmei, btw.

Poor tourists shop at the huge Topshop opposite Harrods.

Lloyd's Building, still attracting the gawkers.

The Gherkin needs no introduction. Even the posts on the roads are phallic. I've yet to see a building glorify the female reproductive parts.

One of the things I wanted to do in London was watch Les Miserables but one of the Jonas brothers had to be in the show the week I was there and that bumped the cost of the ticket up to 77 pounds so I decided I'll watch it another trip.

Boldly-colored cakes in a shop that seemed to belong in Disneyland, near the Garrick Theatre

Goodies in Selfridges

London's saving grace is the many theatres and shows. Other than that, I think the city is rather disappointing,  maybe because of great expectations (no pun).  The first time I saw the famous historic buildings, it was awesome but the second time, I felt nothing. The Brit churches, palaces and places of interest are booorringg compared to the rest of Europe. Even the shopping is booorring. Carnaby St is sweet, made for tourists. Regent St, the main shopping street, is just full of chain stores like H & M, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Zara, yadda yadda yadda. Despite that, I found the girls in London very stylish and original, definitely edgy and exciting. But don't let me put you off London. It's still worth a visit.

Bear with me as I finish off my posts on London. Two more to go and we'll go back to Hungary. And you thought I was done with my Europe tour.