MOM in LDN

This past week I had a wonderful visit from my wonderful mother in the wonderful city of London. Other than being a well needed dose of unconditional love and support (much needed I realized since I spend most of my days being told what’s wrong with me and what I need to improve about myself, a little disheartening after a while), Mummy’s visit provided me with the excuse and the means to do some very touristy things in London. She arrived last Wednesday, met me for lunch and dinner each day and patiently waited for me to be freed from LDA for the weekend. This time was not totally wasted since we did in our wandering discover a delightful cupcake shop, which has shown me that if I try hard enough I can find cupcakes anywhere—Auntie Em’s in Eagle Rock, The Shoppe in Denver and now Buttercup in Kensington—even though I had been told that cupcakes don’t exist in London. On Saturday, we started off our grand tour of London with the ultimate tourist activity: the London Eye. When the Eye was built it apparently was a major point of contention, some people loving it but many others arguing that it ruined the London skyline. Personally, I love the Eye. I think it adds a very modern but still unique and whimsical new sight to the Thames South Bank. Therefore, I was very excited to take a spin. For how pricey and how sort of blatantly tourist oriented the Eye is, if you haven’t done it, do it the next time you are in London. You can see so many of the most famous London landmarks on the ride that what should be very boring (30-40 minutes moving slowly in a circle) is endlessly fascinating and feels much too short. After the Eye we wandered down the South Bank (in all honesty, in search of a Starbucks), crossed the Millennium Bridge from the Tate Modern and crossed to St. Paul’s, found a tube stop and made our way to Portobello Road. Hopefully you have all seen the Disney classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but if you haven’t (and you really should—it’s like a Mary Poppins knock-off) here is a sampling of the most memorable song from the film and the main reason that I wanted to visit the Portobello Road market. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqY1lHJYIgY Like Camden Market (which I visited last weekend, and which was described to me by one Lucky Gretzinger as “Portobello Road with freaks”) Portobello Road is an endless line of jewelry, antique, clothing, food and misc. stalls and tables with some of the best shopping in one place.
Truly “Portobello Road, Portobello Road Street where the riches of ages are stowed Artifacts to glorify our regal abode Are hidden in the flotsam in Portobello Road You’ll find what you want in the Portobello Road”. That seemed like quite enough for one day. On Sunday we got up bright and early and made out way to the Tower of London. My knowledge of the Tower of London before this point came from references in literature and movies, mainly when people are sent there to be gruesomely killed. This was it turns out a pretty accurate impression, but there is some interesting history of the building and succession of monarchs. After the Tower—basically the original permanent palace in London built by William the Conqueror—we went to see Buckingham Palace. This was probably one of the best visits I’ve ever received (despite the fact that British TV conspired against us and prevented us from watching the Oscars). Anyone else who wants to come pay me a delightful visit, please feel free.