The Fun Continues

I woke up the next morning to a beautiful day, almost a repeat of the day before. The Underwoods had invited me to go to their old church, Holy Trinity of Brompton, which was within walking distance of my hostel. I got there early, and began to grow a little alarmed when the first song began with no sign of the Underwoods. The band played a second song, and then a third, and finally I saw Ashley and her family come into the parking lot. As it turns out, the tube took longer than expected; I was just glad to hear that I hadn't gotten churches or times confused (my previous train record wasn't unblemished, so that would have been a definite possibility). 

The church service itself was really good. It was held in an old Anglican church building dating back over one hundred years. However, the format and sermon were very relevant and much more contemporary than I would have expected.

After church we walked down the street to Harrod's, but they were still closed for another hour. We then took a short bus ride to nearby Hyde Park, which was huge. It was very different from Regent's park, though, containing more open fields and less of Regent's garden spaces. At one end of the park was Speaker's Corner, which was where locals gathered to grandstand and debate each other. Apparently the rhetorical quality varied a fair amount, and personally I think many people went just for the entertainment value.

From Hyde Park Mr. Underwood took us along a slightly meandering walk to Buckingham Palace. We stopped along the way to eat in one of London's many small parks. Buckingham Palace was very impressive-looking. The roundabout in front of it was cordoned off for just pedestrians and it was cool to see such a grand and famous building close-up. Oh, and the bearskin helmets of the redcoat guards were neat too, though nothing spectacular.

I still wanted to see Harrod's and so Ashley and I took the tube to Knightsbridge, where I embarked upon a five-storied journey of wonder (alright, so that sounds a little hyperbolic, but it was an amazing store). The best way I know how to describe Harrod's is as a megapalooza extravaganza. Coming from tiny Southern Pines, the biggest mall I had ever shopped in was in Raleigh. Harrod's was incredible. It made Selfridge's look wimpy.

Every single thing anybody could want you could find in that store. In fact, Harrod's prides itself on being able to obtain whatever its customers want (e.g. an elephant was procured for one gentleman). High-end electronics, a bookstore, an umbrella department, fashion labels of the highest sort, equestrian gear, hiking apparel, a pet store, interior decorating, luxury candies, and a chandelier section comprised just a fraction of what Harrod's had to offer. At one point I wandered into the cartography department and was quickly greeted by a salesman who asked what type of map I was looking to purchase. I told him, "honestly, I am not looking to buy anything, but was wondering if you had any maps of North Carolina." 

The man proceeded to show me their oldest map of the Carolinas, dating from the 1600's and priced to sell at $35,000. And there are people who can actually afford to pay that much. I have much to learn about such things.

After stopping to rest at a pastry shop across the street, we left Harrod's and walked to the Museum of Natural History. Both of our feet were very tired by this point and so we limited our stay to the bird and dinosaur exhibits. The bird display was really neat as it was mainly a showcase of stuffed extinct and exotic specimens. I liked the dinosaurs even more, though. It is incredible to think that animals that big could ever roam Earth. They had a good number of interactive displays and fossilized remains, both of which I enjoyed.

After leaving the museum we met the rest of the Underwood family near the Tower of London and collectively journeyed to Abbey Road. I think the Beatles singlehandedly immortalized that crosswalk, or zebra crossing as it is called in the UK. Well, we joined several other reenactors attempting to recreate the famous album cover, though the pictures didn't quite turn out so well.

I went and saw the Underwood's old apartment, or flat as it is called in the UK, and it was a literal walk down memory lane for them, I think. We also passed by Ashley's high school, and I could tell that she sort of missed it. For dinner we ate at one of the Underwood's old favorites, Cafe Rouge. I thought it was fine, but Mr. Underwood declared that, "it wasn't as good as he remembered."

After dinner we finished the evening with a stop back at Abbey Road in order to hopefully have better luck at picture-taking. These came out slightly better, but the fading light made things a little dark.

Ah yes, and we did have a small diversion that day. After dinner, we had paused in front of a bakery and observed a very eccentric person get out of a grandmother-type Jaguar across the street. After a little discussion among ourselves we determined that it was a man, and moreover he appeared to enjoy celebrity status. Several people stopped to take their picture with him and he also granted some autograph requests. Mrs. Underwood was bound to find out who this unknown celebrity was, and so she went to ask two of the people who had taken their picture with him. As it turns out, they were just as unsure as we were, and had only asked for his picture because they assumed that, as other people were doing it, he must be famous. Oh boy.