Monuments! Museums! Machine Guns! Oh, my!
Had a terrific walk on my own today all around the West End.
Started from our hotel, down Picadilly up to the very toney Bond Street. Gucci, Prada, Smythson, Baccarat, Tods, etc., etc.
Then it was to Oxford Circle to the much touted TopShop. As my British Elle said 'Even La Kate shops there' (referrring to Kate Moss, whom everyone seems to adore--along with Gwenyth Paltrow).
The Oxford street is insane with traffic, tourists, fast food joints. It is like Broadway in New York. TopShop is a huge, super trendy clothing store that does cheap juniors wear. It was fantastic! Two floors are all their own, fashion-forward line and in the basement is vintage and other brands. I tried on six things (that's the dressing room limit) and all six were perfect. So I promptly left before I got into trouble.
From Oxford I cut down to SoHo--lot's of sex shops and record stores. Saw a great Russ Meyer's poster. Then into Chinatown, which looked like it could be in any major city.
I turned a corner and suddenly found myself in Trafalgar Square. Monuments abound, the National Gallery, the Horse Guardsmen. It is just so English. Which I know is so lame to say, but really...it is exactly as you would expect it to be. Grand, gorgeous, ancient.
Continued down Whitehall past Parliment, Westminster Abbey, the various govermental buildings with machine gun touting guards. Stunning, all of it.
Then looped around to Buckingham Palace and cut through the park back to our elegant hotel.
Whew! It was about a four hour walk. And my dogs were barking. I rested in our room for a bit, gazed out at our view of the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and felt very lucky to be here.
Started from our hotel, down Picadilly up to the very toney Bond Street. Gucci, Prada, Smythson, Baccarat, Tods, etc., etc.
Then it was to Oxford Circle to the much touted TopShop. As my British Elle said 'Even La Kate shops there' (referrring to Kate Moss, whom everyone seems to adore--along with Gwenyth Paltrow).
The Oxford street is insane with traffic, tourists, fast food joints. It is like Broadway in New York. TopShop is a huge, super trendy clothing store that does cheap juniors wear. It was fantastic! Two floors are all their own, fashion-forward line and in the basement is vintage and other brands. I tried on six things (that's the dressing room limit) and all six were perfect. So I promptly left before I got into trouble.
From Oxford I cut down to SoHo--lot's of sex shops and record stores. Saw a great Russ Meyer's poster. Then into Chinatown, which looked like it could be in any major city.
I turned a corner and suddenly found myself in Trafalgar Square. Monuments abound, the National Gallery, the Horse Guardsmen. It is just so English. Which I know is so lame to say, but really...it is exactly as you would expect it to be. Grand, gorgeous, ancient.
Continued down Whitehall past Parliment, Westminster Abbey, the various govermental buildings with machine gun touting guards. Stunning, all of it.
Then looped around to Buckingham Palace and cut through the park back to our elegant hotel.
Whew! It was about a four hour walk. And my dogs were barking. I rested in our room for a bit, gazed out at our view of the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and felt very lucky to be here.