Episode 10: The Life of the Rich and Glamourous Is So Far Out of My League I Can't See It's Rhinestone Laden Line

Harrods Department store is where you go if you have more money that you can find a use for. It seems to specialize in extravagance. We started our foray into this luxury by going to Waterloo Station. On a non-air conditioned train.

Fun fact about the British, they're not really big believers in refrigeration (No seriously, I heard this from my Creative Writing teacher, who lives in Richmond). Apparently, this includes the refrigeration of people. However, there was a rather cute guy on the train, sitting right across from us who I got to discreetly ogle. Plus there was a really cute little British girl with her mom and dad. Overall, the ride could have been much worse.

We then caught the Jubilee Underground line and then changed to the Picadilly line. On the plus side, the tunnels seemed cooler and less stuffy today than on my previous journeys on the tube. On the minus side, the cars themselves were not and they were crowded so we ended up standing a lot.

On the other plus side, we had to walk much less than I thought we would. It looked like after we got off the tube we had to trek down the road for a bit to reach Harrods. But lo and behold, we got out of the tunnels and there was Harrods, in all its green canopied splendor. We walked down a little, found a door and we were in.

Which meant we ended up on the ground floor in the Men's section. Not actually a very interesting place for three young single women to wander. So we walked and found an escalator (and even the escalators here are lovely. This one had a beautiful bronze statue of a woman and man with hands clasped letting go of an eagle as her dressed billowed out and they stood in small, lapping waves) that took us up to the first floor, where we found the women's section.

And oh what madness lurked there. The first thing we saw when we entered was just wire shelf unit after wire shelf unit of shoes. There were sort of jumbled and clumped together and there were a lot of them. Plus some of the shoes were just crazy. I saw one pair that looked like it encased your legs in a cage that went up to your knees. As we went through the room, it started becoming more focused on designers.

Then we entered another room and began our journey through section after section of designer clothing. Big name designers, smaller designers, all had a little corner. And I began to see how expensive material can make a difference in love of clothing. Because I'm not sure if I liked some of the styles as much as the texture of the clothing appealed to me. Anyone who's ever been shopping with me knows I have issues with how material feels and much of these just felt divine. Though most of it was not something I'd really buy.

Okay, I would buy a Versace gown. We went over there and the gowns were just so beautiful. I don't know where I'd wear it, but if the opportunity ever came, I'd jump on it. I did want to try one some of the clothes but I felt bad because no way could I ever afford any of this. Seriously, I saw one gown that was marked down to 2400 pounds. And it was in the 75% off section.

I also got sort of nervous around the salespeople in the women's section. I felt like I didn't want to waste their time when I knew I could never (probably would never) buy anything. So every time one of them came close I sort skittered away like a startled deer.

I do think some of the Dolce and Gabana guys may have been screwing with me. I took a picture of one of the gowns because I thought it was pretty (I'd been taking pictures all through the store and no one had told me to stop). Then two of the guys were like "No pictures!" and I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll delete it." They were like "No, you can keep that one." Then I think they kind of laughed as I turned away. It was weird.

But my favorite section of Harrods was not the obscenely overpriced clothing. No, I loved the porcelain sculptures in the Luxury Gifts and Objects section. I am seriously in awe of what some craftsmen and women can do with just some delicate clay and a little paint. I took tons of pictures in that section because I figured if I couldn't buy anything, at least I could still take it with me.

I will have to go back at some point since I missed the food halls and Harrods souvenirs. You can't really say you've been to Harrods if you haven't seen the food halls. But our energy had started to wane a bit at this point. Execpt for Carlie, who's been cooped up while all of us have class. I feel sorry for her that she has so much extra time but no one to go places with.

So after Harrods we took the tube back and stopped by Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We didn't go in to either of them, but I did get to have a look at them. Sadly, I had a couple cases of mistaken building identity, which I feel rather embarrassed about. All I can say in my defense is that I've never been particularly familiar with either building and there are quite a few ornate buildings in London.

When we got out of the tube tunnels, there was Big Ben soaring above us. Next to it was a lovely building that I believed to be Westminster. Then across the street was a white, rather nice looking building I thought was Parliament, so I snapped quite a few pictures of it. Then I realized that the "Westminster" was actually Parliament. Which actually made a great deal more sense when I got a good look at it.

We walked along and saw this white church. It wasn't huge, but neither was it small, and we all thought that was probably Westminster since it sat right across from Parliament (Okay, I guess a lot of things sit across from Parliament). Next to it was saw another building that looked ornate but couldn't figure out how it was connected to "Westminster Abbey". As we walked down the path we found out that building was the real Westminster Abbey and this smaller church was St. Margret's Church. It was still pretty, but really nowhere near as impressive as the true Abbey.

We decided not to go in though. It was 12 pounds for entrance and we'd already done a lot of walking. I was wilting pretty fast in the heat. I did get to see a statue of Abe Lincoln in Trafalgar Square though. I thought it was weird he was there, but it was cool too.

But we got the tube back to Waterloo and got the fast train back. It was less than twenty minutes from Waterloo to Surbiton, which never happens to me. And it was air conditioned. I'm telling you, this was a nice train. Carlie made me laugh on the train when she told me she's thinking of opening a coffee shop on Westminster Bridge and calling it Big Bean. That or Came-latte. I think she may have a little too much time on her hands.

Stopped at Sainsbury's on the way home to pick up what I'll need to make Asian Chicken Pasta (which will be made another day since it's far too warm for me to cook tonight). While there I checked out what was actually up stairs. Sadly, my imagination was more entertaining than reality. The upstairs just held parking.

I did get some helpful advice on cooking my pasta from a nice woman in the gluten-free aisle. She warned me that you really have to watch it and not overcook it or it all falls apart. It was a good tip for someone who's never cooked pasta on her own, let alone gluten-free which is naturally less stable than regular pasta. I also discovered that you can't just go and buy soy sauce if you're gluten-intolerant. You have to buy special, gluten-free, soy sauce. Curse you wheat, must you be in everything?!

Walked back to the dorm, singing Santa Fe from Rent since riding the tube always makes me think of it. Then I made a sandwich and watched Big Bang Theory on Youtube. I still have a paper that I need to write for Theatre class, but I think I'm going to do that tomorrow. Okay, maybe I'll start it tonight. I've already read almost five of the 10 books I brought with me.

Today's lesson: Harrods is for plebeians to look, not to buy. And Versace really is that gorgeous. Ciao.