London, Days 5 and 6

It is hard to believe we are just half way through our trip. It is so nice to take such a long vacation. On the 26th, Boxing Day, the 5th day of our trip, we took Forest out shopping. He had Christmas money that he was excited to spend. He wanted to buy some clothes. James is such a great guide on vacation. He does the research and finds the best places to go. He took us down to Oxford Circus and led us directly to a place called Topshop which was perfect for Forest. There were throngs of people there shopping. This is the time of year when all the stores have massive sales. It was hard to even move around in the store but Forest managed to find a hoodie with a sort of Bauhaus design on it that he really liked. I was surprised to find that the store also had a vintage clothing section. The crowds were too thick to really do any intense shopping. Seriously, I have never been in such a crazy shopping environment. It was neat to see all the hip young kids in there shopping. I found a shirt I liked but didn’t take the time to try it on because it was just too crazy.

After Topshop we ate dinner at a pub called Argyll Arms and then walked down Carnaby
Street where there lots of cool little shops, half of which were open. After shopping we had tickets for Mousetrap, an Agatha Christie whodunit that has been playing for 55 years. It was a really good classic mystery play.

On the 27th, the 6th day of our trip, we set out for Harrods to do some shopping only to find out they weren’t open yet so instead we walked the other way down the street to the Natural History Museum. I am finding so much inspiration here! There is so much beauty all around in the buildings, metal railings, lampposts, etc. Everywhere you look there is some beautiful thing to make you happy. Even at the Natural History Museum, the building itself was so ornate. There were carvings of foliage and animals on every corner. The ceilings were covered in paintings of trees and vines. There were stained glass windows with organic designs. We saw a dinosaur exhibit. They had an awesome ecology exhibit stressing the cycle and interdependence of all living things. I loved the bird exhibit. We took a break and had tea and scones mid afternoon. So British! Ha.

We are having some strange luck with our electric appliances. We have burned out Forest’s ipod charger and my battery charger so far. Smoke, popping noises, etc. It is kind of scary! Fortunately the laptop has been fine! But if I suddenly drop off, you’ll know why.

In the evenings we have just been lying around, tired from all the walking, watching television and eating our snacks from the grocery store downstairs. I am really enjoying watching tv here. There are four chanels on the television in the flat and they are all pretty excellent. On Christmas day there was a great program researching the coverup of the family of Jesus Christ. Just try to find that on American tv. We have seen shows with Ricky Gervais interviewing Christopher Guest and Gary Chandling. Last night they had a great show on about the Cirque de Soleil show, Love. There have also been a lot of great gameshows on. I love watching tv in another country. Also, they can say the f word on tv here. Scandalous!

Today we are going to try to hit up Harrods. I am really in favor of putting it off after our experience the other day but James and Forest want to check it out and if it is too crazy, just move on to Tower of London. We will see what happens!