London - 6/21/2013

Petersham Place

Upon arrival Heathrow, Manuel had kindly scheduled a limo to deliver us to the residence he had rented for the week. It's a good thing because, if we had taken the Tube (subway), Anne and I would still be roaming the streets of London looking for the place. As it turns out, the house was perfectly located in the Kensington and Chelsea area within a short walking distance of Harrods and Hyde Park. Situated on a cobblestone back street, 36 Petersham Place is a quaint five bedroom row house in a series of dwellings that originally included living quarters and stables for horse and carriage.

We learned a lesson from our trip to Italy in 2009 on how to deal with jet lag. When we arrived in Rome, we attempted to forgo a nap and stay up until dinner - not a good idea. This time, Anne and I immediately took a two hour nap upon being shown our bedroom. Ken and Wanda had arrived an hour before us at noon and were already asleep. The weather was cool, the balcony window open, and we immediately fell asleep. Anxious to start seeing the sites, there is always time for a short beauty rest - OK, I'm talking about Anne again. I took a handsome rest; not withstanding the nasty rumor circulated by an unnamed person (Manuel) that I was voted by my classmates the ugliest person in the class of 1970. However, this was before extensive plastic surgery.
When we woke up, we were on the move. "Let's go get you guys an Oyster pass." What? I didn't come to London to eat oysters. I can get all the oysters I want in the states. Let's go get something English like Shepard's Pie, Yorkshire pudding, and a pint. It turns out that's what they call a multi-day pass to ride on the London Tube. When we are not walking, this is going to be our mode of travel around the city.

We bought our Oyster passes at the Gloucester Road Tube station and the group headed off on a leisurely walk to the famous Harrods department store. This place is truly amazing. Founded in 1834 by Charles Henry Harrod, it is currently owned by the Qatar Investment Authority. The store occupies a 5-acre site and has over one million square feet of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe. It has been reported that the company generated 125 million pounds of net income in 2012. The store has everything you could imagine including an entire department devoted solely to chocolate. Although this is probably one of the handful of departments I could afford to buy something in, this smorgasbord of chocolate has the potential of replacing or equaling Anne's desire for gelato. I can tell when her eyes get big and she utters, "Oh my God!" I, all of a sudden, started to feel like Willie Wonka escorting Charlie into the chocolate factory. I think I would rather be Marcello Mastroianni leading Sophia Loren into the gelato emporium. Yeah, that's it. But I digress.

It was getting late in the day and we were getting hungry. Believe it or not, a high-end grocery store was one of the departments in Harrods. Everything looks good, but we settle on beef bourguignon stew and several small pastry pies, one of which was called Moo Pie, a beef and vegetable concoction. On the way out we pass through the cosmetics department. Why is a Muslim woman in a full burka (only the eyes are visible) buying makeup? Go figure. Irony on our first day. We hit the grocery store on the way back to Petersham Place, mainly to stock up on some salad, fruit, and a lot of wine and liquor. The Moo Pie was a hit with a nice Cabernet. After food, drink, catching up, and some laughs, it was time to get some sleep in preparation for the start of our London odyssey tomorrow.