Saturday November 9, 2002
Being zonked from the previous full day of activities, Roger and I slept in and didn’t leave the hotel until after 11am. We decided to go to TGI Fridays for lunch and then head out shopping. First stop in the shopping adventure was the HMV in the Trocadero to pick up some music. Not to impressed with their headphone display (where you listen before you buy) since I could only hear out of one ear. We then headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe to pick up a shirt for Gary. We should have just walked since we had to take a circular tube route since someone was on the track on the Piccadilly line. After getting the shirt we headed across the way into Green Park to get to Buckingham Palace. At the Queen Victoria Monument, we lucked out and got a good action shot of the Royal Horse Brigade heading past us. Continuing our trek, we headed back through Green Park via the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. I decided to take a quick photo of me “napping” on the bench – one of my favorite pictures of the trip!
We headed to the Tube and got off at Oxford Street. It was full to the brim of Christmas shoppers and we were a bit overwhelmed by all the people and it wore us out. We never did actually buy anything else, even if it was fun to look. A quick glance at our watch and we noticed we had to head to the Embankment area to catch the Lord Mayor’s fireworks show. We made it there in plenty of time for the 5pm show that started promptly at 5:10. It was a good assortment of fireworks and a 15-minute show, which left me satisfied.
Covent Garden was next on the list, and unlike other parts of the trip, it really shocked me with how much it had changed in the 6 years since I had been here. I had forgotten how much of a LA Farmer’s Market vibe the place had, but it was still neat to poke in and out of the various shops. We stopped to eat at the reasonably priced Spaghetti House. It was so reasonably priced, that I didn’t mind so much when my notebook got some sauce on it to go. After dinner, we headed to the Internet Exchange for a quick email and blog post before retiring for a disco nap at the hotel.
One last journey out on the town as Roger and I hit some clubs, again not too late since we had to get our stuff packed to head off to Paris the next day. We did manage to find the same place in SoHo I went to back in 1996. Like most other things, it was nicely refurbished in the ensuing six years. As a nightcap, we hit one of the few things still open – A McDonald’s! Doing some quick mental math, it seems that we are actually doing good on money this trip. I hope this trend keeps up as we head to the continent and Paris!
