In addition to museums, cathedrals, gardens, great houses, palaces, archaeological sites, etc., we also like department stores. One day, earlier in our stay here, I walked the length of Oxford St.--it starts near the British Museum, close by--all the way to the Marble Arch. I was disappointed. Except for the few traditional department stores, it was pretty much all the franchise stores you'd see any any mall in the US or Europe. Or Asia or Australia, for that matter. The only thing distinctively British, it seemed, were the souvenir stores. I stopped in at Selfridges, mostly their food hall, and was disappointed there too. Paris has spoiled us in that regard. Particularly Bon Marche and BHV Marais. We thought we'd try Harrod's, the most famous of the London department stores, to see whether things were better there. Perhaps it should be said that, given our transient circumstances, and advanced age, we are not in the market for almost anything but consumables. Moreover, the world has changed: such department stores used to cater to mere millionaires, with some morsels for the middle class. Now the world is awash in billionaires, and the stores have changed accordingly. FWIW.
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| Selfridges; over the top neo-classical; unimpressive food hall |
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| Marble Arch |
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| Harrod's |
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In parts of the store, interesting Egyptian decor...the significance
of which remains lost on me |
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| I've seen cineplexes in Florida and Texas with a similar look |
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| Coffee roaster in the food hall |
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| Serve your own olive oil |
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| The good stuff |
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| One of the food halls |
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We've been in London more than a month now, and this is
absolutely the only real Mini we've yet seen; in the basement at
Harrod's |
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In part of the wine/spirits/tobacco section to which I normally
gravitate |
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| Egyptian stained glass |
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| More mysterious Egyptiana in the escalatorial section |
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Enough department stores: into the Triumphal bits; Wellington
and Waterloo |
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| Bomber Command |
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Look closely (click to enlarge); what interested me initially was the name of the contractor, Deconstruction.co.uk or somesuch; what they are doing is removing the innards of the building entirely, leaving only the facades; the first time I heard the term "deconstruction," outside of philosophy or literary theory, was at a BBQ joint in Indianapolis, where the server was explaining the pulled pork; seriously |
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| Apparently did not want to live near his work on Oxford St. |
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| Ferrari dust cover |
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Right next door, the Bentley dealer; around the corner, Bugatti;
we must be in Mayfair |
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If there is a serious maldistribution of park benches in London,
it's because they're all in Berkeley Square Gardens (probably
not related to Bishop Berkeley) |
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| Yes, Mayfair |
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| Infinity pool right on the street; nice neighborhood |
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| Power parking; nice Morgan |
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| History of power parking...Morgan and Aston Martin |
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| This is how I dressed when I was working |
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| I assume the Wodehouse family are at least partial owners |
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The rain drove us to the shelter of a giant plane tree, back in Grosvenor Square, near this great statue of FDR; probably more popular in Europe and the UK than in the US; sadly |
