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Published: July 31st 2011
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Harrods
For just 76,000 Pounds and change this could be yours QUIET DAY IN LONDON TOWN
It has been pretty full on since we arrived in London so today we took things easy. Jeanette had pre-arranged a brief meeting outside Harrods with Debbie from her work at home. They were both in London at the same time so was great for them to catch up.
HARRODS
After saying Hi to Debbie we spent a couple of hours wandering around Harrods. What a store! It’s huge and classy, and the prices of some of the items were mind blowing. I’ve included a pic of a writing desk, it’s big and impressive and 76,000 pounds (and change) – that’s around $180,000 NZ dollars – for a writing desk – you’d want to be able to live in it for that money!
As you would imagine there was some exquisite stuff, especially home wares, furniture and lighting, a nice window into how the other half live.
When we entered the sports section the first thing we saw was a life size dummy of a horse and a whole lot of polo gear (no Rebel Sports that’s for sure!), prices on sports stuff actually seemed pretty reasonable – 55 Pounds for replica footy shirts.
Harrods
Diana and Dodi Memorial at Harrods Was good to see the All Blacks gear well represented in the ‘Rugger’ section.
In the end we bought 3 Harrods Christmas baubles and a pen for Jeanette. If you look at the cars around the back of the building it was just an all star line up of all the luxury brands.
On the bottom floor there is a tribute to Diana and Dodi which is well worth visiting.
We then had a quick lunch before heading back to base.
TIP 3
Sainsbury’s and Tesco have 3 Pound lunch deals – Sandwich, Chips and Drink. Tastes good and really helps the food budget. This was a tip we got from friends who had been to London before we found it really useful.
We had a quiet afternoon before heading down to the Victoria Pub for a few drinks and dinner. It’s well worth finding a ‘local’ pub near where you stay, it’s a lot of fun people watching and the drinking culture here seems much more relaxed and social – if you have time it’s a great way to relax away an afternoon.
UNDERGROUND
Because we didn’t have a lot on today thought we would share our
Underground
The Tube - the best way to get around London - no question experiences on the Tube. If you have been reading the blogs you’ll be aware that we think it’s just awesome and a great way to get around the city.
London Pass with travel is a good investment. The travel card gives you unlimited travel on the Tube, Overground Trains and London Buses. The cost is 145 Pounds - 95 for the London Pass and 50 Pounds for the Travel Card - although they quite often run specials where you will save 10-20 Pounds on that - (one trip on the tube can be around 4 Pounds- so it’s good value). As we have said before the big advantage is you just present it and jump on whatever public transport you like, no worries over cost, money on card running out etc.
You get a card that you but in a ticket machine, gates open and away you go. Word of warning yesterday our cards stopped working in the machines (a bit annoying) but we now just show them to the attendant and they let us through. Once you are in the Underground you can make as many train changes as you want you just need to reshow your ticket when
Paddington
This is the escalator/stairs at Paddington Underground (count the stairs-take the escalator!). Taken early Sunday morning. Normally would be full of people standing on the right hand side and a constant flow of people walking up/down on the left you leave the Underground at your final destination.
The trains run continuously – our longest wait would have been a couple of minutes.
They are really crowded during rush hour so plan you journey for after 9am if possible.
When you are on the escalators make sure you stand to the right. That way people in a hurry – and there are plenty – they can race up the left hand side. If you don’t stand to the right you’ll get a pretty swift reminder!
There are a number of lines which are all colour coded, and while you will usually need to change lines to get to your destination when you are on the tube you get announcements regarding the next station and connection lines that run from it. There’s a really good colour coded tube map to help with planning the journey.
When you first look at the map it looks all very confusing, but take a breath and have a study – in practical terms it’s REALLY easy to use.
It’s still worth taking a ride on a London bus – you get to see more, and a visit to London wouldn’t be complete without a ride on a Big Red Double Decker - we took the bus part way back from Chelsea because the Tube wasn’t running. It’s MUCH slower but was good to see the sights and sounds as we drove around.
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