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Published: December 26th 2010
Breakfast at MO's
Even though our choices were rather limited with our continental breakfasts at the Mandarin Oriental, everyday we had to check for special treats or new teas listed on the menu.Our last day in London and while one group had one idea of a good time involving spending money on frivolities, the more intellectual of the two decided to cultivate their minds by taking advantage of the city's free cultural institutions.
After another somewhat uncomfortable continental breakfast in the capacious and somewhat stuffy breakfast room at the Mandarin, we decided to make a return visit to the MINI dealership right around the corner. We somehow went there by way of
Harrods department store which just so happened to be in the opposite direction. I got suckered into that one. Cassie then spent the next hour trying on 100 different pairs of shoes with Gail lending support. Tyler was hoping to find some Formula One racing merchandise, ie clothing, but the stuff I saw on a previous visit was no where to be seen.
While Cassie and Gail stuck their smelly feet into every shoe in the 100,000 square foot store, I did some exploring on my own. I wandered off to check out the Emporium of Comestibles Normal People Can't Afford. I found a Lamborghini coffee machine, tea crackers from every corner of the British Empire and chocolate-covered critters
A Little Too Slow
Recently I have gotten into a rather bad habit on vacation: by the time I stop to take a picture of the beautiful meals we are given I've already inhaled them. At least some of my Breakfast Tea is still in the cup. that no sane human would ever eat. And this was five floors above the world famous food halls I captured in my pictures.
Just around the corner from yet another shoe department was the pet department. Gone are the days when savvy shoppers could scoop up a great deal on a lion cub, Shetland pony or Gabon viper, but there were £2000 Corgi puppies and similarly-priced fluffy white kittens in stock. When I started to checkout the prices on the diamond encrusted doggie collars and heated water bowls I decided I needed to get the heck out of that department.
I decided to do something about those three cuppers of Earl Grey tea that I imbibed at breakfast. In my worldly travels I've thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated a great number of bathrooms in my day, but the oak-paneled splendor of the Harrods’s* men's room would have to be near the top of my list. It was like walking into a law office - all marble and wood. And wait, there's more: once you finished your business there were sweet smelling liquid soaps and special paper towels, not in cheap silver metal dispensers, but carefully folded and set out
First Stop of the Day
The greatest store in the world wasn't even opened when we first showed-up at the door that morning. on the counter in wicker baskets. There was even a few samples of colognes to help one freshen-up.
When we finally escaped the clutches of Harrods’s myriad floors of temptation, we made our way back along Hyde Park back to the Mayfair MINI dealership. Gail had finally decided that she did indeed want the MINI Wellington boots. I intended to get myself a MINI fur hat to replace the Russian-style fur wig I lost earlier in the trip in Oban.
The folks in the dealership were much friendlier on this return visit than they had been the day before. Perhaps the fact that we were actually spending money instead of just coming inside to drink their coffee and take pictures of the merchandise made us more welcome. First Gail requested her boots. Luckily for her, the only remaining pair that they had in stock was in her size and on display in the front window. I didn't fare as well. They had no fur hats in any size. In fact, the receptionist thought that they hadn't even come out yet. The catalogue I had seen them in had only just been published and half the stuff hadn't been
Note the Spelling
It's "Harrods", not "Harrod's". sent out to MINI salesrooms yet. Tyler was able to find another Christmas gift for Gen while Cassie and Grandma relaxed in the lounge sipping still more coffee.
As per the accord we had reached the night before, the ladies were off to do some shopping while Tyler and I went off to return to the Imperial War Museum. This was my third visit in the past two years, but on the previous visits I had run through the museum while touring with EF student tours and only had a few minutes to squeeze in a hundred years of history.
By now we were veterans of the London Underground and Tyler and I very shortly found ourselves inside the cavernous entrance to the Imperial War Museum. Like all of London's museums. entry was free. Tyler and I then spent the whole afternoon reliving World Wars I AND II through the many, many hands-on displays and exhibits. We got to see what everyday life was like for the British suffering through German Luftwaffe attacks during the 1940s and even to go through a simulated air raid in London. We walked through a reconstruction of World War II battle trenches
Many MINIs
Since we need to kill off some time before Harrods opened, we took a walk around the block hoping to spot a celebrity or member of royalty hustling in and out of the store before the peasants were allowed in. Who'd have thought so many rich folks would be driving MINIs up to the front of Harrods? like those in Northern France. We learned about members of British aristocracy that were sympathetic to the Germans and who staged rallies to support Hitler up until the time the bombs began to rain on England. We learned off the long and often not-so-glorious history of English spycraft. I particularly enjoyed the many cases of weaponry and equipment used by espionage agents throughout the 20th Century. I had totally forgotten about the elite British SAS men who rescued hostages taken in a London embassy back in the 80's.
Since we had told the girls we'd be back at the hotel to meet for dinner plans at 6:00, Tyler and I had to forego most of the maritime exhibits and promised to return to see them on our next visit. The souvenir and bookstore beckoned us, but knowing my suitcase was already full and having plenty of books already we resisted temptation. I jotted down the titles and authors of a couple of particularly interesting (to me) books.
Amazingly to us, while the rest of England seemed buried under close to a foot of snow, we saw none in London. Back at the hotel while trying to decide on
Fashionable Knightsbridge
Just around the corner we spotted a few mor of Britain's most unique car. I'm glad they aren't nearly as popular here in the US. It kind of ruins the whole thrill when every other car is the same. But then again, each MINI is unique - no two have the same list of options. where we would eat our last dinner of the trip, we watched the evening news where we learned that a huge storm was predicted to hit the next day. There were guesses of over a foot of snow on the way. As this piqued our interest we were only somewhat relieved when we heard that it was expected to hit tomorrow afternoon. Our flight was in the morning so we prayed that the local English weatherman were just as prone to overhype and intentionally scare the public as their American colleagues.
Since there was nothing we could do about the weather we decided to go out and enjoy our last night in London. Somehow the ladies didn't quite have enough of shopping and before we could go out and get the first food other than breakfast toast in our bellies, we had to return to Harrods. Apparently Cassie had had some second thoughts about a pair of shoes she had tried on earlier in the day. Now we were back for another hour of contemplation and boredom. I went back to the pet section to see if the precious puppies might be out to play or even better, sold,
Harrods Food Hall
To me, the most interesting aspect of Harrods has always been the food halls. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of square feet dedicated to the fanciest, prettiest and most expensive food anywhere. Over many years of visiting the only two items I have ever purchased inside were a tin of curry back in 1975 and some Earl Grey for my mother back in the 80s. but their quarters (not a cage) had a shade pulled-down indicating they were asleep for the night. After I checked-out all there was to see in that department, I wandered around the entire fourth floor amazed by the fact that there were 6 different restaurants on this one floor. I looked longingly at the ultra-expensive radio controlled cars and observed some of the most ridiculous stuffed animals on the planet. It’s not just Americans that have waaaaaay too much money to throw around.
In the end, Cassie decided against the shoes. By now I think she was also starving. After riding the escalators down to see the Princess Diana and Dodie Shrine, we walked across the street to the Harrods’s satellite food court. Tyler had raved about an Indian chain restaurant he greatly enjoyed a year before when he had worked for two weeks in London. He had enjoyed
Tiffinbites for lunch and when he told us it was relatively cheap, we were all onboard – except maybe for Grandma. She is not an Indian food fan. I had read that there was a Tiffinbites franchise in Harrods’s, but we couldn’t find it anywhere in the 7 floors of
A Perfect Picnic Item
if you own a Rolls Royce and are heading out to Ascot for the races. I was particularly fixated on the food this morning since I hadn't really eaten my fill subsisting on toast and jelly Continental breakfasts here in London. A big hoagie would have been nice at this point. merchandise. I finally asked one of the many very proper doormen in front of the store and he had directed us across the street.
I was a little concerned when we walked into the satellite food court because there were few people inside. It looked rather dead in fact. But all the lights were on and it looked like there were a number of stalls serving different kinds of food so I knew we could find something the non-Indian food lovers would enjoy. Cassie headed right over to the moving sushi bar and Grandma checked-out the pizza. Gail, Tyler and I went to the rather tiny Tiffinbites counter where we were bummed-out to learn that they were closing and they basically had no food. I was ready to suggest hopping on the Underground and heading to Soho where we would be able to find at least some kind of Asian food when Gail asked the girl at the counter if they might be able to scrape together something for us. They only had a little bit of chicken Tikka Masala left and Tyler and I had that while Gail and Cassie ordered wraps. What we had was pretty good,
Cheese Louise
This is but a very tiny sampling of the hundreds of different cheeses in the display cases in Harrods Food Halls. Too bad they weren't giving samples. These smelled nearly as badly as the fresh fish stall a few yards away. but we left a little disappointed having looking forwarded to pigging out on lots of Indian delights. Tiffinbites operates actual restaurants elsewhere in town, but at this smaller concession the menu was very limited. Especially at closing time.
After not quite getting our fill we returned to the street to do a little window shopping before one last night in our palatial hotel rooms. I think everyone of us ended up taking luxurious baths before tackling the overwhelming task of stuffing all our goodies into our luggage. Naturally, all of us wiped-out all the toiletries in our bathrooms before loading notepads, pens, calendars and anything else we could find with “Mandarin Oriental” inscribed on it into our bags. I was careful to steer clear of even touching any of the items in the lavishly appointed drawers next to my hotel room fridge. I didn’t want to risk an exorbitant charge for any of the merchandise inside. In fact, I was trying to figure out how we might sneak out of the hotel without the concierge and doormen spotting us so we wouldn’t have to leave a 100 quid tip. Gail was thinking the same thing when she asked me
What Do They Do With All This Stuff?
How long can they keep all these very fresh comestibles in the store? Surely they don't sell out all the Derbyshire Blue Stilton cheese every couple of days. Do they throw it out or give it to the homeless? Who would know the diffrence between the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire varieties? I couldn't help but think of Monty Python as I gawked at row upon row of cheeses in this fully stocked
National Cheese Emporium. to go down to the front desk before bed so that we might check-out in advance.
Once we accomplished that without fanfare or any extra charges, we quickly stopped into the computer room where we took a few minutes to go online and printed-out our airline boarding passes. Two headaches out of the way before morning.
Since our flight was in the morning and because we were again going to utilize the Underground to get to Heathrow, we left before dawn. We left so early the doormen were still asleep. I had been concerned about lugging our suitcases through the subway in the midst of rush hour, but our early start heading against the incoming commuters meant we rode out to the airport in a near empty railway car. It couldn’t have gone smoother. We checked our bags easily, quickly and without being over the weight limitations. I absolutely hate going through security these days because I always seem to be the one they spot search and usually have to hold up the line while I take off my shoes and belt, pull out all my electronics, empty my pockets while holding my pants up with the other hand,
Beef Wellington, Anyone?
For a mere £25 ($40) you can buy dinner to go here in the Beef Wellington section of the Food Hall. take off my watch, remove my hat, and then hold up the line again while trying to reassemble my carry-on stuff and myself.
Once inside the shopping center, I mean departure area, we took time to grab a quick breakfast and sample some of the many freebies the duty free shops dispense. TV monitors tuned to Fox News droned on and on about the upcoming blizzard scaring every soul confined inside the terminal. My stomach was in knots fretting over any possible delays. Nary a flake of snow fell however as we began the boarding procedures on time. Of course, no one waiting to go onboard paid any attention to the gate people calling specific rows for boarding. It was every man for himself which further added to my consternation. I was completely stressing out with worry about not getting an overhead bin for my junk by the time we boarded. When the trip was over and when I next visited my doctor, I had him prescribe tranquilizers for me. I used them on all subsequent trips after this.
Sitting on the plane as we finally began to roll toward the runway I swear I saw the first
A Pristine Palace
The entire food section of Harrods was incredibly clean and almost looked like a hospital, except with a lot of dead dismembered animal parts on display. I especially enjoyed the clerks' straw hats. Believe it or not, just to the right of this area was a little Krispy Kreme donut stand. That's where all the other customers were this early in the morning. flakes of snow. Only flurries, but by the time we landed in Newark 6 hours later, England was indeed in the midst of another record-breaking snowstorm. As we had done the entire trip, we had outrun the weather.
*Not a typo. The store’s website says it is “Harrods Department Store”. Not “Harrod’s”.. I’ve been wrong for 40 years!
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