Shopping in London

While we have visited London three different years, we’ve done little shopping. The first year we shopped and looked for three hours, then Linda’s friend Pupa finally bought a warm coat on Oxford Street. One year my watch stopped running, so we walked to Piccadilly and were able to buy a battery for my watch—it was not self-winding, it really did need a battery. We drank a malt at Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors, then snacked at the McDonald’s next to the Charing Cross Station. We like these London eating establishments.

We discovered Mrs. Thornton’s Special English Toffee, and it really is. We don’t know if it will spoil after a few days or not, it never lasted long enough to find out. One year we got smart and bought three large slabs of Toffee that we could not conveniently eat until we got home in California, where we used a hammer to break it into small pieces.

Covent Gardens was the location of the fruit and vegetable market in London for many years. After they built a new market place outside London, the charming Covent Gardens was refurbished and is an interesting shopping, restaurant, and entertainment center. No one would dare suggest replacing it with a modern cityscape. Many cities have tried this type of redevelopment, at Covent Gardens they did it best.

We visited Harrod’s Department Store, which must be considered one of the best department stores in the world. Harrod’s covers a square block, is several floors high, and they not only have everything to buy at generally high prices, they have the best possible service. They are especially famous for their (expensive) meat market and food stands, which fill a floor of the building.

The brochure, “Explore London’s Markets,” lists 15 street markets in London that sell crafts, bric-a-brac, antiques, fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, an enormous selection of ‘collectibles,’ and clothes. Twenty-four other markets are located in the suburbs, or a short train ride from London.

On our last visit, Emmy shopped on Oxford Street at Selfridges, and a few other department stores. She soon decided that even if she found a suit or a dress she would like well enough to buy (not likely), the price would scare her away.

The prices and styles were equally atrocious.