lifestyles of the rich and famous

Ahhh, to do what American women do best--Shop! A day of shopping on High Street Kensington and a breeze through Harrod's department store... Don't worry Mom and Dad, I didn't blow my entire savings today!

One of the free days last week offered us time for exploration of the surrounding neighborhoods which sequentially led to the discovery that we were only about 3 blocks from the reputable shopping on High Street Kensington. My roomies and I of course made plans to go back, strategically planning to make it to the area as close to opening time as possible in an effort to avoid the masses of people we'd witnessed on those streets the first time we'd come across it. Most British folk seem to be opposed to getting up and moving any time before 11 or so, so our plan to arrive, cash in hand around 10, worked marvelously. Stepping in and out of stores we'd never heard of, it never took long to size up just how far out of our price ranges the merchandise really was. I guess that's just part of the big city life! Needless to say, it definitely wasn't a "big haul" day like some I remember from back in the day when we did "school shopping," but I did find a really cute scarf (so I could better fit in with the 9 out of 10 people you see walking down the street with beautiful fabric wrapped around their neck), some shoes that were miraculously on sale, and some "English chocolates" to send home to surprise my brother-- don't worry, he doesn't read my blog!

Harrod's was an experience to say the least. By the time we reached the beautiful, security-loaded doors, we only had an hour of time before we had to be back. Let me tell you, even without spending ANY money, it was not near enough time to see all that this ENORMOUS department store had to offer. "The world's most famous department store," filling an entire city block and reaching several luxourious stories high, it was a window shopper's dream. We didn't have time to see any of the purses or clothing, but we did get to meander through the jewelry, fragrance, food and wine sections. I could never even imagine spending as much money as some of the watches and necklaces cost, but I sort of felt like I'd walked into a scene in "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." It was a great day :)

Tomorrow we're headed to the National Portrait Gallery for class, and the school that is sponsoring the presessional course I'm taking, Foundation for International Education, has gotten our class all tickets to the musical, 39 Steps, in the evening. Should be another great day...