Today was a bit of slow day here in London. I woke up and still felt worn out, so I ate some breakfast at Ramsay Hall and went to class. Class was slow and not very entertaining. Afterwards we ate lunch (chicken and chips) and I went back to my room and took a nice little nap. Upon waking up, Amanda, Donald, and I decided to go to Harrod's. Yes--Harrod's. I had been there once before but now I actually had some time to look around. Also, Harrod's started their sales today, so that meant things were at a discount.
The thing is, a 50% discount at Harrod's means very little to someone like me. It simply means the 200 pound ($400) jacket has now gone down to 100 pounds ($200). So, it still remains to pricey. But, we did get to walk around and check the place out. First, when it comes to Harrod's food selection, it is second to none. Their is fresh fish from the Indian ocean, every kind of conceivable chocolate and candy, steaks from Argentina (45 pounds/90 dollars a gram, or killogram, I can't remember), a chocolate bar, fine dining restaurants, and pretty much the ability for one to buy any food their could desire. But, that's simply the nature of Harrod's.
Today the store was absolutely packed beyond belief. It was almost uncomfortable to walk around. Although there were a multitude of salespeople, none of them seemed interested in helping me. Only one or two of them asked if I needed anything, although all of them that I approached were perfectly nice. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was wearing shorts, a long sleeved t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Most of the paying customers at Harrod's are there buy Gucci and Armani because those are the sorts of clothes they where. Nonetheless, I must admit it was tempting to splurge and buy some sort of outrageously priced item simply for the novelty of saying you have it. Of course, a 70 pound wallet ($140) would not really fit in with the rest of my wardrobe.
I also went around and looked at the rooms and rooms of fine china, artwork, furniture, and other elements that Harrod's possess. Truly Harrod's is a one-stop-shop for whatever someone who is wealthy could need. One could easily go into Harrod's owning nothing, and buy furniture for their house, an entire wardrobe, all new appliances, art work for the walls, a new set of dishes, and pretty much anything else you would need. I made a quick stop in the musical instruments section to check out their guitars. Now, while they did have some really marvelous instruments, I don't think any real musician would buy their stuff from there. Besides being outrageously high, the sales staff was very rude. There were six of them standing around and during the entire time I admired the guitars on the wall, not a single one of them even asked if they could help me. Also, Harrod's has a "Do Not Touch The Guitars" policy, so it's not like I could even play.
But, after about an hour in the world's greatest department store we decided to leave. Donald got some ice cream and a huge piece of cheesecake, Amanda got some Turkish delight (from the Chronicles of Narnia), and I got some chocolate truffles. Yes--it was all amazing. We then went out and crossed the street and went to French Connection United Kingdom. I had been wanting to get a shirt with their logo on it (it reads: fcuk). But, they didn't have any. It started raining so we came back to the dorms.
We all sat around and talked and ate dinner. I had a microwaveable meal from the Tesco that was pretty darn good, in fact, I'd say it's one of the best microwaveable meals I've ever had. While we were chatting after dinner the fire alarm went off so we all went outside and stood in the rain for a few minutes until the fire department arrived. Several Italians crowded underneath my umbrella. There were Italian girls, two Italian guys, and myself, all crowded under my umbrella. They were very polite and I got to hear them chat to each other in Italian, which is a very beautiful language. Had the girls been closer to my age I would have actually been more pleased, but I guess you can't have it all, right?
Anyhow, I didn't take any photographs today, so I don't really have any to share. It was a bit of a slow day, which is good, because I've been going ninety-to-nothing for the past little while. Tomorrow is our field trip day and we'll be going to an office and also to the Holocaust Museum, so that should be interesting.