Day 4: A Blustery Day in London

I thought a Winnie the Pooh reference was appropriate since we are in England and it really was a blustery day today. It was rainy, windy and chilly. We were originally supposed to go to the Borough Market today but decided it was better to do something inside so we switched around our itinerary and instead planned to go shopping at Harrod’s Department store in Knightsbridge, London. But first, we took a walk down toward the Thames to go to The Sherlock Holmes Pub. It was on Jimm’s list of things to do. The pub was packed and we didn’t think we would be able to get a seat for lunch, but we had a little karma and a couple left just in time for us to grab a table. I had a delicious burger and Jimm had the steak & ale pie. We just love the pub atmosphere here in London. We plan to visit this pub again before the end of our trip so we can sit in the Sherlock Holmes Dining Room upstairs above the pub. More on that in a future post.

After lunch, we hopped the Piccadilly line to get to Harrod’s. Have I mentioned how much I love the transit system here in London? It is just so easy to get around without a car and you don’t have to worry about finding parking or dealing with traffic.

A little history on Harrod’s: In 1834, at the age of 25, Charles Henry Harrod opened his first business, listed as a draper, mercer, and a haberdasher. It stayed in the Harrod family until 1889 when it the company went public. It remained a British company until 2010, when it was sold to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar. Harrod’s now covers over five acres of land and has more than 1,000,000 square feet of floor space. The store’s motto is “Omnia Omnibus Ubique”, which, translated from Latin, means “All things for all people, everywhere.” The motto reflects the store’s goal to provide everything a shopper could want (which it absolutely does for a price!). The store has 330 departments and shoppers can get everything from the latest fashions to toys and even Krispy Kreme donuts. It is truly a fun and luxurious experience just to walk around the various departments and we were able to buy a few gifts for Christmas back home.

We headed back to our flat after our shopping excursion and warmed up for a while before heading out to dinner later in the evening. The weather was still not cooperating, so we decided to go to a casual Italian restaurant just a few feet from our building called “Zizzi” for a nice meal of pasta and a calzone. All in all, a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It worked out perfectly. Tomorrow we’ll head to Borough Market. On our last visit to London, we got all the way there and realized it closed at 5:00pm and were not able to enjoy the market and unfortunately it was our last day in town. We have heard a lot about it, so we are looking forward to finally getting to check it out ourselves.