Friday: The Tube, Churches, St Martin and Chocolate

"Ello Mates, Emmie Reporting Today:

Today started in an unusual way. Most mornings on our European vacations (hehe cause I've been on so many) my dearest mother awakens the rest of the crew to start us on our merry way. However this morning we awoke on our own and Mom was no where to be found, assuming she had gone with Dad to breakfast or something, we waited. After a hour and a half hour or so, suspicions arose. Then a very brave Auntie Theresa ventures into the master bedroom, armed with a cup of coffee and found the sleeping Tricia.
I am told the dialogue went like this:
"Tricia, it's after nine."
"AWESOME!"
Since we had found mom, we got ready and started out for the first sight of the day, Westminster Abbey. The weather was a little colder and windier this morning, making me feel like a true Londoner in my black raincoat, scarf and hat. After our tube ride, we surfaced to find ourselves right next to Big Ben and the Eye. After a few pictures we headed to Westminster Abbey to be amazed. Once inside we took the audio tour all around the church, ogling at the enormous statues and decadent chapels. We saw statue after statue of famous King, Queen, Saint etc. In my personal opinion the church itself wasn't as great at Notre Dame. However once we got outside, in the Cloisters, that was really cool but it was something straight out of Harry Potter, it looked like a quidditch field, or as if we should be getting our brooms out for our flying lesson. That was probably my favorite part of Westminster Abbey, looking at the Cloisters seeing the Harry Potter-esque halls and rooms and the oldest door in Britain...not something you see everyday. After our tour we made a quick stop in the Abbey gift shop where I purchased a disgusting little fuzzy gargoyle for my best friend Jade, we headed out towards St. Martin in the field.

Our path to St. Martin's was plagued with many side stops. As we were walking we heard Big Ben chime 12,an experience that made everyone go "oooooh". Then we stopped to look at the royal guards and horses, standing outside the complex where they are kept, and took the stereotypical tourist pictures with the guards. As we realized it was getting near lunch time we were sidetracked even further by the souvenir shops, offering beautiful scarves and hats. Obviously we spent "15 minutes" in the shop, each of us leaving with at least one new scarf. After a short shopping frenzy, we knew we only had a limited amount of time before one of us would keel over from starvation. Luckily we found Walkers, a quaint family owned little pub with a basement restaurant serving "Traditional English Food". I ordered the daily special, Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and fresh vegetables. It was delicious, I could hardly believe I enjoyed something called yorkshire pudding, but I did. Mom and Grandma had a parsnip soup which I'm told was delicious and Auntie Theresa had risotto which wasn't so good. For dessert we all partook in some Passion Fruit Cheesecake, which honestly didn't live up to what Passion Fruit Cheesecake should. It was lemony cheesecake.
After our lunch we finally headed to St. Martin's in the field, where we quickly ducked inside the church and looked around then headed downstairs to do our brass rubbings. I picked an elephant (E for emily..elephant..get it?) and Mom chose St. Mark's lion and Auntie Theresa picked the Celtic crosses. It took quite the skill and force to create our artwork, I gave up after a while, it was good enough for me, but Auntie Theresa and Mom kept at it, working toward perfection. I moseyed around the gift shop until they felt satisfied with their work. Then we sat down and decided on our next stop; Harrod’s.
Harrod’s was like every fancy department store in the movies. Everywhere I looked I saw staff members dressed in suits, waiting to please. We stopped in the perfume section, smelling around, then we moved to the gift section which looked like a toy store at Christmas time, full of people looking at every toy and bag. I believe the gift section had that most “almost-buys” for our group. But no purchases were made. Then we ventured to the food section of the store, I of course found the cupcake counter, displaying beautiful cupcakes in every flavor imaginable. I chose a mini chocolate cupcake, mom picked a mini coconut cupcake, and Grandma a mini red velvet cupcake and Aunt Theresa indulged in a mini carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting. So we did make a purchase in Harrod’s, delightful mini cupcakes. After our sweet treat we went the 4th floor to look at the junior’s clothes, of course I wished I could buy the whole floor, everything was soooo cute but alas I am not made of money. After some painful ogling we moved to the shoe department to find Auntie Theresa’s favorite designer shoes by Christian Louboutin, red soled heels that are actually “to die for”. Of course these shoes are so special that Harrod’s keeps them behind a black curtain and in a small room called “the Couture Room”. This room was like paradise, filled with the cutest shoes I’ve ever seen, from the best known designers around the world. In this small room there were two guards, one of whom informed me that no pictures are allowed (I still got one. :] ). After our Harrod’s stop our crew was running a little ragged, after a quick taxi ride we were back at our apartment to rest up for the evening’s activities. After a quick rest Mom and Auntie Theresa decided they would like to go to the National Photo Gallery and see, as our bus tour guide said “some good pictures”, while Dad, Grandma and I endured watching a fishing tournament on the telly. And that wasn’t even as fun as it sounds. After a short while, though it seemed like an eternity, Mom and Auntie Theresa returned and the entire posse set out for dinner. Auntie Theresa chose the small Italian restaurant, just a short walk from our apartment, where we had seen some decadent pizza’s being served the day before. However our dinner wasn’t quite up to par. Grandma had the best dish of the evening, with pumpkin ravioli and the rest of us followed with Veal Marsala, pizzas and spaghetti (which was more like spaghetti-o’s). It wasn’t our best meal in London so we went without dessert, not wanting to endure anymore. When we finished dinner, Auntie Theresa and I walked to Tesco’s, the local grocery store, to stock up on breakfast supplies. Yet we were sidetracked by the chocolate and managed to come home with little traditional breakfast food but a lot of chocolates. Our chocolate list includes, Maltesers (chocolate malted milk balls which are apparently “The lighter way to enjoy chocolate”), Cadbury chocolate with caramel, and Snickers. A special note for Maureen, our check out guy at Tesco’s did call me “Love”