A Rainy Day in the City

To get away from a noisy computer lab and the crowded dinning hall, Sarah S. and I once again ventured out to explore the city. On our agenda - Westminster Abbey. We took the Tube to the Westminster Station, and through the rain we weaved in and out of the multi-colored sea of umbrellas. Just around the corner of Parliament we stopped. There, right before us, the sea of people had turned into a great snake of tourists. It was the line to enter the abbey. Well, if you think about it, on a rainy day doing things indoors, were it is dry, is the best option.

Sarah S. and I walked closer. There was still a glimmer of hope that this might be a line for something else that just happened to be outside of the Westminster Abbey. But no, our first supposition was correct. Hopes dashed we turned the corner to the gift shop. If we couldn't get into the abbey itself, at least we can still go into the shop.

There is a wide range of items sold at this little shop. There are the usual postcards, pens, little notebooks, items that pertain to the composers that are entombed in the abbey. There were roseries, gorguous crosses on a simple chains, and little diptychs with fuax Byzantine paintings of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Oh, everything was so tempting, but for a poor college student I resisted the urge to buy more material memories of visiting Westminster Abbey's gift shop.

Finished with Westminster for the day we strolled under the trees that stood beside the Thames which, for the time being, protected us from the rain. At Northumberland Avenue we turned left. We had decided that out next destination was Picadilly Circus and Regent Street. To our amazement, the walk from the Thames to Picadilly Circus only took twenty minutes.

Of course, since we were there, we had to stop into Lillywhites. This is Sarah S.'s all time favorite store. There is always one thing that you can count on at Lillywhites - it's the crowd. In rainy weather - it's crowded, in hot weather - it's crowded, cool and over-cast - it's crowded. No matter what it is, even if it's the end of the world, the sports store will be brimming with people. Sarah S.'s hands remained unfortunetly empty again and we walked onto Regent Street. The store we were now looking for - the one that I've always wanted to go into - Hamley's.

However, as always, we are sidetracked my a tea shop called Whittards. Standing on either side of the door were two women offering free samples of their teas. A wonderful way to draw potential customers in from the cold, rainy day. Sarah S. bought a teapot and cup for her mom and I feel in love with a teapot. My money-pinching ways kept me from buying it, but as I write this I have now decided that I must go back.

Hamley's is a five-story toy store. (Yes, we actually made it despite all our previous aversions.) The moment you step through the threshold your eyes grow to the size of saucers and your mouth drops. "Wow" is the only audiable sound that will pass through your lips. In the basement there are interactive toys like Lego, on the ground floor there are stuffed animals, the first floor (which is the floor above the ground floor) is games, the second floor is Pre-school toys, the third is the floor for girls, the fourth is hobbies and finally the fifth is for boys. Out of everything, I loved exploring the first floor's Bear Factory. It is exactly like a Build-A-Bear Workshop, but Hamley's style.

Liberty was the next store that we went to. It's yet another department store that we heard was good. Though it lacked the exotic food stalls at Harrod's, the moment we stepped in we knew we couldn't even afford a keychain, but it was fun to just look around. After ten minutes we were back on the street.

To end the day, we walked to Kensington Gardens. We were in search of the Peter Pan statue. It was yet another item on our list of "Must Do and See." We looked at the sign when we entered the park, found out where it was and began our trek. We walked straight to the other side without seeing it. To refresh our memory, we looked at the sign there on the other side. Now, on the right path we walked and walked.

Everything was fine, until I distinctly heard footsteps behind us. At first, I was telling myself that it's a public park and there several people around. However, after walking quite a ways further, I noticed that the footsteps had been behind us ever since. I would look around with my umbrella to see who belonged to the feet. It was just a man with his hands in his pockets and just walking. But why has he been behind us for so long? Why hadn't he passed us or turned down any of the many different paths?

I whispered to Sarah S. "Do you think this guy is following us?" Sarah nodded her head. She had realized this as well and was getting the same creepy feeling that was overcoming me. Suddenly we began to laugh. Why? I think it was to relieve some of our fear. We decided that we should turn and if he takes the same path, we should quickly go up to someone and ask to walk with him or her. Much to our relief, however, when we carried out our plan, the man maintained his course on the main path. But we were so prepared for anything that when it stopped raining we rolled up our umbrellas and decided we could use them as clubs. Yes, we are weird and paranoid, but we didn't know for sure if we were being followed or not. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

After our diversion, we finally found the Peter Pan statue an hour and a half later. It was smaller than we thought, but we still thought it be very pretty. We stood there contemplating which girl was Wendy and Tinkle Bell and so on, waiting for the groups of people to pass by before we took out photos. Sarah S. got a great one of her balancing on one foot and her arms spread out like she was flying. It's very cute. I took my usual picture focusing on the artisty. With enough photos to be happy and the fact that it was getting close to sun down, we headed back to the Atlantic House and to the computer lab where we would record our adventure in Kensington Gardens.