6.22.2009

Thursday, June 22, 1989

Last Full Day in London/England/Britain/Europe ...

Well, I woke up early again in the flat, gathered my things, and met up with my parents. Dad and I then took three of my suitcases to the Tube station, while Mom and Angie did some shopping. Shelly helped us along the way.

While we were walking, traffic was halted for a Royal vehicle, though we couldn't quite make out who it was. Caught the train to Heathrow, where we dropped my luggage off at Left Luggage, so as to lighten the load for tomorrow when we leave.

We returned to London after some donuts and coffee, and met Mom and Angie outside of Harrod's at 2 p.m. (Picture #1) Walked about Harrod's for roughly an hour, then we made our way via Underground to Piccadilly Circus. (Picture #2) From there we walked up Regent Street so we could explore Hamley's. It's still an amazing toy store, and my parents were impressed.

Made our way to Oxford Street, where we went to the Virgin Megastore for a bit. I bought Mom a tape for her Wedding anniversary (on June 27th... I won't divulge what I bought her, in case this journal happens to fall upon her eyes before that date.) and did some browsing. From there we stopped for dinner at Garfunkel's, where I had chicken kiev and Dad stole one of their beer glasses (It was funny watching my parents attempt to be covert.)

After dinner we walked back down Charing Cross Road, stopping in a few book shops and taking some photos, mainly of theatres. Eventually we made our way through Leicester Square, where I bought the tackiest gifts I could find for a few of my friends. (Picture #3 shows the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square, where the premiere of the new James Bond film, "Licence to Kill," was shown. This was the same theatre where I saw "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" back in December.)

At Leicester Square, we also watched the Swiss Clock go around, telling us it was now 8 o'clock. (Picture #4. This building was torn down a few years ago.)

Continued down Piccadilly until we arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was too crowded, so we didn't stay long... just long enough to buy souvenirs. My family all bought shirts and I bought a baseball cap. Next we continued walking towards the flat, and when we got there we had coffee with Rosemary and her roommate Shelly.

I was going to go back outside and take some nighttime shots of London... one last night before heading back to America. But I was so tired at this point that after my parents left and returned to their hotel, I went to sleep.

(Picture #5 shows my parents and sister in the Underground station waiting for the next train. As you can see, they have done a bit of shopping on this day, our final day in London.)

1 comment:

Scott said...

I don't suppose you have any more images taken when you visited Leicester Square at that time?
Image shown of the Odeon Cinema (which has since had another makeover), just cuts out the Mexican restaurant: Chiquito, or maybe it was still Chi-Chi's back then?
Curious if you have any pics of the restaurant? Thanks.