Weekend - 25-26 August: London

I had originally intended to turn the rental car in some time on Saturday, but I decided rather to keep it over the weekend.  That way we could all go to Mass at the Oratory, and then spend the afternoon at Harrod's department store.

The Oratory:

 ( ↑ These photos are from the internet. ↓ )

Driving in central London is definitely not for the faint of heart, even on Sunday mornings!  It was also raining, and the Oratory has not parking available, not even for handicapped vehicles.  I had to let everyone out, along with Katarina's wheelchair, and drive around to find a parking place.  Luckily, street parking is less restricted on Sunday mornings, and I was able to find a spot only a couple of blocks away.  We were seated on the left-hand side, in front of main crossing, so we could see that Sanctuary quite well.  At Communion time, I took Katarina up in her wheelchair to the far left end of the Communion rail, even to the left of the line of communicants.  I wasn't sure how this would work, but it turns out there is a side brass gate especially for the priest to come in front of the rail for the handicapped!  Photography is not allowed, but we took a couple of shots before we left.  I also was allowed to take Amy up in the choir loft to see the organ.

After Mass, I had to fetch the car so we could drive the few blocks to Harrod's.  It would have been a nice walk if it hadn't been raining!  But I also needed to move the car to a parking garage for the afternoon.

Harrod's:

  ( ↑ These photos are from the internet. ↓ )

The Egyptian escalators:

Modern escalators:

We were all hungry, so the first order of Harrod's business was to pick from one of the many restaurants.  Besides the special foods area on the first floor, there is a different restaurant on every floor of the store, each with a different ambiance and cuisine.  We chose the Café on the 3rd floor.  There were five of us, Katarina and Amy, and two of Katarina's friends, Frieda and Mary, and me.  We all had different entrés, mine was a "braffle" (a hybrid of a brioche and a waffle) with Crème Pâtissière and fresh berries.   We had an incredible time!

(Of course, the younger generation has to take a food photo!)

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvenirs etc., and taking photos!  The store was quite crowded, with folks from all over the world.  It was almost a Christmas shopping atmosphere.  There were toys (and not cheap!) literally flying off the shelves.  Workers was constantly going back to the stockrooms to restock shelves!

We all purchased some interesting things and enjoyed many departments in the store.  The employees were actually closing down registers as we were checking out.  We were among the last customers of the day.  This also meant that we had a lot of traffic getting out of the Knightsbridge neighborhood and on our way back to Mottingham.

Once we got home, it was time for me to start packing to leave early Monday morning. Then all that was left was good-byes and driving my rental car to Heathrow airport, and that pretty much finished this summer's trip!