CRY if I want to, CRRRRRRRY if I want to. You would cry too if it happened tooo youu! (bum buh bump bump bum!) Ha, Lesley Gore. No, my birthday did not cause me to cry, though I thought I just might as my knee made me so miserable earlier today. It’s just a song Cris and Amanda and I used to dance to (there’s probably video footage somewhere in Florida…), and since Amanda posted on my Facebook wall about going to a horseshow yesterday and seeing Kathy from my old old old FL barn, who asked about me (isn’t that sweet?), it came to mind.
My birthday was lovely, and I thank all of my wonderful friends who made it so, from Catherine who called me at 8:50 to wish me a happy day, to my parents who I called at midnight london time to announce that I was 21, to the lovely ladies who took me out for dinner and dessert. Now, let me tell you about my day.
THE DAY (that would be November 19) started with my history class led by the funniest bumbling old professor on the face of the earth, Dr. Miller. Dr. John Miller, to be precise. He always tells us these little stories that he thinks are hysterical, all about his grandchildren and dogs and whatnot. It’s so cute. And somehow, he segways into the lecture. I think he wears the same outfit every week, too. Anyway, class was fine, and at noon, I returned to my room to plan my day and eat my lunch (toasted bagel with cream cheese).
THEN, I donned my outerwear, stuffed all my worldly, necessary belongings into my tiny little bag, and headed off to the bus stop, where I waited for 20 minutes for the 205 bus, the double decker that goes to King’s Cross Train Station, where I was planning to pick up my train tickets to York for the weekend. I accomplished that, determined that the area around King’s Cross was just as sketchy as I’d read, though the building itself–interior–is quite lovely. I visited Platform 9 and 3/4, which is disappointing. I’ll have to examine it more, because I don’t think the sign and the cart cemented into the wall is really between platforms 9 and 10. It’s just kind of…stuck in a wall, and you go down another corridor and there’s platforms 9 and 10. Yeah. But I did get a picture, though not of me pushing the cart, sadly.
After King’s Cross, I hopped onto the Piccadily Line and went down to Knightsbridge, where I spent a lovely hour or so wandering about Harrods. I went into the Egyptian Room first, which houses all of these luxury…handbags, I think, are what’s in there, and there are so many security guards in there that I was afraid to take a picture. It’s quite lovely though. Rather Egyptian 
. After that, I found the Food Halls and oh MY, there are sooo many! I took lots of pictures of them, starting with the tea, coffee, and chocolates hall. Because I do not trust Sainsburies to make me a birthday cake, and have not found a suitable bakery in Mile End, I decided to forgo my cake (beware, Mom, might be baking a cake when I get home!) and buy delectable Swiss chocolate truffles instead. They’re really yummy. There’s also halls with meat and fish and cheese and fruit and veggies and wine and candy, plus little restaurants (Sushi, Pizza!). There’s also a drug store. After that, I headed up to the fourth (I think) floor via the Egyptian Escalator (very cool) to the pet emporium. Yes, there’s a pet store in Harrods. It’s quite odd, although it looks like the dogs and kitties there had nice accomodations. They had rugs and clean paper to go potty on and lots of water and people to play with, and they were well-groomed and everything, and the kitties had little kitty-size chaise lounge chairs. There were lots of hamsters, too, and one kept on climbing up onto the grates of the door, gripping it with its little paws, and shaking it so that its entire body shook. It was really amusing. But the Egyptian Escalator–it’s really love, done in tones of gold, and at the top, there’s a sphynx head. Cool. And, as you ride up and down, each floor has a little balcony where there are these cool manaquins sort of gazing at you dressed in lovely gowns. Again, I have pictures.
After I did my little tour of Harrods, I headed down to South Kensington to the museums. Right across from the V&A is this beautiful building. It’s huge, made of stone, and has these towers. The architecture is vaguely reminiscent of a more simple Parliament building, made of lighter stone. I walked around it, taking in the ice skating ring that the zamboni was smoothing, and found the entrance. It’s the Natural History Museum. I thought it was some kind of stately home or town hall or church or something, but no, it’s the absolutely gorgeous Natural History Museum. And it is my new model for Hogwarts. I think the outside of my Hogwarts looks like Oxford, while the inside if very much the Natural History Museum. I really hope my pictures came out, because it’s exquisite. You walk in, and the entrance hall is HUGE, with the wonderfully high ceilings and arcades all around and a second level with arched window openings that look onto the hall. Then there’s this staircase at the opposite end, that splits and goes up to the right and left second storey. Sigh. I could so live there.
Anyway, the Natural History Museum is DEFINITELY worth the trip if you’re in town. The exhibits are incredible; they definitely put the Museum in NYC to shame. And the dinosaurs! I literally went through the entire thing with my mouth open, it was so cool. They have so many skeletons, and the exhibit is done on two levels. You walk in to see the skeleton of a triceratops, then go up a set of metal stairs to an elevated walkway that takes you down the gallery lined with hanging skeletons of all sorts of dinosaurs. On the other end, you go down a ramp, and there’s an animatronic T-Rex that roars. Cooool! The rest of the exhibit is on the lower level, so you can see all angles of the hanging dinosaur skeletons (that are also beautifully lit, by the way), and go through all of the educational bits you would expect. They also had animatronic velociraptors perched on two of the exhibits, just like in Jurassic Park. They moved and made creepy noises. Again, coooool.
I walked through the rest of the museum over the next few hours, seeing all of the stuffed mammals and dead bugs and what not. I know how termites live, now, in their little tower. Termite babies are funky little critters. Oh! The Whale/Dolphin bit was neat! It was this long hall, like in NY, but they had SO many animals, with all sorts of whales–a blue whale that was a full model, and then skeletons of other whales, and then more models towards the end of smaller whales and dolphins, etc. I have pictures of these, too.
After the animal things, I went into the Earth exhibits, which were funky, but I didn’t really pay attention… My museum attention span has shamefully declined over the years. I stuck around pretty much until they closed, because my knee had started to hurt and it was cold and dark outside. Around 5:40, I went out, and saw bunches of skaters on the ice rink. As I was walking past the V&A, I noticed that they were pulling tables and racks of chairs and crates of food and wine from trucks; PARTY! I didn’t ask what it was for, though. Kind of wish I had, but the people looked busy, and those who weren’t looked like they relished turning away innocent young girls just asking questions…
Fairly soon afterwards, I made it back to Harrods and caught up with Jill, Elizabeth, and Missy, who were taking me out to dinner. We went to this Chinese place I had found just down the street called The Good Earth. The food was yummy–I had grilled chicken and chive dumplings and chicken satay–but the service was bizarre. IT was a really slow night for them, I suppose, because there were only two tables filled in the restaurant, including ours, and about a dozen waiters just standing around staring. One of them came over and demanded that I try the peanut sauce with my chicken satay, since it was better that way. I’m not exagerating. It was the most awkward thing ever. I don’t like peanut sauce, but she was so forceful that I felt obliged to do what she said. It wasn’t very good. The food came out really quickly, so we were probably there 45 minutes tops, but by the time we were done, we practically ran out of the restaurant! I definitely will not be going back, at least not on a week night.
After that, the girls and I stopped into a French patisserie that was close by and had delectable cakes in the window, and we were there for probably an hour or so, up until they closed. I had ordered a double chocolate gateaux as had Missy, but they only had one slice left and even though it was my birthday, Missy was looking at that cake pretty fiercely, so opted for the other mystery cake he’d brought out. I’m not entirely sure what the layers were, but it was chocolate with fruit on the bottom layers (Cherry, strawberries, maybe banana?), mascarpone cheese, and then something else, with chocolate fondant on top. I would never have ordered it myself, but it was so good. Yum.
After we left there, full of chocolate and delicious things and pleased with the friendliness of the waiter, we headed back to Harrods to hop on the tube, though our travel plans had to be quickly changed because of a fire at one of the stations (eek!). I arrived home limping and exhausted, but I had SUCH a great day! Thank you, everyone, who wished me well, and the trio that took me out, and this wonderful city for providing PERFECT weather! I could not have asked for better. Well, almost
