The Rich and Famous & The Birds

Wednesday was a fun day with new adventures...

I got dressed up the way a true London girl should be - highly fashionable of course (complete with stylish yet comfortable heels), and I meandered through the ritzy lane of Bond Street. This is a must-see avenue. It's the Rodeo Drive of London. The streets are lined with flags of every excessively expensive store and boutique in the world. One can take her pick of any luxury stop along the way - Hermes, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany's, Gucci, Armani, Vivienne Westwood, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Chopard, Cartier, Asprey, Prada, and even Sotheby's. They have assembled the best of the best on a narrow and crooked side street in the middle of London. Aside from the glittery windows of jewels and the mannequins wearing $20,000 wool coats, there is a lot more to be seen. People-watching is at its finest here, because camera-toting tourists mingle with high society. It was splendidly entertaining to watch women, young and old, strutting along the cobblestone in sky-high stilettos, carrying Louis Vuitton purses, and clutching bags from Prada and Michael Kors. Money can only be spent here in tremendous quantity and it happens every minute of each day. It was something to see. I am also quite positive that I shared the too-narrow sidewalk with a handful of very important and very wealthy, possible celebrities - although I didn't actually notice who they might be.

My new friend Julian happens to work amidst this posh haven at a very prestigious bank. And we enjoyed lunch at an Irish pub, Mulligan's, while we chatted about the lives of the rich and famous. Turns out that an Irish Pub might not be the place to eat if you're a vegetarian - just a warning. He, unfortunately had to spend his afternoon pushing around paperwork but I took advantage of the rain sprinkles to pop into shops and browse the goods.

Today - Thursday - was a beautiful day. Although colder than necessary for London climate, the sun was shining. Unbelievably, the swan population of the Serpentine has exploded in a day's time. Today's walk found more than 12 white swans gliding through the waters and in the fountain pools of the park. They are incredibly graceful and beautiful creatures. And yet somehow extremely terrifying animals when a child with a piece of bread gets too close. The scene brought back a memory from my childhood of feeding the geese at Menomonie Park - when I had been happily feeding only a handful of geese until suddenly the entire park's population of geese heard the silent thud of bread dropping on grass and came rushing to my spot. There is something horribly frightening about too many birds, of any size, coming for you...

And as I walked past the bread-crazed swan and the crying girl, I chuckled with my own memory, thankful it wasn't me. That is, until I became involved in my own Hitchcock-esq horror show. Unbeknownst to me, a generous women with ill-timing, was opening a bag of stale bread at exactly the moment that I was walking through a cluster of calm birds, ducks, geese, and gulls. It all happened in slow motion. I heard the bag crinkling behind me and saw one gull dart into the air, far too close to my head, and then it unleashed...they all took flight to get to their feast and I happened to be standing in the middle of the pack. Birds of too many sizes were flying at my head, wings beating too close to my ears, squawking and shrieking melodies coming from all directions, the dizzying sight of at least 50+ birds swarming...completely dreadful. My heart was beating an unsteady rhythm and I was ducking and running and shrieking my own unhappy song. After I found my way out of the bird attack, I stood still and let my breathing return to normal - and noticed that I had become a celebrity. Indeed, it was like the paparazzi - at least 20 tourists stood snapping photos and filming my near-brush with death-by-bird. I am not currently training for a marathon, but if I was, my sprint down the path and out of sight would have been clocked my best time yet.

Thankfully, this evening has produced less excitement and a wonderful Mediterranean dinner prepared in my little kitchenette, of a pita filled with falafel, hummus, grilled peppers, artichokes, and sundried tomatoes...delicious. And even better was the pre-dinner caramel latte and almond-chocolate croissant I had on my way home from the park. There's nothing better than a stop at Caffe Nero to help you forget The Birds.