Before I take you back to London, I have one thing to say.
VOTE
If you don’t vote, you are, in fact, voting. You’re voting for the other side – whatever that is to you.
I cannot imagine choosing not to vote. Since the moment I was eligible to vote, I have never taken this right for granted. I have never missed a vote – whether I was away at school, out of the country, in a new home in a new city – I have always made sure I was registered, had an absentee ballot, if necessary, and that I could vote. This doesn’t deserve a pat on the back. It’s my duty as a citizen of this country. It’s what everyone should be doing.
I remember reading several comments on this blog during the 2016 election that went something like this: “I don’t like either of them, so I’m not going to vote.” Are you kidding me? That’s the coward’s way out. And that, my friends, is a big part of why our democracy is fighting for its life at the moment.
So. Vote. If you don’t have transportation, Uber and Lyft are providing free rides to the polls. If it’s raining and storming as it is here, so what? Grab your umbrella and go. If you’re not sure of your polling place, visit this site on the web. Just go. It’s your right, a right many fought and died for. It’s your duty as a citizen of this country. You owe it your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, the Earth, the air we breathe, the animals on this planet, the children who have been stolen from their families and who are still being held in detention camps…I’ll stop there because the list is endless. Thank you.
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Our last day in London. We headed to Knightsbridge and landed here – at Harrods.
I wanted Don to see the famous Food Court because there’s nothing like it. And there’s no way to describe it. You have to see it.
He couldn’t believe it. I haven’t been there in about 20 years, so I was all agog myself. It’s simply stunning. And it goes on and on. The tile work is extraordinary.
Everything you can imagine is there – from the savory to the sweet. It’s almost too much to take in.
We bought some chocolate praline truffles that were incredible – we just finished them last week.
I headed upstairs to see if they still carried a vintage Harrods egg up that I’ve seen, but they didn’t. On the way, we ended up in an art gallery where they were selling original Picassos and Bob Dylan drawings. They have everything there.
It was SO crowded – it was a Sunday – that soon we both felt the need to escape. But what a visit!
We headed down the road toward the Brompton Oratory – somehow I didn’t take a picture – and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V & A is my favorite museum in London, but it was late in the day and we didn’t have much time to spend there. Admission is free, so we went in so that Don could get a taste of this incredible place.
I was entranced by this tin-glazed sculpture by della Robbia.
In the entrance to the museum, a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture:
Just glorious.
Fingers crossed, we’ll get back there for a longer visit.
Then we headed toward Hyde Park and the Serpentine, which is the lake that winds its way through the park.
The Albert Memorial.
It was now early evening and the sky and gradually setting sun were so glorious that I’ll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves. Let’s just say that we were in the right place at the exact right time – something that happened to us throughout our journey.
We couldn’t have timed it better. And I can’t imagine anything more magical for our last evening in London.
Tomorrow, the trip to Edinburgh.
Some of you have asked questions about the trip and I know they’re sprinkled throughout this series of posts. If you could leave them again in the comments on this post, I’ll have them all in one place and I can address them in a separate post. Thanks so much!
Happy Tuesday.