London, Literature, Love: Second Star to the Right...

As soon as I knew I was going to England for sure i made a list of three things I had to see. The Peter Pan Memorial in Hyde Park, the Trolly sticking out of the wall at Kings Cross Station, and 221b Bakerstreet. I have found the first on this list after much walking and searching.

Kris and I departed at 11:30am for Speakers corner, the corner farthest away from Peter Pan. The reason, is that on the weekends, people bring boxes to stand on and speak to you. There is no restriction on this, anyone can find something to stand on, and attempt to entertain the masses. On this particular Sunday, there were four men, three of which were religious attempting to convert the masses, both the Jew and the Christian attempted to tell the crowds that we were most likely going to hell, while the Muslim man spoke some about his faith and then preached on how greed was the reason America didn't have a National Health Care. The fourth man was the most fun. He told us that women were stealing all of men's jobs, and that they refused to hire men, and that women's proper place was in the kitchen. Because of the informality of the situation many shouted back to all four of these men, arguments and taunts. Kris said it wasn't the best speakers corner he had seen, but I found it pretty entertaining.

Even though Kris lives in London, he had only seen small parts of the park. I figured out how to get to Peter pan this time, so I led the way to the reform tree, then past the Norwegian Rock, over the bridge and to the Serpentine Museum. Most museums in England are free, so we decided to take a detour and look inside. The exhibit consisted of odd objects, labeled either on the wall or on the ground. There was a concrete bench, a pair of shoes, a laptop, an office chair, the front bumper of what looked like a yellow Shelby Cobra (but I could be wrong, kinda hard to tell a car from its front bumper) a water purifier, and others. After walking around for ten minutes looking for the actual art, we decided to leave, not quite understanding why someone had decided to fill three rooms with random crap, and label them as if they were from a distant time.

We left the museum and walked down the path, past the ugliest tree in the world, it wasn't labeled as such but i gave it that name, and I am quite sure it alone is what inspired Guillermo del Torro in his art for Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth. It was past this gnarled tree and down near the water that we found the object of our quest. Peter stands on top of a hill covered in small animals and fairies playing a flute. I felt like a kid again, staring up to my most favored fairytale character.

While this was the goal of our Sunday excursion, it was not the end, we walked out to the gates and walked along the wall where artists sell their masterpieces for a few quid. Kris and I both got Pub signs depicting our favorite pictures (Mine - Robin Hood Pub, his Jack the Ripper).

The tube took us to Harrod's, where we marveled at all of the beautiful things just on the first two floors. I found the most beautiful pen, that rested in a circle of two dragons eating each others tails, one silver and one gold. This beautiful writing utensil was supposed to be sold for 34,450 pounds... I'll let that sink in, 34,450 pounds for a tube of ink encased in a metal pen. I entertained hopes of becoming a famous writer and one day being able to purchase such a beauty, before moving on and finding the two Princess Diana Memorials inside Harrod's.

In case you don't know, Princess Diana was dating Dodi Al Fayed at the time of her death, the son of Mohamed Al Fayed, who owns Harrod's. Mohamed had two memorials erected for his son and Princess Diana, the first, in 1998, was a smaller memorial, with pictures of the two of them, and encased in a pyramid the wine glass from their last dinner with Diana's lipstick smudge on it, and the engagement ring Dodi had purchased the day before they died. The second one put in place in 2005 is a much larger statue of the two dancing on the beach beneath an albatross with the words "innocent victims" underneath. We found both memorials and I even signed my name in the death book that sits behind the larger statue.

We ended the day trying a diner across the street from our school that attempted to be a fifties rock diner. If you learn nothing else from my blog, listen to this: Do not attempt to eat Mexican food in London. Proof... my burrito was shaped like a triangle, and they couldn't give me a just cheese enchilada (it had to have meat in it). Please, just trust me on this, and know that the second I get back to my side of the pond, I will delight in eating nothing but Mexican food for at least two weeks.

The bigger memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, "Innocent Victims"

The smaller memorial. In the Pyramid, is a wine glass from their last dinner with her lip print on it from her lipstick, and the engagement ring Dodi had bought the day before they died. The ring is a huge gold ring with a bunch of sparkling diamonds.