Harrods Day Out

 

 

 

Harrods

Day Out In London

 

 



The wonderfully extravagant Harrods



Harrods - a sight to delight the eyes

I have always been a fan of  Harrods  and over the years have made many trips there with the family and friends. Because it is such a long while since my last visit I was very excited and so looking forward to this outing. A friend and I decided we should do a little shopping and then have a good lunch - so instead of driving we went by train and taxi.

I was surprised at the changes - instead of being classy and expensive with just a little less expensive things thrown in for the plebs - it has become 'designer heaven' with grossly inflated prices to match. It is still a sight to behold but not one from which I feel able to buy anymore. We gasped at the evening clutches with a starting price of around £4,000 - we gaped at the dressing gowns priced at £3,000 plus and drooled over the handbags and accessories, which we really were quite unable to afford.

I was extremely disappointed with the changes to the food hall - this has always been a 'foodies mecca' and I have spent many hours and much money in this department.  It is now awash with small food outlets, cafes and restaurants, catering to all manner of foodstuffs and the actual space left for selling produce is much depleted. There is still a fish, meat and vegetable space, a small delicattesen and lots of tinned and packet goods but this area is now small and much less inspiring. I took a few pics of the sweets and goodies on offer but was disappointed not to find the huge array of goods on offer on my last visit.

After this rather disappointing visit we went to  Rigby and Peller, where my extravagant friend bought two beautiful bras and I drank coffee and admired the view.

Via Rigby and Peller

We then went for a long walk in the mid-day sun (aka Noel Coward) right along Knightsbridge to The Kings Road in Chelsea. Here we stopped at  The Saatchi Gallery.

The Saatchi Gallery

There is an exhibition here of photography and art, which is called Korean Eye 2012, which runs until the 23rd September. This wonderful picture of Mother Theresa by Hyung Koo Kang (2011), an oil on aluminium, is particularly eye catching.

Via The Satchi Gallery

 Here we drank overpriced wine and water in the sunshine outside the Gallery Mess Restaurant And Cafe. And here we also had a very unsatisfactory lunch (a platter of cured meat antipasti for two costing £22 and consisting of almost nothing and with extremely overpriced wine and water too).

A pretty spot in the sun

Afternoon tea at Le Pain Quotidien in Chelsea was much more successful and after stuffing our faces with afternoon tea with carrot cake and chocolate tarte we arrived back at Waterloo just in time for the rush hour!




When I got home I constructed my own quick and easy platter for two, which was far superior and much cheaper too! This we ate in the garden with some wonderful wine costing much less than the £24 Muscadet we drank at The Mess and with free iced water too!

Simple antipasti platter

Overall a good day out if a little disappointing in the shopping department.