First stop the V&A, otherwise known as the Victoria and Albert museum. This museum has a very rich and varied collection of artifacts from the antiquities til last week. We started our exploration of the museum by visiting the Islamic art treasures on a guided tour, but the guide was as boring as all get out, and when 20 minutes later we had heard about her studies and visited only two pieces we decided to go it alone. We escalated up a couple of levels, viewed 1940’s “plastic” furniture and then wandered an amazing collection of sacred religious vessels, including a 6 inch tall Torah scroll complete with breastplate and towers, and then, on the next corridor, textiles, 14th century full wall tapestries and an amazing display of theatrical wherewithal. There were posters and promotional material, stage and set design that would make an HSC Drama student salivate, and then, in the next room, full size original Lion King Costumes!!!! Not to mention Dame Edna's hat. It was total visual overload but so fantastic.
It was time to finish our London shopping and so where else but Harrods. But who can shop on an empty stomach? Certainly not Chris, and the deli counter in Harrods was beckoning. We had a yummy half sandwich and soup before hitting the souvenir section. After Harrods we got back on the tube to Covent Garden. Perhaps Liz had been expecting something out of the pages of My Fair Lady, but the Covent Garden of today is very different. Very expensive fashion shops line the street, side by side with alternate lifestyle and therapy 
offerings. It is a very eclectic place. Mooched in some of the shops, didn’t really get what we came for but stumbled on a couple of good finds. Then on the way back to the Leicester Square station we found a little pub called the Porcupine serving afternoon tea and cake for 3 pounds. What a find. That certainly postponed the trip back to the hotel just a little.
Back at the hotel for a shower and change, finalise the packing ( oh dear why did I do more shopping??) finalise the bill and catch a cab down to Paddington station for the Heathrow express out to the airport. By this stage the day had turned very bleak and we were very glad to get to the station in the cab nice and dry. Check in and claiming back the VAT was easy and then it was off to the Concorde room, reserved for first class travelers only. Ooohhhh that has a nice ring to it. We had a lovely meal 
served to us in a private dining booth and then sat down to update the blog, only to discover that due to bad weather our flight to Hong Kong had been delayed for over an hour. Ah well, I guess we will just have to suffer the lounge for a bit longer. So a wander around the airport to check out the other lounges was in order and then back to wait for our call.Soooooo.. can you guess where we’re blogging from??? British Airways Concorde Room. What an experience.
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