The London Hat

This is actually my London hat because I wore it in London.When I look at this hat, when I hold it in my hands, the dust of London's fog is disturbed and sprinkles upon my fingertips. How I wish I could inhale the London fog today!

Philip and I spent 7 full days roaming the streets of this diverse British city. We visited Shakespeare's Globe Theater, where we witnessed acting students in the midst of rehearsal for a jig finale for some performance. We stood on "The Prime Meridian of the World" in Greenwich, we climbed up to the galleries of St. Paul's Cathedral, and we saw two stage shows and a ballet.
Believe it or not, however, my favorite moments were those spent dining. I am grateful for the European respect for privacy, as the servers respectfully kept their distance during our meals. We dined in peace, gazing into one another's eyes, engaged in conversation, for hours at a time.Hand in hand, we tread the cobblestones of the Tower of London, the escalators in the underground, and the pavement of the City of Westminster. We toured the Chelsea Football Stadium, Handel's Home, and Kensington Palace and Gardens. We rode a double decker bus. We ate chocolate covered Belgian Waffles (I much prefer the chocolate crepes of Paris), we drank tea at Kensington's Organgery, and I ate fish and chips for the first time (New Orleans fried fish is much tastier--I guess I will always be a New Orleanian at heart).

I loved the mushroom trees at Hampton Court, the monument to Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace, Diana's dresses, and my daily dose of Earl Grey tea. I loved the accents of the people surrounding me on the Underground, and I hoped that as I rode along, I would be perceived as one of them, so I tried not to speak and blow my cover. I loved the tights that every woman wore, the skinny jeans, the scarves, the chiffon dresses, the ballet flats. I loved Debenhams. I loved the Wellington Arch. I loved the king sized bed and feather pillows at the Rubens Hotel. I loved London.I want to hold on to every moment of this experience, as if it were the present. I want to recall every sensation at a second's notice, with the intensity of what I am feeling now. I want to imprint the sights I saw onto my memory, as though I were painting permanent tatoos into my brain.

As the song goes, "Please don't let this moment end / it's everything I am / everything I want to be..."