Rated: PG13! Maybe R…. Anyway – 5 Highlights Including One Shocker From My London Trip

WOW!  How blessed I feel to have had the opportunity to travel to London this past week.  There are so many highlights, but here are a few of my favorites and one shocker at the end.  Truly, ya ain't gonna see these on Trip Advisor.

Before I even left the U.S., while I was waiting for my sister to arrive from Georgia, I sat myself down at a bar inside of Logan Airport.  Across from me sat a Russian man who was very upset that the bar wouldn't serve him anymore.  I heard server after server try to explain to him that they have already given him 6, yes... 6 shots of vodka and they could not give him anymore.  He was a big man and kept on saying, "just one more ...... WOKDA!"  Wow.  A for Effort, man, but you're gonna miss your flight back to the U.S.S.R.  Anyway, onward with the list:

1.  British TV is very different.  More on that later, but one of the shows I watched was a crime show called, "Ill Gotten Gains," on a network called, "REALLY."  It was the British version of I.D. or OWN.  The title cracked me up though... "Ill Gotten Gains."  There was quite a bit of American TV too, including Wicked Tuna featuring a boat from Rye, NH!

2.  Technology was mercifully, blissfully, less prevalent in the UK.  People actually READ books and newspapers on the tube (subway).  Those who didn't have a book or newspaper RARELY had a phone in their hand!  It was SO REFRESHING!  People actually talked to each other.  Or, they looked at their shoes.  I did a lot of shoe-looking.

3.  I never thought I would have discovered the store where all the richest people in the world go to spend their money, but I have indeed.  Harrod's Department Store.  

I thought that maybe I could afford a little something at Harrod's.  I can't.  There were literally SHEIKS with their wives shopping there.  I thought it was a wee bit odd that a woman in full burka, nothing showing with only a slit for her eyes, looking at dresses.... ("Where you gonna wear 'em, Sistah?")  The prices were astronomical.  I DID try on a dress that was just a little more than a scarf for $2,500.  It was on the cheapest rack.  Needless to say, I didn't buy it, but it DID look fabulous.

4.  London also has a thriving Theater scene that is similar to Times Square.  I saw "Starry Messenger" with Matthew Broderick.  I liked the description of the play, and the cast sounded great, but I should have read the reviews.  It was awful.  Matthew Broderick was the WORST one in the cast.  I almost wanted to yell out, "BUELLER?  BUELLER?" to try to get a laugh, but I'm not sure he would have appreciated it.

5.  Here it is:  The most shocking thing about my visit to the UK:  British TV, like Brits themselves, are VERY open, very tolerant of all kinds of people with all kinds of orientations, skin color, height, weight, etc., etc.  It was my FAVORITE part of England.  But, I will say that one thing I was a little taken aback by was a TV show on Wednesday night at 10pm called "Naked Attraction."  It's a dating show where one fully clothed person who is  looking for love comes on a stage with six other naked people behind an individual curtain.  As they tell the host what they are looking for in a partner, (man, woman, in between...) all six curtains covering their potential dates reveal their naked feet, up to their knees.  The "contestant" comments on that part of the 6 bodies and they eliminate one contestant based on whatever they didn't like about the knees, feet, too much hair, etc.  Then they move the curtain up again to waist level exposing their naughty bits!  I'm not even kidding about this part!  It was unreal to me - the camera would focus on the wee willy winky (or not so wee....) or the hoo hoo... depending on what the preference is - and eliminate one contestant based on what they saw with comments like, "Oh, that one looks like it might hurt."  I promise you.  I am not making this up.  I saw it.  The curtain then goes up to the shoulders, then the entire face, revealing a fully naked person.  Whoever is left standing, goes out with the contestant on stage who is now, you guessed it, also naked.  You can't get this on the internet here in the states.  Not that I've just tried to do it or anything..... Oh, and NO, this wasn't cable.  This was regular TV.

There is so much to see in London.  I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of seeing the city, never mind the countryside.  I certainly didn't even tell you about the cool museums and really excellent plays we saw, but my hands are cramping, so I'll save it for another day.  Suffice it to say that I loved my time in London and I'm sure I'll make it there again.