London Calling

For a person who hates shopping, I spent a lot of time in London’s shopping districts last week. Suddenly, I wished I’d paid much more attention to Becky Bloomwood’s bad habit in the Shopaholic books. Because of Becky, shopping at Marks & Spencer (M&S to those in the know) actually meant something to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember any of her other favorite haunts.

Reading and travel go hand-in-hand. Not only do I love to read as I travel, but actually visiting the setting of many books (not to mention movies and television programs) makes a city mean even more. Here are a few other “literary” spots I hit last week:

• I stopped at King’s Cross Station several times (okay, only to change underground lines), but I was unable to spot Harry Potter’s Platform 9¾.
• I happened to be reading The Woman in White (review pending) while in London. In the first chapter, Mr. Hartright walks past St. John’s Wood and Regent’s Park. I was thrilled to know I had also walked near the same area that very day. Of course, I wasn’t stopped by a mysterious woman in white on my way.
• I could mention Westminster Abbey and The Da Vinci Code, but I will spare you yet another tirade.
• In Pygmalion’s first act, Henry Higgins meets Eliza Doolittle in Covent Gardens. Although I didn’t see anyone selling flowers in Covent Gardens, I did hear my only cockney accent (or what sounded like one to my crass American ears).
• My dear friend Hercule Poirot apparently lived near the Museum of London and the Barbican Centre. I can only assume the area was a bit more posh in his day.
• Though I blush to admit it, many London sites are familiar to me from reading dozens of regency romances: Vauxhall Gardens, Grosvenor and Berkeley Squares, White’s.

Of course, now that I’ve had a taste of London, I need to read a few other classics like The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If only I could visit the settings of every book I read.