Arri London wrote:
> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.

This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?

But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.

There must be some logic behind it but I'd like to remain oblivious to them so
that I can think it's weird and laugh! HA HA HA!

A

Ada Ma > wrote:
> Arri London wrote:
>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
>> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.

> This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?

> But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
> actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
> Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.

Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
This defies logic.

wrote:
>
> Ada Ma > wrote:

> > This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?
>
> > But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
> > actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
> > Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.
>
> Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
> Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
> This defies logic.

I think this is a really bad example. I don't know about where you
live, but I don't get the chance to see David Hyde Pierce (?) and
whoever else live just around the corner every day. I'd go see them
if I happened to be in London. It's not like it's Burger King.
Many people around the states do not have Broadway quality productions
nearby.

nancy

On 4 Jan 2004 17:05:26 GMT, wrote:

>Ada Ma > wrote:
>> Arri London wrote:
>>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
>>> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.
>
>> This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?
>
>> But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
>> actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
>> Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.
>
>Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
>Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
>This defies logic.

Oh, Leicester Sq. -- Ian McKellen, Alec Guinness (and Edward Hermann),
Jeremy Brett -- heaven! (Where 2 of them are now). As to familiar
foods, not all want dining 'adventures' abroad. It's no crime to seek
out Burger King after a foul 'pub grub' experience. Particularly if
you travel with children. (I didn't look for McDonald's, but then I
didn't seek out jellied eel, either.)

Stan, not everyone travels for food experiences. Scenery, history,
archeology, adventure, eco-pursuits, and art figure prominently in
travel destinations. Do you go to Hawaii for dinner? Well, some may,
but many want a warm sandy beach in mid-winter. And drinks with little
umbrellas. :-)

Frogleg wrote:
>
> On 4 Jan 2004 17:05:26 GMT, wrote:
>
> >Ada Ma > wrote:
> >> Arri London wrote:
> >>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
> >>> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.
> >
> >> This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?
> >
> >> But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
> >> actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
> >> Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.

Also people queue up for particular shows, not necessarily for the
players. The Americans can see David Hyde Pierce on 'Frasier' any time
they choose.

> >
> >Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
> >Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
> >This defies logic.
>
> Oh, Leicester Sq. -- Ian McKellen, Alec Guinness (and Edward Hermann),
> Jeremy Brett -- heaven! (Where 2 of them are now).

LOL not as though you'd see Jeremy Brett in a production any time soon
is it?



As to familiar
> foods, not all want dining 'adventures' abroad. It's no crime to seek
> out Burger King after a foul 'pub grub' experience. Particularly if
> you travel with children. (I didn't look for McDonald's, but then I
> didn't seek out jellied eel, either.)
>
> Stan, not everyone travels for food experiences. Scenery, history,
> archeology, adventure, eco-pursuits, and art figure prominently in
> travel destinations. Do you go to Hawaii for dinner? Well, some may,
> but many want a warm sandy beach in mid-winter. And drinks with little
> umbrellas. :-)

>> On 4 Jan 2004 17:05:26 GMT, wrote:
>>
>> >> But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
>> >> actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
>> >> Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.

*Some* Americans, like self, may be queuing for discount tickets
because London and NYC are the great theater capitals of the world,
and we want to take every advantage when its available. I expect a
Brit in NYC would queue for Maggie Smith before an unfamiliar American
name. If I were a 'Frasier' fan and a London production would be my
only chance to see David Hyde Pierce live and in person, I'd probably
try to pick up a ticket. What would be the point of seeking out
something totally unfamiliar just for the sake of a "different"
experience, if it would mean foregoing another you are pretty sure
you're going to enjoy? I chose my 'playlist' with a combo of criteria:
who *wouldn't* want to see Alec Guinness? And in a play I knew was
good. Same with Brett and the Sherlock Holmes pastiche. I didn't know
who Ian McKellen was, but I knew I liked Alan Ayckbourn's plays. And a
trio of short Chekov pieces sounded interesting. If Dustin Hoffman in
'Salesman' had been in London at that time, I would have certainly fit
Stan's profile of Americans snapping up tickets to things with
American actors. Wouldn't you?

Frogleg wrote:
>
> On 4 Jan 2004 17:05:26 GMT, wrote:
>
> >Ada Ma > wrote:
> >> Arri London wrote:
> >>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
> >>> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.
> >
> >> This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?
> >
> >> But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
> >> actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
> >> Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.

Also people queue up for particular shows, not necessarily for the
players. The Americans can see David Hyde Pierce on 'Frasier' any time
they choose.

> >
> >Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
> >Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
> >This defies logic.
>
> Oh, Leicester Sq. -- Ian McKellen, Alec Guinness (and Edward Hermann),
> Jeremy Brett -- heaven! (Where 2 of them are now).

*Sigh* Brett was certainly one of the best Sherlock Holmes's ever!



As to familiar
> foods, not all want dining 'adventures' abroad. It's no crime to seek
> out Burger King after a foul 'pub grub' experience. Particularly if
> you travel with children. (I didn't look for McDonald's, but then I
> didn't seek out jellied eel, either.)
>
> Stan, not everyone travels for food experiences. Scenery, history,
> archeology, adventure, eco-pursuits, and art figure prominently in
> travel destinations. Do you go to Hawaii for dinner? Well, some may,
> but many want a warm sandy beach in mid-winter. And drinks with little
> umbrellas. :-)

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:10:06 -0700, Arri London >
wrote:

>*Sigh* Brett was certainly one of the best Sherlock Holmes's ever!
>
I've never seen better, and I truly believe there was never a better
one -- seen or unseen. Brilliant and slightly mad, misogynist and
romantic, lucid and drug-addicted, confident and nervous as a speed
freak. What a pity he died before finishing the entire Holmes corpus.

OBFood: Central Market's bulk crystalized ginger soaked in vodka for
two weeks. Intoxicatingly delicious!

modom

wrote:
>
> Ada Ma > wrote:
> > Arri London wrote:
> >> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
> >> American tourists. They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.
>
> > This is insane... go all the way to London and buy something American?

It's common enough. Of course they aren't the only ones to do that. All
the Japanese restaurants in London I've been to cater to *busloads* of
Japanese tourists.
Sometimes there is a limit to how 'foreign' people want their foreign
experience to be

>
> > But then I saw Americans queuing for cheap play tickets played by American
> > actors (the guy in Natural born killer and the younger brother in Frasers) in
> > Leicester Square. So it's not so out of normal after all.
>
> Exactly. I am American and I don't understand this behavior either.
> Why travel so far only to do (or eat) the same stuff you can at home?
> This defies logic.

Perhaps to you it isn't logical. However, most of the American fast-food
places in London are heavily frequented by American tourists. Most would
go out of business if that segment stopped visiting.

>> Arri London wrote:

>>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
>>> American tourists.

Is this a problem?

>>> They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.

They will also buy Belgian chocolates and Persian rugs and French
wines and Italian shoes, although I don't know if they consider them
"cute,"

Frogleg wrote:
>
> >> Arri London wrote:
>
> >>> It's logical though. Right now a lot of visitors to Harrod's are
> >>> American tourists.
>
> Is this a problem?

Depends on to whom one speaks. Harrod's is a department store, rather
than simply a tourist attraction to be photographed.
>
> >>> They will buy the KK doughnuts and think it's 'cute'.
>
> They will also buy Belgian chocolates and Persian rugs and French
> wines and Italian shoes, although I don't know if they consider them
> "cute,"

For the most part they don't buy those things. That's always been one of
al Fayeed's complaints. The big ticket customers aren't the Americans
according to him. He should know; it's his store.

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
> Frogleg wrote:
> > They will also buy Belgian chocolates.

Oh yes, we buy Leonidas every time we pass through that store!!! (about
every 3 years).
Doug.
One other thing, get there just as they open and hit the food court, if you
are too late all the London office workers have gotten all the good
inexpensive items. You can get yourself a fabulous picnic lunch and latter
take it down to Green Park, and eat it on a park bench.

Doug Cutler wrote:
>
> "Arri London" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Frogleg wrote:
> > > They will also buy Belgian chocolates.
>
> Oh yes, we buy Leonidas every time we pass through that store!!! (about
> every 3 years).
> Doug.
> One other thing, get there just as they open and hit the food court, if you
> are too late all the London office workers have gotten all the good
> inexpensive items. You can get yourself a fabulous picnic lunch and latter
> take it down to Green Park, and eat it on a park bench.

There's no food court at Harrods, but there are the Food Halls. Used to
be extremely nice, but now run down to something extremely ordinary.

BTW, Hyde Park is a lot closer to Harrods than Green Park, if one is
really hungry LOL!

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
> BTW, Hyde Park is a lot closer to Harrods than Green Park, if one is
> really hungry LOL!

Yesh. For a picnic at Green Park, one makes a stop at Fortnum's. (Though I
usually go to St. James park.)

Charlie

"Arri London" wrote:
> Depends on to whom one speaks. Harrod's is a department store, rather
> than simply a tourist attraction to be photographed.

Precisely. It's all relative. When I lived in NYC (and it's the same now
when I'm just visiting), I was mired in swamps foreign tourists all the
time. The Empire State Building is a office building, but a lot of people
sure do take photographs of it, wander through it, gaze off of it. The World
Trade Center had the same problem until recently.

The Statue of Liberty is just what its name says it is. It's a statue. It's
enormous. It has its own island.

The Circle Line jaunts over a polluted and stinky river and a polluted and
stinky seaway to circumscribe a different island (fairly nondescript in and
of itself) several times a day while passengers gaze at the nonfuctioning
mechanisms of a bunch of old bridges as they pass under them. Go figure.

One knew when one was behind a group of tourists, as one would be forced to
a sudden stop in midstride on crowded sidewalks by foreign bodies --
invariably looking up, pointing and gaping, oooohing and aaaaaahing, aiming
and snapping, assessing and critiquing -- lest one trample or topple over
them.

They crowd restaurants and museums. They crowd trendy department and food
stores. They crowd the sidewalks. They crowd into the Theater District, into
venues on- and off-. They go to movies. Their tour buses prowl the streets.
They are perfect strangers who ask us for directions and, not uncommonly,
ask to have their pictures taken. They crowd the Park and mass around
fountain and statuary like human pigeons. They take the subway. They
communicate with language and gestures and customs the natives don't
understand and may not cotton to. They're underfoot. They spend millions.

Miss Manners says: Suck it up. That's part of life in the Big City, and
therefore part of getting everything one asked for.

< Bloomingdale's is just a department store, too. >


> For the most part they don't buy those things. That's always been one of
> al Fayeed's complaints. The big ticket customers aren't the Americans
> according to him. He should know; it's his store.

True enough. We can get those things *here*, after all.

Pennyaline wrote:
>
> "Arri London" wrote:
> > Depends on to whom one speaks. Harrod's is a department store, rather
> > than simply a tourist attraction to be photographed.
>
> Precisely. It's all relative. When I lived in NYC (and it's the same now
> when I'm just visiting), I was mired in swamps foreign tourists all the
> time. The Empire State Building is a office building, but a lot of people
> sure do take photographs of it, wander through it, gaze off of it. The World
> Trade Center had the same problem until recently.
>
> The Statue of Liberty is just what its name says it is. It's a statue. It's
> enormous. It has its own island.
>
> The Circle Line jaunts over a polluted and stinky river and a polluted and
> stinky seaway to circumscribe a different island (fairly nondescript in and
> of itself) several times a day while passengers gaze at the nonfuctioning
> mechanisms of a bunch of old bridges as they pass under them. Go figure.
>
> One knew when one was behind a group of tourists, as one would be forced to
> a sudden stop in midstride on crowded sidewalks by foreign bodies --
> invariably looking up, pointing and gaping, oooohing and aaaaaahing, aiming
> and snapping, assessing and critiquing -- lest one trample or topple over
> them.
>
> They crowd restaurants and museums. They crowd trendy department and food
> stores. They crowd the sidewalks. They crowd into the Theater District, into
> venues on- and off-. They go to movies. Their tour buses prowl the streets.
> They are perfect strangers who ask us for directions and, not uncommonly,
> ask to have their pictures taken. They crowd the Park and mass around
> fountain and statuary like human pigeons. They take the subway. They
> communicate with language and gestures and customs the natives don't
> understand and may not cotton to. They're underfoot. They spend millions.
>
> Miss Manners says: Suck it up. That's part of life in the Big City, and
> therefore part of getting everything one asked for.
>
> < Bloomingdale's is just a department store, too. >
>
> > For the most part they don't buy those things. That's always been one of
> > al Fayeed's complaints. The big ticket customers aren't the Americans
> > according to him. He should know; it's his store.
>
> True enough. We can get those things *here*, after all.


Everyone can get those things *anywhere*, if it comes down to it. But
the foreigners, other than the Americans still spend a lot of money at
Harrods. The Americans just gawk according to al Fayeed.

"Arri London" wrote:
> Everyone can get those things *anywhere*, if it comes down to it. But
> the foreigners, other than the Americans still spend a lot of money at
> Harrods. The Americans just gawk according to al Fayeed.

Did you read all of my post or just jump to the end??

To types like al Fayed, if you're not spending money, you're loitering.

You strike me as someone as provincial as any bumpkin: limited in
perspective, distrustful and resentful of what is different (in this case,
of Americans). How very small of you. So Americans don't cough for what al
Fayeed the Elder shills. So what? Does that mean we can't admire it?
Ex-cuuuuuuuuuuse US!!!!

As Miss Manners stated previously: Suck it up.

<or move to where Americans don't go>

>Pennyaline wrote:

>> They crowd restaurants and museums. They crowd trendy department and food
>> stores. They crowd the sidewalks. They crowd into the Theater District, into
>> venues on- and off-. They go to movies. Their tour buses prowl the streets.
>> They are perfect strangers who ask us for directions and, not uncommonly,
>> ask to have their pictures taken. They crowd the Park and mass around
>> fountain and statuary like human pigeons. They take the subway. They
>> communicate with language and gestures and customs the natives don't
>> understand and may not cotton to. They're underfoot. They spend millions.

Geez! Why don't all tourists just drop dead, huh? Or stay at home
where they can sneer at *their* tourists. Tourism is a major, if not
the main, source of income for a good many cities, towns, and
countries. Many people like to travel, and the 'natives' are happy to
have customers. Just as 'natives' in any place are a mix of
personalities and habits, the same mix applies to those who travel. I
felt apologetic hearing a woman with an American accent loudly
repeating every other line to her husband(?) during a play, but I
shouldn't have. This isn't an *American* habit; it's a rude-person
habit. Tourists everywhere are cursed for spending too lavishly or
not enough; for being different or trying to fit in; for crowding
local restaurants or choosing familar foods; for crowding museums or
ignoring them; for over- or under-dressing; and on and on.

I have a friend who lived in northern Virginia for several years and
became familiar with (nearly) every public building, museum, and Metro
line in DC. She had only to see someone looking at a map or guidebook
with a puzzled expression to volunteer to help. Most of her 'clients'
were extremely grateful. Taking a picture of Mom, Dad, and the kids
blocking the view of some historical attraction isn't exactly hard
labor.

Lighten up!

Arri London > wrote in message >...
>
> For the most part they don't buy those things. That's always been one of
> al Fayeed's complaints. The big ticket customers aren't the Americans
> according to him. He should know; it's his store.

And we are supposted to feel sorry for Mr. al Fayeed? It's no
different than many "store attractions" here in the US. I have been
in the Nike store in Chicago a number of times where foreigners are
touring and not buying. Same for Bloomie's and Marshall Fields.
Hell, I'm from there and sometimes I only go to MF for a look-see and
Frango mints. Putting up with Lookie-Lou's is part of doing business.


-L.

"-L." wrote:
>
> Arri London > wrote in message

> >
> > For the most part they don't buy those things. That's always been one of
> > al Fayeed's complaints. The big ticket customers aren't the Americans
> > according to him. He should know; it's his store.
>
> And we are supposted to feel sorry for Mr. al Fayeed? It's no
> different than many "store attractions" here in the US. I have been
> in the Nike store in Chicago a number of times where foreigners are
> touring and not buying. Same for Bloomie's and Marshall Fields.
> Hell, I'm from there and sometimes I only go to MF for a look-see and
> Frango mints. Putting up with Lookie-Lou's is part of doing business.

Sure, it's the same with FAO Schwartz, lines around the block at
Christmas time, but people are looking, not buying. Besides, just
what does the guy think I'm going to go all the way to London to
buy? A big ticket item no less? I mean, anything he has I can get
here.

I guess he got bored playing the wardrobe police and kicking out
anyone who doesn't meet his standards.

nancy