Monday, July 19, 2010

Elephants Everywhere!

You wouldn't think that elephants would be too common in the UK. But I, the elephant-lover, keep bumping into them. Well, okay, not actual, real, live elephants, but close enough.
An example: if you've been reading the blog from the very beginning, you might remember me mentioning the Elephant Parade in London. As part of a big fundraiser for an Asian Elephant charity, life-size elephant models decorated in designs by many artists were scattered all over London. While the elephants themselves were gathered up and auctioned off to new homes to benefit the charity just before I arrived, I have managed to snag a t-shirt featuring an elephant designed by Isaac Mizrahi.
When we had our weekend in Paris, there was an elephant statue outside of the Musee d'Orsay.
Then when I had a quick trip up to Camden Town (hippie/goth/whatever refuge of London) with a few friends, we happened to eat at a pub called the Elephant's Head.
Finally, today in Edinburgh, we stopped in and had a snack (it was elevensies for some, just a cup of hot chocolate for me) at a cafe known as The Elephant House. My friends were jazzed about it because it's the "birthplace" of Harry Potter (JK Rowling was a regular, evidently), but I just loved all of the elephants. They have hundreds of elephants scattered throughout, to include an elephant chair and elephant cookies. The fact that they have great hot chocolate served at the perfect temperature was nice too.
To top it off, I think I saw little stuffed animal elephants in kilts in one of the neighborhood shops. The shop was closed last time I walked by (everything is closed on a Sunday night), but I might check into it and get one sometime soon.
And who knows how many other elephants I'll see in my travels?
Image from Microsoft ClipArt.

P.S. A little note from July 26th, when I've arrived back at Stamford Street after minibreak etc.
There was an elephant in the National Museum of Scotland. It was the first known example of taxidermy.
Part of my minibreak was daytripping into Oxford for research and for fun, and I have to tell you about something that I saw at the Ashmolean Museum. Not only did I stumble onto an elephant, I happened to find an entire gallery of elephant portraits from India! Providence can be amazing, even in the littlest things.

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