After a late start in the morning (go figure), we set off for London around noon, loaded down with bags (ok, one bag) full of clothes to change into for our afternoon tea. The Chesterfield Hotel didn't have a dress code, but we figured it would be best to be overdressed than underdressed. As we came up from the tube at Piccadilly Circus, the streets looked a lot like any other European city, with tall buildings from centuries past lining the streets like a labyrinth. But one thing was different—unlike JJ's visit in December, Regents Street, owned by the crown, has been decorated for the royal wedding and had the Union Jack hanging in rows overhead. Someone else had also found themselves caught up in the decorating fever and decided to adorn a nearby monument as well...
We walked down Regent Street towards Oxford Street, and then turned back to find Liberty, one of the more high scale department stores off of Regent Street, which I have been told is an important landmark in the history of London shopping. After touring the first three floors of goods which were excessively overpriced ('It's strange to think that one of these is worth more than my entire wardrobe'--JJ) and of debatable attractiveness (I don't get high fashion... it's weird), we found a Starbucks to change in and headed towards Mayfair for tea, donning dresses and tennisshoes (yeah, in the middle of London. We rocked that look). Upon arrival at the Chesterfield Hotel (after putting on more suitable footwear), Georgie lead us to the cafe where we were led to a quaint tea area in an indoor atrium. While it was an enjoyable and extremely entertaining experience, afternoon tea is not my thing. Believe it or not, there was too much sugar for even my liking, but I will nevertheless recount the meal to you.
Upon seating us at the corner table, a waiter came over to place our napkins on our laps (awkward?) and a subsequent waiter came to take our order for tea. In normal fashion, Georgie ordered Earl Grey, and JJ and I lived life on the edge with a bit of Darjeeling (for me) and Ceylon (for her). I have just been informed that '[the ceylon] was excellent by the way' and 'from Sri Lanka.' Amazazing. As I was saying, we struck up a lovely conversation appropriate for an afternoon tea, focusing on our jewelery and the females in our family who had contributed to our life choices, many of whom were made up... obviously, I don't have a Great Aunt Edna. Such falsehoods were required, as JJ and I don't have very well developed conversational skills for such a proper setting, and we felt the need to live up to the ridiculous image of ourselves that we were imposing upon the servery staff. Honestly, what group of university aged girls dresses up to go to afternoon tea in Mayfair?
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| Lunch! | |
The tea arrived in individual pots, and the waiter extracted the loose leaf tea and poured each of our cups. Following a bit of tea sipping, and mixing in (a lot) of sugar on my behalf, the food arrived, carefully stacked on a tiered serving platter. We eagerly began our cultural culinary adventure and enjoyed the first level of finger sandwiches, which included salmon, cucumber, egg salad, ham and cheese, and strange (but DELICIOUS) hazelnut encrusted sandwiches. The next course was scones, which tasted amazing, and I was informed by both Georgie and JJ that I used too much cream...what can I say, I needed to make up for the lack of butter in my life over the past 5 weeks! The top tier was the most unique, consisting of many puddings, mostly traditional as the current theme for afternoon tea is the royal wedding. The first pudding we snacked on was traditional wedding cake, very similar to Christmas pudding (but a bit nicer). The fruitcake-esque slices were followed by the consumption of Will and Kate cupcakes, a citrus sponginess topped with creamy frosting. The best part of the cupcakes was the edible Will and Kate topper; as there had only been two toppers but three cupcakes, JJ and I split the royal couple, who tasted a bit...pasty. With the future King dethroned, we moved on to the cream filled sponges, and then followed it all up the Queen's Pudding, which was a bit like creme brulee with sponge cake in the middle. After drinking another pot of tea each (JJ switched flavours to some flower tea, which had an urchin-like dried flower sitting at the bottom of the pot), we excused ourselves and parted ways, Georgie off to her voice lesson and the two Americans off to meet up with another American.
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| A pot of urchin juice. Also known as JJ's second tea. |
Making our ways towards the Eye, where we were to meet up with my friend Corey from Cornell, JJ and I found Green Park and opted to sprawl across the grass to enjoy the finest weather London could have offered. It was difficult to pry ourselves from the grasp of the warm oasis in the midst of this metropolis, but after much convincing, we headed past Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey to cross the river and hop on the Eye. The views were grand, as the clear day allowed us to see to the edges of urbanisation, and I enjoyed catching up with Corey. Following our rotation around the Eye, we met up with Georgie and walked through some of London's other landmarks, including the West End and Chinatown. Our feet were getting weary, and we called the day a success as we headed back to Guildford.
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| One side of the river from the Eye.... |
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| And the other! |
Once back at Georgie's, we enjoyed an excellent meal of salad, breaded pork, and a variety of toppings. Even better than the food was the new show that Georgie had gotten us hooked on, called 'Would I lie to you?' Check out a few of the episodes on youtube if you've never seen this show! It's a riot, and we stayed up into the wee hours of the night, until we could no longer keep our eyelids open.
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| the menu... |
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| Green Park |
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| some house in the middle of London...whose? I dunno... |
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