Trip to London- Day 3 (In search of a Spot of Tea and Kate Middleton)

Salut!  I am so glad I have all of my pictures and my journal to help me remember my trip to London!  We really did do a lot in the days we were there, and now that I'm back in Paris, the days seem to run together.
On Tuesday, I woke up to another beautiful day in London.  The weather was great for the whole trip, we didn't get any of the typical London rain.  I started the day in Piccadilly with Jess and Susan.  It is kind of like Times Square, but London style.

We bought tickets (at a discount!) for Phantom of the Opera later that night.  Jess had never seen it before, and I certainly didn't mind going to see it again! It's a great musical, Andrew Loyd Webber is a genius.  After buying the tickets, we walked to Buckingham Palace to say hi to the Queen.  The flag was up so she was at home!  It's crazy to think about the millions of people who crammed into the Victoria square in front of the palace for the Royal Wedding.

Victoria Memorial

Horse Guard on the road in front of the Palace.

After we walked over to the National Portrait Gallery and Trafalgar Square.  There is an exhibit of Lucian Freud's work on display there now.  The Olympic countdown clock is also in front of the gallery.  This is the third Olympic Clock I've seen (I also saw the clocks in Beijing and Vancouver)!  I have yet to actually go to the Olympics however.  It is on my Bucket List!

 Trafalgar Square

 Only a few months to go until the opening ceremonies!

National Portrait Gallery

We then headed toward one of the must see stops on my list, the London Beatles Store.  Along the way we saw a telephone booth that was not covered in graffiti of an adult nature, but did smell like urine.  We stopped for a quick photo shoot anyway.....

 'Ello Guvnah!

Although I was very tempted by a pair of Beatles slippers and a sweet piece of luggage with the "Help" print all over it, I decided that I already have the best souvenirs for the Beatles, namely every album.  I also am the proud owner of a Yellow Submarine t-shirt, hat, the movie, A Hard Day's Write (a book about the origins of their songs) and a lunchbox.  I'm set!  The store was next to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, but we didn't stop in because we were headed to the British Museum!  I did snap a pic though because of the 'bobby' outside the museum door.......

Elementary my dear Watson!

The British Museum

This museum was also free! Hip hip hooray!  We wandered around for several hours marveling at all the artifacts.  Here are some of the highlights.....

 The Rosetta Stone

The stone was written in 196 BC to record a decree by Pharaoh Ptolemy V.  Discovered in 1799 by a French soldier, the stone was later handed over to the British and was installed in the British Museum in 1802.  It is named after the town it was found in. The stone has the decree written in three languages: Ancient Greek, Demotic( a phonetic form of Hieroglyphics) and Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The multi-lingual stone allowed scholars to crack the Hieroglyphic alphabet and read other ancient Egyptian texts, giving insight into the civilization on the banks of the Nile.  You can buy a gazillion Rosetta Stone themed things in the gift such as mugs, ties, scarfs, usb sticks, and laptop cases(I bought one)! Yay capitalism!

 Statues of Sekhmet, the goddess of war with the head of a lioness.

Assyrian Sculptures

Lely's Venus

 Someone walked in on Aphrodite when she was taking a bath. 

Nereid Monument

Sculpted tomb reconstructed from Xanthos

 Some of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens

Exhibit of medals to be used during the Olympics

Go for the gold!

After a few hours in the museum, it was 4 o'clock, and we were all quite fatigued.  I remembered a story from a tea towel in Granny's cottage, "The Duchess of Bedford, one of Queen Victoria's Ladies in Waiting would often experience 'a sinking feeling' around 4 o'clock.  She then started taking tea at this hour along with small sandwiches and scones."  So I turned to my friends and said (in a British accent), "I say, I could go for a spot of tea!  Let's trot down to Fortnum and Masons' for a nice afternoon tea before the show this evening."  They thought this was a splendid idea, so we walked back to Piccadilly. 

The posh department store was founded in 1707.  There are fancy hats, fascinators (I thought about buying a peacock feather one until I saw the price tag), soaps, chocolates, specialty foods, and of course tea!  We decided to take our tea at the Parlour Restaurant, although it was very difficult to turn down a Gin and Tonic Ice Cream cocktail. 

The tea arrived in a silver teapot, we each got our own which yielded about 4 cups of tea. There were no tea bags mind you, but proper tea leaves in the pot. The strainer on my cup is there to catch the leaves.

 Then our little treats arrived!  The top tier featured little ice cream cakes; we were at the parlour restaurant after all.  There was a chocolate one, a toffee one (which was my favorite), and a blueberry one and the plate was garnished with luscious fresh raspberries.  The middle tier had a shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate (kind of like the old Girl Scout Animal Treasures/Thanks-a-Lot cookies!) a plain scone and a raisin scone.  They were warm and had powdered sugar on top.  The bottom plate had a dish of strawberry jam and clotted cream.  It was the first time I had clotted cream, and I really liked it! The consistency was like butter, but the flavor was milder, more like cream (obviously).  The most difficult part of my afternoon tea was deciding what to eat first.  I went for the scones.  Everything was simply delightful and delicious.  Jolly good!

Pinkies up!

I asked our waitress if it was true that The Queen and The Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge (aka Camilla and Kate) were coming for tea on Thursday.  And they were.  However, my train was leaving at 4:01pm, and she did not know when they were coming.  So my hopes of seeing Kate were dashed. So close yet so far.  Bollocks!  Here are two links about the royal visit.  

 

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/the_queen_the_duchess_of_cornwall_and_the_duchess_of_cambrid_803900715.html

http://whatkatewore.com/2012/03/01/kate-in-missoni-for-piccadilly-visit-new-poll-pick-the-shoes/

I couldn't help but think of Franklin and Marshall when I saw all the picnic baskets...

At least I have the BEST SOUVENIR EVER so that I can have tea with the Duchess of Cambridge whenever I want....

It's okay to be jealous.

After tea, we headed over to The Phantom of the Opera.  It never ceases to amaze me, although I think my favorite musical is Spamalot.  The Phantom stole the show, he did an amazing job!

Cheerio!  More London updates tomorrow!

Bisous,
Allison