We secured our National Express bus tickets and headed off Wednesday 11am for a 3 hour trip. Yes, as you read that you cannot help but wonder if Gilligan got involved ... and he did! Alas, there were two bad accidents on the M11 and so we ended up having to wait for things to clear and then change buses at Stanstead Airport and take an alternative route. As tempting as it is to grumble about the delay, it is far less of an inconvenience than for those involved :(. So instead of arriving at the Victoria Station bus terminal around 2pm we made it to our B&B around 4.30pm. Much happier to have done the journey on a bus than trying to drive it ... next time we head down we will try the train.
We had booked B&B Belgravia for Wednesday & Thursday evenings. It turned out to be a very pleasant choice at a very reasonable price for London (not always our experience) ... very good room overlooking a rear garden, excellent breakfast room and lounge area with help yourself fruit, water, coffee and biscuits. The photo below (don't forget to click on it see a larger view) shows the clever wallpaper on the breakfast room wall :). Most importantly, easy walking distance to the bus station and the Ritz.
So we "poshed" ourselves up so we could get through the front door of the Ritz (they are very clear about their dress standards) and arrived for our afternoon tea by 3pm just to soak it all up! Obligatory snaps as we gazed around on arrival - note the posh 8 quid jacket from Oxfam (I really was looking after that bloke in the last post!):
Now, as were sitting in those chairs you can see behind us, waiting for our call, I was feeling like a fish out of water ... the images cannot convey the sense of opulence and grandeur that saturates the place ... there is even a green leather throne (I kid you not!) in the dunny - sorry, men's convenience (which it did not feel like at all ... you felt like it was not right to pee in a place that clean. But you have to, and that is before the afternoon tea! Enough! Posh did I say?
Seriously, though I said to Deb "I feel quite uncomfortable sitting here; feel quite out of place, but still with a sense of anticipation for what lay ahead." She just smiled! Then I looked at the drinks menu on the table we were sitting at in the foyer. Seriously Craig, when I read it, I thought of your farewell afternoon next week (as it was then) ... and it is the thought that counts because we were just having the "Traditional Afternoon Tea". Craig, enjoy those glasses of champagne mate!
And so we were called and ushered to our table for two. For tea. And glutonny. Of the very best kind. No souvenir menus, no doggie bags, but at least some pictures :). You can, of course check the menu out here just to see how we were spoiled to complement the pictures. On their site, the quality of the images are better, BUT the image of the plates is not quite how it comes out (not all at once like it seems). In our reality ... the first course is shown below left, then another plate with a single row of sandwiches is added on the bottom rung of the stand; then out come the four scones to replace the sandwiches (below right ... note no sandwiches and a serious dent in the top sweet plate too!); and then they bring around a couple of cakes for a slice each (bottom middle); all the while washing the delights down with a bottomless pot of tea.
By now it will be clear that I was no longer feeling uncomfortable or out of place.
And Deb finally found a (lemon) macaroon she (really) liked and so we accepted an offer of some more sweets (another one each) ... and so you see the validity of the earlier sense of the "very best kind of gluttony" ... and so we left very full and very satisfied at 5.15 ... no need for dinner :)
Each of the delights were just that. Some of the sandwiches were not to our individual liking, but as you see, between us very much delicacies we devoured. Same for the scones - fruit ones with clotted cream and strawberry jam for Deb, plain ones with clotted cream for me. Two lemon macaroons each and we shared each of the other sweets. And a different slice of cake each to share. Lemon Verbena tea for me and Russian Caravan for Deb. Very little washing up for the kitchen :)!
A final observation from our discussion ... another example of the erosion in the value of "time" in our modern life. It seemed a LOT of tea and delicacies BUT consider the 1.5 hours for consumption and compare that to how guilty we feel over a 30 minute morning or afternoon tea without the delicacies and just for conversation ... the art of time for conversation over tea and scones (or whatever delicacy) is grossly under rated ... but then the luxury of time continues to be highlighted on this trip. Try to enjoy it when it is there!
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