Saturday, February 20, 2010

London Day 3

We had intended to start Day 3 by getting to the Novello Theatre when they opened so we could get some cheap tickets to that night's performance of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. But we slept in instead. Oops.
So instead, we began the day with a trip to our mecca Twinings tea shop. When I first fell in love with my husband he was a tea-drinker who adored Twinings Earl Grey. After a long run with coffee, he recently converted back to tea so it was extra fun to go to this little shop.
I found it so crazy to think that this tiny place, which opened 1706, is older than the United States of America!
We had a lot of fun sniffing the loose leaf teas...
And looking for gifts for ourselves and our tea-loving family members back home.
That's Mr. Twining himself. Not the one in the scarf, the one in the picture.
On the way to our next spot, we passed by the Novello Theatre (the picture above is from Wikipedia, not our camera) and I begged the others to go in and see if there were any tickets left. And there WERE! We got the super cheap seats in the far corners of the top balcony for that night's performance.
After that, we went to Covent Garden Market.
Here are Fix and Zuni in front of St. Pauls. Not the cathedral, the church. This place is famous for being the site where Eliza Doolittle sings "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"
Although they no longer sell flowers and produce here, there are dozens of cute shops and vendors selling their wares. This fun guy was kind enough to sell me a pretty little silver flower (rose?) ring. Someday I can give it to my daughter and tell her I got it in London when she was still inside me!
The absolute best part about Covent Garden was The West Cornwall Pasty Co. It was very chilly and drizzly that day and the hot pasties warmed us right up!
The best way I can describe a pasty is that it's a chicken-pot-pie that's folded up like a calzone. But actually, it's traditionally made with beef instead of chicken. West Cornwall has all sorts of yummy ones and they really hit the spot!

The next stop was The British Museum...
Where we saw lots of old relics. Like this horse head from the Parthenon.
Whoa! Check out the belly on that lady in the Assyrian exhibit!
Two good looking fellas.
After the museum, we went to afternoon tea at Bea's of Bloomsbury, a delightful little shop run by Bea, a friend of my friend Katie. Unfortunately, Bea wasn't there when we were, but we thoroughly enjoyed everything about our tea experience.
We got one of the cool booths that are essentially in the kitchen, so we could see them making the next day's treats right behind us.
Look at my right hand -- you can see the ring I bought earlier that day. Now you may think we had a bad time based on our smiles in these pictures...
But these smiles are just our interpretations of my dad's lack-of-smile-smile. I guess the combination of the tea, the sweets, and the warmth made us quite silly.
I got a chai latte (voted best in London) for the road and we went home to get ready for the show.
After a glass of wine for the non-preggos, we proceeded to the theatre.Did I mention why I choose this particular performance to see? That's because Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) and Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) were starring as Big Mama and Big Papa! Again, this is not my picture of them. We could hardly see the stage from our seats.
Yes, our seats were lousy, and no, the show wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped, but it was fun to get dressed up and end the day with a night on the town.

1 comment:

Katie said...

Yay! You went to Bea's! I hope you liked it! Your pictures look like you had a GREAT trip!!