Tea & Biscuits

One of our favorite things to do in Victoria (our usual Canadian stop) is have high tea at the Empress. We were delighted to find that the Fairmont (Hotel MacDonald) offered high tea this afternoon. We were interested to find out that they have a Tea Sommelier on staff -- how very British! We both chose the Buckingham Palace Garden Party variety -- "a heady Earl Grey with a delicious cream flavor". I mean, I'm sure other teas are lovely, but as a nod to Grandpa, it's usually Earl Grey every time! Plus there were cute little sandwiches, desserts, and scones. Nice warm, British, scones with Devonshire cream. Happy sigh.

After tea, we headed over to West Edmonton Mall. It's the largest mall in North America, so we thought we'd need a couple runs at it. We pulled in to the parking lot with the other shoppers, somehow found a parking place, and began our shopping adventure. It stalled pretty quickly when we couldn't figure out how to get in. I mean, we are two fairly bright people, but entry was a mystery. We were standing at the edge of the parking structure, just willing a door to appear. We finally saw some people coming out with bags from a door a floor above, so we scurried up a flight of stairs, and found ourselves in a large Asian Supermarket. In the fish section. But, that's hard to forget, so we did manage to find our car again when we left!

The mall is huge, and we really only scratched the service. We walked one portion of one floor. We watched a little of the sea lion show, saw the Santa Maria from above, and watched the end of a hockey game (orange won!). 

We didn't really shop -- a little overwhelmed, to be honest. Plus I was wearing these gigantic boots that seemed impossible in my mind to take off. We did wander around Sephora a bit, but that doesn't really count. ;) And then dinner. Each family has those restaurants that they grow up in. Certainly Benjamin's, and then Spazzo's were our favorite spots, as they were on the top floor of Key Bank Building in downtown Bellevue.  We were treated like family by the staff and thought of these restaurants as part of the fabric of being an Acton.  But if we were loose, it was Jungle Jim's. I don't know how many years they have been gone from Bell Square, but it's been a few! Anyway, they have one here! Not quite the same, but reminiscing filled in the gaps. :)

We also found a cupcake booth! Joy - tell Nora I ordered the unicorn cupcake. She's rubbing off! ;)  We also bought a sleeve of macarons, and they are begging to be tried! I wonder what tomorrow will bring?