Last Wednesday I woke up with hives in Salem, and proceeded to enjoy day 2 of my conference with a steady dose of Benadryl, which did not make a dent in my snotty woes. Resigned to the fact that I had finally caught “the bug” I waded through parent conferences with a box of Kleenex on the table, and a hefty dose of Sudafed and Tylenol. It is because of this fog that we nearly missed our plane in Portland. My ribs were sore from so much sneezing, and I was bummed about being sick on vacation. But I packed loads of meds: NyQuil, Sudafed, Tylenol, Mucinex, Sinex… And then, somewhere in New Jersey, it all cleared up. So either a really short cold, or allergies. This morning, my travel partner woke up without hives, but with everything else. I suppose the silver lining is that we have gobs of meds already in our room. We had a quiet morning hoping she would rally.
Yesterday I ordered iced coffee for breakfast, and asked what kind of syrup they had. I was hoping for simple syrup, but they didn’t have that, nor anything else I wanted. One of the choices was toasted marshmallow syrup. She said it was “very nice”, so I tried it. And it was — just a little sweet, and a hint of that toasted flavor that went well with coffee. This morning I ordered the same thing. I could see the waitress in the coffee area, sort of spinning out of control before she came back to talk to me. “We don’t have any marshmallows, and I’m not sure how to toast them anyway.” Ha! If she would have found marshmallows I think I would have got them floating in my coffee!
We skipped morning festivities and went straight to afternoon tea. If you’ve been following T&L, you know this is a favorite of ours, most often celebrated when we have been in Victoria, BC, or most recently in Edmonton (Alberta?). Today we went to Harrod’s for tea. Harrod’s is, of course, known for its high end shopping, but also for its Afternoon Tea which was created for King George V in 1911. It used to be called The Georgian Room in his honor, but has been remodeled and is simply “Harrod’s Tea Room”. If you think you know department stores, this will throw you for a loop. The designer collections are located in “halls” with the escalators being located on the ends, rather than the middle. It’s miraculous that we found the restaurant at all, and needed an actual in hand map to get back out. ;) Mom had what I called “Defense Against the Dark Arts Tea”, but was simply a ginger, echinacea tea, which was supposed to support the immune system. I had Earl Grey, obviously. The star of the show was, as it should be, the scones and clotted cream. That is what makes high tea right there. The sandwiches were also delicious, the arancini balls being my favorite. The desserts did not get photographed due to the high anticipation of that plate. There were pineapple pillows, some chocolate crunchy deliciousness, raspberry cream tart, and…scones!!!
After tea we hopped on a couple more tubes (Victoria Line and Circle Line) to get to Westminster. Two things are true about mass transportation. One, given a couple more days, I could make a go of it myself, and two, I just hate it. I hate being underground, I hate that "breeze" that shoots through the tunnel (ew!), and I hate being smashed in with all those people. But...all those people are extremely nice and helpful, the security is on point, and the announcements make it darn hard to miss your stop, or fall off the side of the platform "mind the gap"! It's so much better with an accent (which I am close to perfecting!).
At Westminster Abbey we attended the Evensong service. It is a service with two short messages, and the rest psalms and liturgy sung by the choir. As it is a functional worship service, pictures are not allowed, but let me tell you it was stunning. When you walk in the west door, you are walking through the final resting place for hundreds of people. There are names you recognize, and new ones you read about. Mom saw Newton's stone on the way in. It is a massive building with so much amazing architecture. The stained glass windows are bright and bold. The flying buttresses high overhead. The Evensong service has been held for 1,000 years there. Can you even imagine that? It is hard to fathom people worshipping in the same place for that long. The experience was very awe inspiring and humbling. I got a little choked up near the end of the Apostle's Creed, something I know by heart.
The choir was phenomenal. I had heard a clip online and knew I wanted to hear them. I didn't realize the high voices were not women, but young boys. It is an all male choir, members being as small as maybe 2nd or 3rd grade, up to, you know, grown men. ;) This was a special experience we will not soon forget.
And then we shlubbed back on the tube to the Theater District (where we started out on Sunday) for another show. Mousetrap is an Agatha Christie murder mystery that has been continuously been playing in London since 1952. I'd tell you more, but as an audience member, I have been sworn to secrecy about revealing the ending. :)
On our first night, we didn't eat at Princi, but John took us by to show us one of his favorite casual stops. And so we stopped! Delicious! John also taught us how to use Uber, so we gave that a try on our own, and had a successful trip back to our hotel. We are so big city. ;)
G'Night! T has loaded up L with NyQuil and Tylenol and we are crossing our fingers for a feeling better type of Wednesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment