On Friday afternoon I went back to Harrods with all of my friends for afternoon tea. Many of the best restaurants and hotels in London have afternoon tea daily, with Harrods being a top choice by many people. After the fifteen-minute walk to Harrods we took the elevator up to the top floor where the famous Gregorian restaurant is located. Afternoon tea at Harrods is expensive (26 pounds) but you can sit there for as long as you want and you get unlimited scones, pastries and sandwiches.
After I ordered the peppermint tea, the waiter came over with a huge three-tiered centerpiece filled with huge scones, many different kinds of sandwiches and different kinds of pastries. Homemade jam, clotted cream and rose petal jelly helped to make the scones even more delicious. After eating the best scones I ever had in my life, I tried out all the other foods that were brought out. The waiter kept bringing out more scones for us, since everyone at the table couldn’t get enough of them. The restaurant was very fancy and there was a grand piano in the middle playing background music. I felt like a high class British person for a few hours and going to afternoon tea at Harrods was definitely worth the price for the experience (and the scones).
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| Gregorian Restaurant Harrods |
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| Pastries, Scones and Sandwhiches |
On Saturday morning I woke up early to catch a Megabus coach from central London to Cardiff, Wales so I could visit my grandmother. Megabus actually started in the UK and is very similar to the service they offer in the US. However leaving on the bus is way more organized in London than in New York. In London there is a coach terminal where each bus is assigned a gate just like an airplane, resulting in a very organized system. In New York everyone crowds in the street near Penn Station trying to hear about which bus is which from someone screaming into a megaphone. The drive over to Cardiff is actually a very nice drive as you go through the English and Welsh countrysides. When looking out of my window there were lush rolling green hills, sheep, cows and horses as far as the eye could see.
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| Sheep everywhere. |
My grandmother was very excited to see me as I haven’t seen her in about two years. I felt good that I was able to bring a smile to her face as she is very old and lives a pretty lonely life since everyone else in the family passed away in the last few years. The best way to describe my grandmother is that she is a combination of Queen Elizabeth II and Marry Poppins. She is a traditional old Welsh lady and she loves cooking for other people and drinking tea every 30 seconds. The best thing about going there was the homemade apple pie that she made. It was also nice to have someone cook a bunch of free food for an entire weekend. While I was there I realized how addicted to email and facebook I am as I did not have an Internet connection and it was driving me crazy. After dinner on Friday night I showed my grandmother a bunch of photos on my computer and then we watched “March of the Penguins” on her TV (her favorite movie apparently, random I know). After she went to sleep at like 9pm I went to the pub around the corner from her house and I had a really good time.
Sunday morning I went to church with her since that is basically her favorite thing in the world. Did I want to go? Of course not, but the entire weekend was about doing what she wanted to do and trying my best to make her happy for two days. It was good to see her and I was glad to know she was a bit less lonely for a few days. She is excited that I am in London and the fact that I will probably be back once or twice before I go back to the US.
Sunday night when I got back to London (after sitting in gridlock traffic) a bunch of us went out to a pub so we could watch the Jets and Patriots game. It ended up being a really fun night, especially since I went with a bunch of friends from the Boston area that all basically hated me on the walk home. Today I survived my 6 hours of class and its more of the same for tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday will be spent sitting around, maybe doing some homework and relaxing since I am leaving for Amsterdam/ Bruges with Meagan, Chelsea and Shayna VERY early on Friday morning! You will hear all about that trip in a week from now.
- Rees
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