The last weekend in London has arrived and Dan had everything planned out for me. Friday was also my last day at work. My co-workers bought me all of these really great souvenirs. It was then that I had realized I had not bought any for myself, so I was glad they had! They bought me a pen with a british flag with a man with a hat as the clicker part, a pencil box with a picture of the Parliament on it and sweeties inside, a coffee cup with the same scene, a snow globe with London scenery, a british flag key chain, and a kilt towel that I'm looking forward to sporting on the Chicago beaches. It was so sweet of them! They also gave me a really lovely card... I received 2 actually! The other card is from the guys upstairs. I'm really going to miss those guys!! :( After work, I went across the street to meet up with some of them for a quick drink before meeting up with Dan.
After the drinks, Dan had invited me out for some Jazz. We didn't go to Jazz Cafe, as I learned they don't really play Jazz there (such a tease!), so we went to this really quaint little French Jazz Cafe to listen to Gypsy Jazz. It was really wonderful and the food wasn't so bad either! Anna, the girl I had met up with in Stockholm, told me her sister was in town, so I had invited for her to meet up with us. Her name was Sofia and she was absolutely lovely!
We had to get up EARLYYYY the next morning. Well, early for a Saturday morning. We had quite the aggressive agenda for the weekend! We went to Camden Market and walked around quite a bit and took some pictures. Camden Market was very interesting. I could see Amy Winehouse all over the place... her style, mostly. It's very alternative... and very crowded!
We were able to get home with enough time to relax for a little bit before getting ready to go to Afternoon Tea at Brown's. I had been to Afternoon Tea once before at the Ritz in Atlanta, GA, but never in London. That's definitely something I would recommend you do when going there. It was such an AMAZING experience! The service was impeccable! The food and the tea was amazing! Before endulging in the tea, they gave us a rose champagne. Yummm. With strawberries and cream.
They give you a menu with about 20 teas to choose from, so I had a Black Currant infusion and it was delicious! Then they bring the plates of goodies. It's three tiers. The bottom tier has finger sandwiches. There are four varieties - salmon, traditional cucumber, egg salad with tomato, and ham and cheese. The second tier had scones that you eat with this sort of cream and jelly. And the third tier has little desserts. They re-fill all of the plates, if you want them to. They refilled the 1st and 2nd tiers for us. We were so full by the time we left there. What an amazing experience!!! I'm so grateful that Dan set that up for us! It was his first time too and he's lived there for 5 years!
Later that night, we met up with Quentin and Ana from Paris for some drinks. We had a couple of beers and then we went home to prepare for our next day. It was so lovely to see them again!
Saturday was busy busy. Our first stop was Petticoat Lane. It was a very popular market in the 70's. There, you can buy super cheap clothes, shoes, and household linens. Afterwards, we took the train to the Tower Bridge and took some pictures. We were going to go straight to Greenwich on the train, but the train we needed to take was closed, so we decided to take the boat instead. This was also the first time Dan has ever taken a boat along the Thames. I was shocked! We arrived to Greenwich and had a little bit of lunch. I had a Cottage Pie and it was DELICIOUS! Yumm. It was sorta like a Shepherds Pie.
We then walked to the top of the hill in the park there to see the view over the city. It was SUCH an amazing view. I loved it!!!! Up there is also where you can stand on the 0 degrees Longitude mark, the Greenwich Meridian/Prime Meridian. You have to pay to go in to the museum to stand on the line, so we didn't go in. But I saw it! The view was more amazing than the line. ;) Visiting Greenwich took more time than we had expected, so we didn't get to do any of the other things on the list. We were scheduled to go to Hamleys (the toy store), then to Carnaby Lane, and lastly to Hamstead Heath for another amazing view of the city. Instead, we went to Traflagar Square and then Piccadilly Circus to take some pictures. I was happy with that!
Afterwards, we rushed back to meet up with Quentin and Ana for dinner. We went to this really amazing Ethiopian restaurant and then over to the best gelato ever at Gelato Mia. Yumm. Then it was back to finish up my packing to head off the next day. Ugh. Packing sucks! I was so exhausted!
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