Harrod’s, Hyde Park & High Tea

What a beautiful, leasuirely last morning in London!

After a light breakfast of fruit/coffee/smoothie at Pret, we made our way through the maze of sports cars, designer accessories, caviar and other groceries, lush flowers, “Shoe Heaven”, home goods, china, crystal, silver, and the room dedicated to tea/coffee/confections at Harrod’s. I loved having a chance to return to this shoppers’ paradise and get Bryan introduced!

(Can’t say I’ve ever seen a full display for Men’s Nightwear 😂)

(Check out these GIANT prawns!)

We also had the chance to scope out the famous window displays at Harvey Nichols…

From there we decided to take advantage of the sunny, 70 degree day, so we walked across the way into Hyde Park and explored a portion of the 375 acre park. We enjoyed watching the swans, boaters, and the various wild flowers. It was also neat to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, statue of Peter Pan, and end our walk at Kensington Palace. The gardens next to the palace are just stunning (see the pics).

As our last meal in the city, we decided proper high tea was a must. The Orangery next to Kensington is over 300 years old, and was built for Queen Ann (she used it specifically for parties when entertaining at Kensington).

The venue was perfect for tea, and the staff was spectacular. We had wonderful service, and enjoyed our seats at a table with a perfect view of the gardens and just a peek of the Palace between all the greenery. Bryan was intrigued by the historic, somewhat stable like door/widow infront of our table that could make the entire archway open. Near the end of our meal, our server opened the window all the way and the strong breeze roared in, making our view crystal clear. In addition to an incredible spread for afternoon tea for me (that I had to solicite Bryan’s help to finish) and a chicken salad for Bryan, we both were happy with our tea choices – Lemon Ginger for me, and Eucalyptus for Bryan.

After we finished lunch it was back to our hotel to head to the train and hit the countryside. After a quick train ride to Ashford, we hoped one more train to the quaint city of Wye (where we’ll be staying for our friends’ wedding in Canterbury). This humbling town had Bryan and I grining as it’s everything you would expect of the English countryside: arrived to the train station to find a manually operated traffic/crossing gate for the roadway, saw sheep in the distance, a local pub with families all enjoying each other’s company, cottage style homes, fresh lavender lining some front yards, etc. We decided all of this meant we should definitely walk the less than 10 mins to our B&B to not miss any part vs. trying to locate a taxi/Uber. On our walk in, we even met another wedding guest (friend of the bride from CA).

After we quickly checked in to the most charming “cottage” we’ll be calling home for the next two nights, we headed back to the train to Victoria Park back in Ashford for a 5K (me) & 10K (Bryan)…check “international run” off the list (I still hate running…adding international to it makes no difference to me)! Although no placing in our divisions, we did win a bottle of wine for “furthest traveled” 🙂 Nice local summer running series through a beautiful park that was somewhat natural and somewhat manicured with plenty of nooks for picnics or various play areas (including a swing that resembled a zip line!). They were setting up some of the common area for a music festival that starts tomorrow.

Post race (~9PM local time), we were famished even after all our lunch time carbs. We took the train back to Wye and decided to eat right at our B&B (The Wife of Bath)…the giant green olives and thin cracker/breadsticks that welcomed us to our table had been calling my name since I spotted them out for others dining while we were checking in 🙂

For dinner, I had delicious lemon sole prepared with a giant prawn and mussels over saffron vegetables and Bryan had an incredible pork collar with a zesty/spicy sauce. The chef also started us off with a chorizo crokette, and a perfect sweet ending to the night…a little bite of fudge and mini churros. Following dinner, we a nice catch up with Brian, one of my other college roomies’ husband. All the staff here are amazing – so tentative and friendly!