Kicking It in London: Part One

Coming to London this year was such a different experience than last year's--since we were coming from Dublin and not from Madrid, we got to walk straight to the baggage claim and NOT stand in a three-hour customs line. It was amazing.

Also much better than last year? The hotel! This year we stayed at the Sheraton Park Lane, which was on the same road as the Park Tower Knightsbridge, so it was still near all the shopping and across from Hyde Park. However, it is not a communist-style hunk of dated carpet with no noise insulation, so our room was spacious, clean, and very quiet. It was built in the 1920s and has lovely Art Deco decor. I really wanted to steal those ceramic dogs, but I restrained myself. 

We also had access to the Club Lounge with its snacks--scones and clotted cream all day every day!

The hotel was also very child friendly, with a whimsical Arctic-themed playroom set up. It even had video games inside. 

During high tea, which the hotel has every afternoon, there's a harpist (though I question some of her song choices--I'm not sure we needed the Jurassic Park theme song).

Just like last year, London was oozing with festive Christmas feelings--like Love Actually come to life. Below is one of the shopping arcades.

 

Also at the hotel, I had truffle mac and cheese that was so rich and decadent I immediately gained seven pounds. And the bar had an amazing Christmas drink called "Candy," which was made with a sweet Polish vodka, gingerbread syrup, raspberry puree, and egg white. I had approximately three a day. 

Another hit for me was another version of the Eton Mess--dried strawberry sugar on top of a strawberry sorbet, with strawberry meringue on top of vanilla custard. It came with a little pot of strawberry sauce to drizzle on top.

Below are pictures of Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey...

But we all know the most important part of London is the eating. Since Taylor and I are both devotees of the tongue-numbing, tingly-delicious little red peppercorns of Szechuan cuisine, we found a Szechuan restaurant to try out.

Taylor had spicy crab and a noodle soup, and I had dry-fried green beans and dan dan noodles. The green beans were a revelation--so savory and umami. I'll be thinking of them often.

This pub made me laugh...we passed it on the way to a dress store I really wanted to visit that turned out to be closed. It was so far from everything that we couldn't get an Uber back and ended up walking several miles, but at least I burned off the Eton Mess.

King's Cross! Full of people catching trains and Harry Potter fans looking for Platform 9 and 3/4.

As usual, every time I see a picture of the queen or a place some famous writer drank, I get excited. 

After that long walk, I needed plenty of snacks! Look at those beautiful eclairs...I had a blackberry cheesecake one. The choux pastry was the perfect combination of light and chewy, while the filling was the perfect combination of tangy cheesecake and sweet sugared blackberry.

The second snack was in Chinatown, an area we didn't visit last time. It looked awesome but was insanely packed, so we scurried to its edges to visit Yolkin pretty quickly.

Yolkin has ice cream, macarons, and ice cream AND macarons combined into one tasty and adorable treat. I got the Santa's cookies and milk one.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped into Fortum and Mason--also insanely packed, but a great place if you want to buy an absurdly expensive teapot. 

Instead of a teapot, I bought flavored marshmallows and fruit pates. 

We also went to the Winter Wonderland, a free fair in the middle of Hyde Park. Being free, it's also insanely packed! Do you see a theme here? It is lovely all lit up at night though, and I especially enjoyed the big-top bar. 

Taylor and his bratwurst.

We also rode Dr. Archibald Master of Time again, both because the line was short and I loved it last year. Its Victorian steampunk feel reminds me a lot of Toothsome in Orlando. 

Fortum and Mason, hiding the horrific hordes of tourists within. Though I greatly enjoyed how it was decorated to look like an advent calendar.

We also had a reservation at Mr. Fogg's Society of Exploration for a tipsy tea--it's a different branch of the one we did last year, and they're all unique. The theme of this one--if I had to pin it down--would be alcohols from the different continents. One of the rooms looks like an old steamer train, too.

We chose the Asia and South America teas, and they came with a platter of assorted delicious snacks. 

Is it weird to take a picture of the bathroom? The wallpaper was amazing. 

Snacks on snacks! I also got a gingerbread biskie...but then I left it in a bar. Sad. 

This John Snow knew a lot more than George R. R. Martin's version--he traced a cholera outbreak back to a city pump in London. 

Cheeseburger dumplings, pork belly dumplings, and truffle mushroom dumplings. 

I especially liked all the sea-creature themed lights in Soho--the jelly fish changed colors!

The below are window displays from Phillip Patek--if you walked around the store windows, you could see a version of Little Red Riding Hood told with those cute little marionettes.

 

And finally, just two places that made me laugh...the Goat Tavern and the Polish and Mexican bistro, which of course reminds me of Rachel and Greg.