Afternoon Tea, Hamley's, a Michelin Star, and a Trip to Palava

I lied about a Harry Potter post because I took too many pictures to upload as I ride the train from Inverness to Edinburgh. So instead! We'll start with a trip to Hamley's, a seven-story toystore with a different theme on each floor, from stuffed animals to Legos. It was a kid wonderland, with the employees singing and dancing and even playing with the toys to show them off.



 Elowen got some Sylvanian Family squirrels as a souvenir, and I got lots of photo opps (my fave). She especially loved the giant bears, who got hearty Elowen hugs. 

After Hamley's, Taylor took Elowen to eat seafood while the girls and I went to tea at Sketch, which has definitely been on my travel bucket list for a while. The tearoom is housed in townhome built in 1779, and it also served at one point as Christian Dior's London Atelier. 

We had savory sandwiches, including a croque madame, coronation chicken salad (curry, sad surprise), cucumber and cream cheese, and salmon and dill (I think, I didn't try that one). The tower was refillable so I made the foolish decision of eating many tiny sandwiches before moving on to the desserts--which were raspberry and vanilla Battenburg cake, a lemon tart, an apricot eclair, a red currant and chocolate macaron, peach cheesecake, a cherry Victoria sponge cake, and a strawberry marshmallow. There was also this tiny pasty puff filled with warm Emmentaler cheese that was a delight. 

A string trio set up to play while everyone dined, and it's certainly something I want to do with Elowen when she's older. 

Also the bathroom is made up of pods, so I creepily took pictures (but it's okay, everyone was taking pictures).


I then took a blissful solo taxi ride to Palava, one of my favorite vintage-style brands. It only has the one location and makes small batches of its beautifully designed, well-made dresses in quirky prints. Beforehand, I had emailed them everything I wanted to try on so they had it all ready, along with more biscuits and tea (no room for that, I could barely zip the dresses!). 

I even met the designer, Bryony, and it was so special to see the small back room where her visions come to life. 


I told myself I would buy two, bought four, and then headed back to the group for dinner at Locanda Locatelli, a one-star Michelin restaurant featuring Italian dishes. Honestly, it wasn't anything special--I had burrata over roasted vegetables and tortelli en brodo. The dessert was delicious, at least...Taylor's was a lemon concoction and I got chocolate presented in various forms, with apricot jam. 

Elowen enjoying her marshmallow

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