Oddly enough, one of my favourite things to do in London is to visit Hyde Park. I love that there is so much going on in such a peaceful environment, and I like to grab a coffee and wander through the park people-watching while intermittently cooing over the dogs enjoying their walks. Then it’s nice to stop to enjoy the view at the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen (and order a snack, of course), where swans and ducks come to say hello, before taking a ‘Boris bike’ for a spin. On Sunday, this is just what we did (minus the bikes, actually), taking our time to walk around the park, stopping at Marble Arch and Speaker’s Corner before heading down to Harrods.
Can you believe I’ve never been to Harrods before? We marvelled at the chocolate Easter goods and the food court which left us craving something sweet, so it was time for a cup of tea, which inevitably led to cake – this one involved a lot of chocolate and salted caramel, while mum enjoyed two fruit scones with lashings of clotted cream. On our way out, we admired the Egyptian staircase and the colourful scarves at Hermes, before gawping at the window display outside; a tribute to the new Cinderella movie, with sparkly ‘glass’ slippers and the most beautiful clock clutch bag by Charlotte Olympia. Cinders was there with her Prince Charming and in the next window were the ugly step sisters. The window displays were beautiful and have inspired me to watch Disney’s Cinderella again.
The next day was packed full of fun plans. We enjoyed the morning at our hotel, The Royal Park and then headed off to the V&A as we had tickets for the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition. I’ve tried to capture the exhibition in my blog for The Huffington Post, which you can read here but, in a nutshell, it was very moving and very sad.
Afterwards, it was time for more cake. We had a reservation at Sketch, a very trendy restaurant and gallery that wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Mad Men or Sex and the City. It was the best afternoon tea I’ve ever had, no question, and our waitress was even sweeter than the tiny little cakes. On our way out, Mum and I distracted another waitress who was carrying a tray of empty cocktail glasses. You can imagine what happened next – one cocktail glass tipped over the edge (SMASH!), unbalancing her tray and resulting in a second glass tipping over the edge (DOUBLE SMASH!). Every eye in the room was on us and so it was time to retreat to the ladies’ (a room full of egg shaped cubicles with ducks on top) before making a sharp exit….
We overcame our humiliation later that evening with a trip to the theatre to see War Horse. It was excellent and if you’re a theatre-goer, it’s definitely worth going to see – the skill and talent of the actors who controlled the horse puppet was insane and they absolutely blew us away.
Until next time, London.
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