Tea Time, Mr. Selfridge, and Ronnie Scott

Good morning! I took myself on a self-guided tour of the popular shopping street, Strand. Recommended by the Big Bus tour guide, the Twinings tea shop was the place to start. It's adorable and extensive, offering teas from all around the world.
The walls were lined with boxes and canisters of tea, and in the back of the store is the tasting counter, where you could choose (almost) any tea and they'd brew it for you to taste. 
I tried a few and ended up buying a Darjeeling Moonlight Oolong and Keemun Mao Feng, which was a black loose leaf tea that was a touch bitter.
Walking East on Strand...
I came back to the Tipperary at 66 Fleet Street. According to our BigBus tour guide the day before, this is the first Irish bar in the world outside of Ireland. (Since technically all bars in Ireland are Irish, but therefore just called "bars"!)
I got seated upstairs, and it was quite empty, since it was about 2pm and between major mealtimes. My brain was still out of whack from the time difference so that's when I was hungry!
I ordered a Kaltenberg beer, which was a delicious light brew.
A quick pit stop before my meal arrived, this bathroom was reminiscent of a real home's loo, with decor and a cute mirror.
I got my fish and chips! A battered and fried fillet served with thick-cut fries and mushy peas. I ate the fries (chips) with vinegar and mayonnaise. Everything was so delicious! A squeeze of lemon on the fish right before I took a bite gave it that tiny extra boost of acidic flavor, and the meal satiated my off-schedule hunger.
Of all the famous department stores in London, I chose to go to Selfridge's! I had watched the entire show on Amazon Prime a few months prior, and was excited to find out that it was, indeed, a real place!
VIDEO: London cabs!

Inside Selfridge's, the elevators were beautiful!
I found Dolly's cafe where I intended to get a tea and a pastry, but there were so many to choose from!
The view of the stairs above Dolly's cafe.
I ended up getting a fancy hot chocolate and a beautiful rose cupcake!

After leaving Selfridge's, I regrouped at the AirBnBand then went back out to the theatre district, off Tottenham Court Road tube stop. A few blocks away was London's Chinatown, but I saved that for another trip.
I found Ronnie Scott's just before the night doors opened. It was recommended to me by a friend for the jazz and drinks! Directly across the street, I noticed this sign on the building:
Inside the bar, I found a booth and ordered the Passion Lily cocktail.
Check out the videos below for a quick sound bite of the entertainment!

Cheers!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing Natural Spirals

Image
Water is so interesting. The two little hydrogen and one little oxygen molecules flow together in solid (ice), liquid (water), or gas (vapor), and can also pick up traces of sediment or leftovers, depending on which environment it runs through. When water is cast off from something, it can behave in different ways. See my  previous post for some odd water behavior. Below are some examples of photographers capturing water being cast off in a logarithmic spiral: spiral from here photo by Arvin Rahimzadeh photo by Cody Slinger photo by Naveen Shunmuganathan via thisiscolossal  and flickr Photographers also have captured paint, milk, coffee, and other liquids demonstrating this phenomenon. See their incredible photographs below. photo by Manon Wethly   via thisiscolossal  and junkculture photos and video by Fabian Oefner See more photos on  thisiscolossal
Read more

Paris: The Jewish Quarter, Louvre Courtyard and A Phallic Eiffel Tower

Image
Good morning! Bonjour! Today we went to a small cafe in Bastille called  Cafe Truc , which literally means Cafe "Stuff." It was so cutely decorated and we enjoyed a traditional French breakfast here: croissant, pain du chocolat, tea, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. On our way to the Jewish quarter, we passed a museum with the sculpture below. The exhibit was showing all kinds of street sculpture and I recognized this from an article that was shared with me years ago. It reminded me of the other Bruno Catalano sculptures that were debuted in 2013. Pigeon taking a bath. Under the arches on the Place De Vosges: We made it to the Temple Des Vosges, which is an Orthodox shul in the middle of Paris. We were informed that the seats are full every Shabbat, and they have weddings and other special events there regularly. There was also a reception hall that had hand-painted walls with scenes from the Bible: Afterwards, we continued on to the Rue De
Read more

Half and Half

Image
With recent technology and engineering, artists are able to show the world a different perspective on everyday complex objects. As a deli sandwich would look when sliced in half, these photos show the interwoven or stacked components of the object.  DSLR Camera AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm Nikon D3 As much as it pains me to see such an expensive piece of equipment rendered useless, it is as fascinating as seeing beneath the skin of a human body .  Leica Lens Leica Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm Leica Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux M ASPH via tokyobling  and  demilked Golf Balls These images were taken by photographer James Friedman  as part of his series " Interior Design ." "Curiosity led me to cut my collection of golf balls in half to see what the cores looked like. To my surprise, what I found inside inspired me to consider that I could discover, in the unlikeliest of places, elegant formal qualities and surprising meta
Read more