My own "to-do-in-London" list included a tea time at Fortnum & Mason, a luxury department store located in Piccadilly, where the royal family shops. I had to convince J to go through hundreds of after-Christmas-shoppers in the store to get the cafe space called The Gallery. Luckily we were able to have a table without any waiting time. Otherwise, J would immediately have escaped from the crowds!
I had already decided what to order before I came there: tea and Victoria sponge cake. I have seen a photo of the specific cake somewhere online recently and it somehow attracted me very much. F&M's Victoria sponge cake was filled with not only traditional raspberry jam but also rich cream (butter cream?). The cake was pretty sweet but a bright lemony flavor in the cake or cream or both made me comfortable to finish a slice up. I liked my Darjeeling tea. I was also able to see the store's famous Christmas windows decorations. I was as happy as a clam.
Perhaps my body deserved sweets after walking all day long. We tried to see the Guard changing at Buckingham Palace (but we were too late to secure a good place to see, so we gave up), explored around Pall Mall, run into Cristie's, crossed over Piccadilly Circus, wandered into Chinatown, window-shopped at Covent Garden, looked out to the River Thames from Waterloo Bridge, walked through Holborn, took a break at a little park in front of Poirot's apartment, looked for a specific spot where Sherlock jumped at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and again walked back to hotel.
Walk, eat, walk, eat in London.
