British Museum and High Tea
Travelling to the Museum
The sun is shining brightly this morning, but I still bring the umbrella. We are now old pros with the Tube (subway) and are heading to the British Museum today. Everyone on the train is wearing their masks.
Arriving at Holborn Station we have to go up two very very long escalators which makes me realize how far below ground the tube station is.
The British Museum
The British Museum is a very impressive building. Beautiful classical architecture on the outside and clean modern lines on the inside. Two very tall British Columbia totem poles are placed in the Grand Court which is the central area of the museum.
We start on the top level. There are so many iconic pieces. I am truly impressed by the Sutton Hoo treasure. I remember the history of the discovery of this treasure from the Netflix movie called “The Dig”.
There is so much to see that it boggles my mind. We go to the main floor for a 12:30 tour but the volunteer tour guide doesn’t show up. We head to the cafeteria to figure the rest of our visit and grab lunch. I pull up the British Museum’s three hour highlights tour and we are off.
The Easter Island moai (the big stone head) brings back good memories of our trip to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). They also have very good North American Indigenous people exhibits.
There are so many wonderful Egyptian rooms. I can spend all day just looking in those rooms.
The Lewis Chessmen Set are here. This is the chess set that they used in the Harry Potter movie. It is medieval, probably from Norway and carved from walrus tusks. Just fabulous.
We also see the Portland Vase. This is the finest example of a specific type of Roman pottery but back in the 1800s some crazy guest of the owner deliberately smashed it into 125 pieces. It took decades for it to be restored and they did such an amazing job that unless told, you would never know it had been in fragments.
The Royal Opera House
We managed to see all the suggested highlights before we head out to meet Zoe at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel.
We are fortunate that we missed the afternoon rain.
Our friend Stefan suggested that we check out the Royal Opera House. I make a point to go inside but cannot get to see the actual performance area.
Tea at the Waldorf
The Waldorf Hotel is near by. We meet Zoe at this historic 1908 hotel for high tea. It is time to splurge since Zoe has a special birthday coming up.
The Waldorf tea room is decorated with an icy winter theme. Totally beautiful. Live music is performed by a harpist. We decide to go for the menu with unlimited glasses of Pommery Champagne…or should I say unlimited but only for 90 minutes.
We are first served a cool sweet pea tea. It is blue in colour but when drops of a different clear liquid are added, it turns purple.
Then comes the tea. I choose the red velvet…a tisane of berries and orange.
The little sandwiches, especially the shrimp and smoked salmon are delicious. And then come the scones with clotted cream and dessert cakes.
The show piece is the sparkly macaroons served on a tiny music box grand piano..with dry ice fog wrapping itself around the table top. Quite lovely. Click here for a short video.
The harpist plays “Happy Birthday” and Zoe is served a special piece of birthday cake.
We stay quite awhile, just chatting and enjoying each other’s company. Too soon it’s time to head back.
The price tag for our high tea is rather stratospheric- let’s just say that if a cup of tea was £5.95 at Fortnum & Masons then you might imagine the cost of our tea, goodies and champagne at The Waldorf. But it was a memorable afternoon celebrating Zoe’s upcoming birthday.
Heading Home
Heading past the memorial cross to a long dead Queen, we pass through Charing Cross and walk to Embankment tube station and head home.