thursdaysd >>And I don't count it as afternoon tea if there are no scones and clotted cream, lol.<<

The real cream tea is coming ... Thursday's itinerary.

I think the marmalade festival had something to do with Fortnum & Mason being a drop site for entries into the marmalade competition ... but there's not much for a tourist to do to participate.

The best marmalade I've made to date was from our Yuzu tree with local honey. Not traditional, but amazing with goat cheese and crackers.

bilboburgler >>"Shrove Tuesday" in the UK. Normally we eat pancakes.<<

The hotel did have pancakes/crepes in the lobby all day, my mother indulged, but I did not. Where I grew up in Pennsylvania it was called Fastnacht Day, as the custom was to make potato donuts in lard.

Great report! I’m looking forward to more!

Lizzie, still with you. I really enjoy reading about the adventures of others in London town.

It's so great to see London through someone's else eyes. The best thing is that you had a great time.

Thoroughly enjoying this! Write on!

Wednesday - The Bankside Adventure Day

This was the biggest itinerary I scheduled for the trip as it had us out all day, but I didn't think it was too much as I kept the timing of it pretty loose. Or at least I thought I had.

The general schedule included a walk over the Millennium Bridge, the Tate Modern's Paul Klee exhibit, lunch at Rabot 1845 and a walk around the market there, the Fashion & Textile Museum then a walk across the Tower Bridge to the Tower Pier for a boat ride to Westminster.

Okay, that sounds like a lot.

I was aiming to get us to the Tate Modern at 10 AM when they opened, so we left the hotel at about 9:15. The tube took no time at all, we walked around St. Paul's to find the promenade that led to the river and bridge.

The bridge crossing was interesting, it was a little hazy but otherwise sunny that day, though I'd call the temperature brisk, as it might have been about 50F at that point.

It took so little time, we were at the park in front of the museum at 10 minutes before the hour. We found a Starbucks nearby (blech) and got a couple of cups of coffee and sat watching the river.

When the museum opened we went straight to the exhibit. I've seen a few Paul Klees in person before, but I don't think I recall them being so small. The space was particularly warm, which was fine at first, but not terribly full so we were able to get up close to the works and appreciate the different techniques he experimented with over the years. After almost two hours in there, we were about 2/3 of the way through and it was getting hot. We noticed that they're open late on Friday and Saturday so we thought we'd come back to finish it when we were a little more clear-headed. We went up to the Members deck and sat for a little while in the cool air and then found an photography room featuring Graciela Iturbide, whose work I really enjoy.

Then we hit the road, making the short walk to the Borough Market. We found the restaurant, which is also a chocolate shop, one of the "Roast & Conch" versions of Hotel Chocolat.

The food is cacao themed, with chocolate or nibs or cocoa butter used in all items. Mom had a side salad and some fritters while I had a 2 course prix fixe that had a lovely piece of cod (the only fish I ate, but I knew I needed a bit of protein).

For dessert we shared a rum baba with a cacao butter creme fresh. Delightful.

After that we shopped and I picked up some chocolate bars for my sister and a few to bring home and some little snack bars to eat while we were there. While I did that, my mother went out to the market and found some fresh cherries, which we also took back to the room.

Then we headed down Bermondsey to the Fashion & Textile museum. They had a special exhibit featuring fabrics designed by famous artist - Miro, Picasso, Chagall, Dufy, Dali and Warhol to name a few. It was very well presented and just enough "museum" for us.

(We used our 2 for 1 here for the £8.80 admission.)

Then we headed to the Tower Bridge for a walk. I'd never seen it, so it was an interesting experience. It was very crowded, and the traffic was practically at a standstill. On the other side, it was around quarter to 5, so sunset would be soon. We went to the pier and booked a couple of 1 way tickets to Westminster - we showed the travel pass and got 30% off the tickets.

Though it's not supposed to be a "tour" the shipmates do a narration. The light was wonderful, a little hazy but amber and shimmery. He pointed out all the significant sites and they even did a little circle to make sure both sides of the boat got a look at the Tower Bridge before we headed up river. At the end they ask for tips, we obliged with a couple of pounds.

Then we boarded the Westminster tube station and headed back to the hotel.

We unpacked our groceries (the cherries) and I did a load of laundry in the hotel's laundry room. It was £5 with a token from the front desk and it included the laundry soap. Dry would have been another £4 but so many of our clothes were delicates, we preferred to dry them on the line in the bathroom.

After I got that going, I headed back out for another little roundabout at one of the local shops for some chocolate bars while Mom had a nap. Then we ate some of our leftover Indian food and some cheese and bread for dinner.

It was a pretty exhausting day, even though it was only 3 or 4 miles on the map, and I hadn't been sleeping well, so we decided to play the following day by ear ... if we weren't up to it, we'd stick close to the hotel and maybe go back to the British Museum.

Next up - Walthamstow

Really enjoyable trip report - love the details!

Really enjoying your trip report...looking forward to hearing about your cream tea experience tomorrow!

Thursday - Lazy Morning & Walthamstow

It was a bad night. We got a new neighbor that arrived in the wee hours and made much of the door slamming and talking in the hall with some other person ...someone who felt the need to revisit her again the morning with door knocking, overuse of the doorbell and then calling out to her. So I didn't sleep much. On top of that Mom didn't sleep well either, I guess one of our meals didn't agree with her. So we slept in ... luckily our day was a bit more flexible.

I slept until 9:30 and we had a bit of breakfast and she read a bit while we finished up putting away our laundry and such. After we decided we were coherent and rested enough, we headed out a little before noon to Walthamstow.

I know it sounds like an odd destination, but I read somewhere that it was the longest outdoor public market in Western Europe. They were supposed to have many fabric stores, including some that specialized in Indian and Asian silks.

Walthamstow was also the home of William Morris and one of his previous houses was now a museum. It was within zone 3 ... the end of the line for the Victoria line. It didn't take long to get there and then we walked through the public market. It reminded me a lot of Santee Alley in Downtown LA in the garment district. Lots of cheap clothes like socks and tee shirts, some vegetable and nut vendors.

Then we headed up about a mile north of there to the William Morris Museum. It's at the edge of a park, quite nice. The museum is well laid out and had lots to look at. It's an interesting set of displays, they include a few hands on items for kids and young folks, some videos and you can play with little workshop things that teach you about design and techniques.

Then we went to the Cafe. It was the first cafe we ran into that didn't seem to be run by Benugo. Anyway, I got an afternoon tea ... they seemed mystified by the order, as if no one had ever asked for a full tea service before. (There were other folks in the cafe that had pots of tea and pastries, so they certainly had stuff.)

Anyway, it took them an absurd amount of time but the tea was quite good. Mom got a cream tea which was two scones (savory and sweet). The cafe is in the conservatory, so the glass provided a great view of the public park. There were several kids there with their parents, as the museum is free, I'm guessing this is a fun outing for locals with small ones. Several little girls were dressed like princesses and when they'd finished their pastries, they ran around on the garden lawn within their parents view. The parents had babies and watched until the girls came back and told about a fox they saw.

It was very relaxing and felt, well, authentic, like this was what regular folks did with their afternoon. Less touristy.

I had a Fortnum & Mason scone, and honestly it was poor. I ate the savory scone from my afternoon tea, it was very nice with some cheese in it and a few chives. I tried a pat of the butter, which is always better than American butter (the imported stuff is never quite the same).

The cafe was closing up so, I refreshed our pots with more hot water, we packed up the rest of our food and after we finished our tea. Then we finished the upper level of the museum, which was more focused on the business aspects of William Morris and his political activities then context within the arts & crafts movement. Unfortunately there was also some sort of video playing in the central area which was repetitious and kind of annoying.

The gift shop was nice, we left a donation and picked up a few cards and went back to the market. As it was getting dark, the vendors were breaking down their stalls. Though the prices were good, there was very little there that we couldn't get at home. We did pop into several grocery stores, as I enjoy trying different digestives and wanted to pick some up at Lidl, which was down at the other end of the market street. Lidl also had the big find for me, they have a house-brand whiskey that scored very well late last year in a review book, and as my husband enjoys whiskey, I picked up a bottle. It was only 13.50 and was under the limit to bring back to the States.

Then we headed back to the tube and back to the hotel. More leftovers for dinner, more reheated soup. More reading and relaxing. The more loose day was definitely what we needed at that point.

This was about the point where I got to thinking that we weren't pacing ourselves well. I'm not a great sleeper, which is fine for a weekend, but after nearly a week, it was taking its toll.

But we'd left the rest of our itinerary relatively open for revisiting things and anything else we found out about as we went along.

Lizzie, very interesting venue. I like the way you gals pace yourself - very important but not my strong suite.

Just wanted to say I'm reading, Lizzie, and thank you for the trip report! I'm headed back to London in May and may steal some of your ideas.

Thanks for this report...I love hearing from someone a little further along in life who, 1.) isn't trying to cram 9000 activities into each day, and 2.) enjoys simple pleasures like chocolate & watching kids run around a garden.

Will tune in tomorrow!

Reading and enjoying your report.

This is a wonderful report!

Lee Ann

Really enjoying your trip report too.

I am glad someone else commented on European butter. It is much creamier and tastier than our butter in the states.

As is their chocolate, so I guess that's the secret.

I'm enjoying your report, too, Lizzie.

Friday - Portobello Road

We felt like we needed to wind down as the week went on, so we decided to head up to Portobello Road for our Friday morning. We had nothing in particular on our minds when it came to shopping, my mother likes to pick up scarves and perhaps some sewing notions. (Basically, small, low-ticket things.)

The walk was nice, the weather was good and we enjoyed seeing a new neighborhood that wasn't quite as rushed as some of the other shopping/museum areas we'd been in. We'd both been to Portobello before, but it was raining last time I was there, so it was nice to see the stalls with all their colors this time.

Mom did find a scarf, and of course with the haggling there's the obligatory "well, you could have two for this price" so Mom bought one for me, too. The vendor also showed us a new scarft tying trick, which we loved.

While walking I spotted a chocolate shop I wanted to visit (though I'd planned on us going on our way back to the tube, we thought perhaps they also had coffee). It's called Alexeeva and Jones, and they have bonbons from some of the UKs best chocolatiers. But what brought me there was that they sold Damian Allsop. He's a Spanish chocolatier known for his water ganache chocolates, which use water instead butter emulsified with chocolate to create the soft, creamy centers.

The water ganache chocolates were very interesting. It's immediately intense and dissolves more than melts. It's tangy and has a lot of tannins but less of the creamy note. It's silky ... but not fatty. The tart notes, the fruity flavors were what I noticed most of all. I don't know if I'd want this regularly, as I'm pretty keen on my butterfats added into chocolate, but I can see that some vegans or those with dairy allergies would enjoy it.

Helen was working the shop that day and she was lovely and helpful and generous. We had a great conversation as she let me have two samples of these difficult to find chocolates and helped me to figure out what to buy. She also make us a couple of nice coffees, which we sat and enjoyed in the little lounge area. This was the spot where I spent the most money in one day, 35 pounds (including the coffees). The nice thing about shopping for chocolate is that most places have the bars, which travel well and are easy to store for several months until I can get around to them. I think I brought back about 2 dozen ... some very expensive high-end stuff, and other little bars ... that doesn't include the mass-market stuff that was in the grocery stores.

Refreshed from that little jaunt, we went back out to the main drag, found a bank to get some more cash (we'd been going on the our initial 500 pounds total we converted before we arrived and both of us had less than 40 pounds each). I charged a few meals and that chocolate purchase, but everything else was cash with us.

We found a great olive and antipasto vendor, so we picked up some olives, dolmades, marinated artichokes and feta and then walked up a few booths to get some fresh bread. We were on the fence about going back to the hotel or to the Victoria & Albert again, but since the museum required a transfer, we decided it was just as easy to go back to the hotel and have a bit to eat (and less chance of us smelling like garlic stuffed olives at the museum).

The lunch was great (salty!) and we headed back to V&A. We picked up where we left off (kicked out at closing time earlier in the week) and then looked at the gift shop. Then we went to the cafe, because they have themed rooms and we wanted to check those out. We had a little drink (a coffee for me and a lemonade for Mom).

Then Mom headed back to the hotel and I decided to go out and check out a few of the spots on my chocolate list. I found Rococo (and ran across the embassy where Julian Assange is staying along the way) which is a charming little local chocolate shop with a few sites around the city. I got to see the full range of their products, and was able to specifically get a few of their chocolates instead of a full box. I wanted to try a violet cream, but didn't want to invest in a whole box. Then I went to Pierre Herme. I had a macaron at Selfridges and wanted to try a few more as well as some of the chocolates. They have a wonderful citron & ganache combo. I got the same in the macaron and it as equally good.

Our last plan for the day was to head over to the British Museum in the evening, since they're open late on Friday. Mom was tired and wanted to read for a while. I was interested in seeing the Norman Foster ceiling at night and a few other items I'd missed (plus I wanted to pick up a few gifts at the shop).

The ceiling is disappointing at night, actually the whole museum seemed a bit dim, as if I came at closing time, even though it was only 6:30 at that point. It was quite crowded with folks slumped over on the floor near the walls in the courtyard space as if it was some sort of train station where the trains had stopped working. Anyway, the ceiling is nothing special at night either from the inside or outside. I found the gifts and then headed back to the hotel.

Dinner was more of the same leftovers from earlier in the week now with the addition of olives and feta. I started doing a little organizing and scoping of my stuff for packing the next day. I wanted to spend all my cash before we left but of course I couldn't buy more than I could fit in my suitcase. (I would be carrying a few of my mothers things home for her.)

I spent a little time finally looking at my photographs. I actually didn't take too many, though I love to take pictures, I like to actually experience things as well. So it was only the things I wanted to show folks back home that I took snaps of.

Saturday was the last full day ... coming up next.

Sounds like a lovely trip!

Just curious if you happened to see any Cote D'Or chocolate bars anywhere? I bought a few bars last summer in Amsterdam and they're really good. I'm hoping I will find some in London this summer because they're pretty pricey here in the US.

sfmurphys <<Just curious if you happened to see any Cote D'Or chocolate bars anywhere?>>

I did not notice them, though I do have a few places I buy them in the States so they weren't on my list.

I did notice that some German brands were more expensive than I expected. (A Ritter Sport bar is about 1.20 Euros in Amsterdam, but was often 1.50 pounds in London ... they were even cheaper in Germany, often under 1 Euro.) I don't know if that was the case with all continental brands, but since Kraft is a global company, they may just have more controls over the price everywhere now.

Cote d'Or is available in all supermarkets in Holland and Belgium.

Near Portobello Road, in Ledbury Road, there's another great chocolate shop called Melt. They do some very nice chocolate bars. Dark chocolate with salt caramel.... for your next trip!

You should visit Antwerp - you would love the Chocolate Line shop in the former Royal Palace.