Part II - Fourth Day in London

On my two previous visits to London I missed seeing Twinings historic tea shop and museum, so it was high on my list of places to visit this trip. The small shop/museum is located in the City of Westminster.

The sign below hangs to the right of the entrance.  It reads:  Thomas Twining founded the House of Twining by purchasing the original Toms Coffee House at the back of this site in 1706, where he introduced tea.  In 1717 he opened the Golden Lyon here as a shop to sell tea and coffee. In 1787 his grandson Richard Twining built the handsome doorway incorporating his Grandfather's Golden Lyon symbol and two Chinese figures.  Twinings is believed to be the oldest company to have traded continuously on the same site with the same family since its foundation.

~ 216 The Strand ~

Stepping over the historic threshold of Twinings made me think of Samuel Johnson, Jane Austen, and many of England's other notable citizenry who've purchased tea there over the past 209 years!  

Many chests of tea carried by the Cutty Sark were bought by Twinings.  In 1837 Twinings was honored when Queen Victoria appointed the company as a supplier of tea, and they have supplied every successive British Monarch to this date.

Twinings teas are served on board Cunard's luxury ships, as well as British Airways flights. The front of the store is the tea shop, and at the back is the museum and tasting area.

Even though I was limited on space for my flight home, I couldn't leave Twinings empty handed, so I purchased a small two-cup teapot and a wonderful book.

Imagine my surprise while reading the book later that night to find a May 1905 article from the Detroit Free Press newspaper in a book written by a British author, and published in the UK!

Directly across the street from Twinings is the beautiful Royal Courts of Justice building.

From Twinings we headed over to Tower Pier where we had reservations for a 3:30 p.m. Afternoon Tea Cruise on the River Thames by City Cruises.  It was Lori's Mother's Day present to me. 

Photo of the interior of the boat, before it filled up.  It was practically a sell-out cruise.

~ Some of the serving crew ~

I didn't take notes on what the finger sandwiches were, but I do remember egg salad, cucumber, and smoked salmon.

~ Scone Course ~

~ Savories ~

~ Desserts ~

When we were finished eating we had the option of going up to the top deck to view London's riverside landmarks, but we stayed at our table since there were windows all around the boat, and the views were great from our seats.

Tower Pier is right next to the Tower of London, so that was the first landmark we passed.

 Then the beautiful Tower Bridge.  It was a lovely hour and a half cruise.

~ Then we made our way back to our hotel for the evening. ~

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Today I'm joining Bernideen's Tea Time Blog for Friends Sharing Tea

Fourth Day in London, England

Day #4 [Monday, May 4th] was another full day.  We rode the Piccadilly Line tube to world famous, Harrods Department Store.  The cute sign below was in our tube station at Earl's Court celebrating the birth of princess Charlotte.

Somewhere I read that Harvey Nichols was one of Princess Diana's favorite stores, so when we passed it on the way to Harrods' I had to take a picture.  We didn't take the time to go inside though.

~ Approaching Harrods on Brompton Road ~

~ Harrods was established in 1834 ~

The photo below shows a congratulatory message Harrods placed on their window to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when their daughter, Charlotte, was born.  It reads:

"Harrods is delighted to

congratulate The Duke and 

Duchess of Cambridge on

the birth of their baby girl.

~ Harrods"

The Food Halls are on the Ground Floor, and are filled with fabulous foods and beverages. You could almost gain weight just browsing! ;-)

~ And to go with tea you must have sweets, right? ~

~ Or how about this cute teapot cake? ~

~ Escalator up to the 2nd floor Tea Room ~

We didn't have tea in the Tea Room, because we were saving our taste buds for a French Macaron in Ladurée's [also located in Harrods], but I wanted a photograph of it.

I was happy to see I have a trio in the china pattern they use in their Tea Room thanks to a dear friend who gave it to me one year for Christmas!  It's Wedgwood's Wild Strawberry.

We rode the escalator back down to the Lower Level to see the memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. Dodi's father, the powerful Egyptian businessman, Mohamed al Fayed, sold Harrods in 2010, but the memorial remains in the store. It's actually a tourist attraction.

~ The sculpture of Diana and Dodi is called Innocent Victims ~

Then it was time for tea and a French Macaon at Ladurée's.  I wasn't aware there was an outside entrance to Ladurée's, because on my previous visit I entered the shop from inside the store. On this visit, however, a Harrods sales associate directed us to an outside entrance through a terrace of Ladurée's where a doorman was waiting to greet patrons.

Speaking of sales associates... you know how you could shoot a cannon off inside a stateside department store and not hit a sales associate because they're so scarce? Not so in Harrods! They had helpful sales associates everywhere.

Service with a smile!  ;-)

~ All the fabulous French pastries are a feast for the eyes! ~

~ Beautiful French Art Nouveau-style Tea Room ~

~ I ordered Darjeeling Namring from the tea menu, with Pistachio Macarons ~

[Lori and Me]

~ Entrance to Ladurée's from inside the store ~

~ Tea sign by one of the entrance/exits ~



~ We left Harrods bound for Twinings Museum and Store on the Strand ~



Day #4 to be continued...

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Today I'm joining Antiques and Teacups for Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday
Martha's Favorites for Tea Cup Tuesday