London – Part III

The Grove is only a fifteen minute train ride from London and with Andrew busy each day I made plans to go back into the city for a few events.

The first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum for the exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, which celebrated the late British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. While fashion has always intrigued me (this is clearly not obvious from my sartorial choices), this exhibit truly represents the design and construction of each piece as an incredible living piece of art. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the gallery so while I snuck one in, the rest are photos from Google:

I wandered from the V&A  into Chelsea to the Saatchi Gallery to catch the last days of the Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibit. I’m not really into watches but the concept of “watch art” intrigued me and Andrew loves watches so I figured it would be worth a visit. I was not disappointed: 

It was a really interactive experience: one room had a live feed of the view from the Patek Headquarters in Geneva, another was filled with watch makers from Patek Philippe on hand and available to answer your questions. It was such a thrill to chat to one woman who walked me through the amount of time it takes to create one of these beautiful watches by hand (a watch maker sees the construction of the watch through from start to finish). While I can probably never afford to gift one of those beauties to my husband, I’m certainly glad I was able to gain a deeper insight into their impressive history and craftsmanship.

After finishing up at Saatchi, I had some to kill before going to the theatre so I made my way to Liberty London, which is possibly one of my favorite stores in the world. It was founded in 1875 and still occupies the same location, filled with beautiful fabrics, flowers, home wares, clothing, etc. It’s all so unique and I love walking around the store as the floor creaks beneath my feet – though I’m quite certain those floors have seen better than my Converse sneakers…

I rounded out my day with a trip to The Theatre Royal Haymarket to catch Bradley Cooper as The Elephant Man.

Based on the real life of Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man tells the story of a 19th-century man (Cooper) who became a star of the traveling freak show circuit, eventually under the care of Dr. Treves, he builds friendships, and is embraced by London high society. If you’d like more of a robust summary, you can go to the show’s website, which you can find here. It was really an excellent performance and I was particularly impressed with how minimal everything was from costumes to set design without taking away from the story. Most impressive, however, was one of the beginning scenes when Dr. Treves presents Merrick to the hospital, Cooper stands on stage and “becomes” Merrick with each item Dr. Treves describes and then holds his body in this distorted position throughout the duration of the play.

It was certainly a busy but enjoyable day in London!

For our last night at the Grove, Andrew’s company throws a black-tie event – it was fun to dress up for a change and his team won two awards for the video they put together as part of a team building exercise conducted throughout the week:

We woke up on Saturday, enjoyed our final breakfast at the Grove for 2015 and headed back to Heathrow to catch our flight back to the Bay…

London Part II

A bit of jetlag woke us both around 5am and after tossing and turning for a while we decided to embrace our jetlag and explore London before the tourists woke up. Both Andrew and I studied abroad at LSE during college so we’ve had the “typical” London tourist experience and whenever we come back to the city we tend to avoid any of the tourist destinations. However, 5:30am on a Monday seemed like a safe time for a walk past Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and along the Thames to Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Millennium Bridge:

It was truly amazing to enjoy all of these beautiful and historic sites without anyone else around – set that alarm clock early and hit the town the next time you find yourself in London, you won’t be disappointed!

We then stopped for a trip down memory lane at LSE for Andrew’s favorite breakfast sandwich at Wright’s Bar. To my husband’s delight, the same staff were working there now as they were ten years ago when he attended LSE.

We were quite exhausted after our busy morning and it was barely 10am! We decided to head back to bed for a few hours before relocating to our new home just outside of London in Hertfordshire, The Grove.

The Grove is easily one of the best hotels I’ve been to. It’s set on 300 acres and was the former home of the Earls of Clarendon, which was often visited by Queen Victoria on the weekends. It’s since been converted, renovated, and expanded to become a five star golf and spa destination.

Aside from the spa, which would be anyone’s favorite “activity,” I absolutely LOVE afternoon tea. It’s a tradition that is simply not appreciated in the US and is one of the most fantastic and relaxing parts of your day in the UK. I attribute my love for a good tea time to my mother and my time at Smith (the tradition at Smith is to enjoy Friday afternoon tea before your weekend starts, though my house enjoyed this tradition on Sunday before the week started). Tea time doesn’t have to be over the top, but to sit back with a cup of tea in the afternoon with friends or with a book is just so wonderful. Since I’m only here once a year, I decided to go a bit over the top and indulged in finger sandwiches, cakes, the traditional scones with clotted cream and jam in the lounges: It was quite a spread and I spent about two hours sipping on tea, enjoying my book, and relishing in the peaceful atmosphere while my husband was hard at work.

London Part I

We arrived into Heathrow early in the morning and since our hotel room at the Sheraton Park Lane wasn’t ready yet, we decided to head to brunch in Notting Hill and wake up our muscles with a walk through Hyde Park along the way.

We had brunch at Electric Diner, which reminded me a lot of this fantastic martini bar in Northampton, Massachusetts – Tunnel Bar (I attended Smith College and this is a “special occasion” spot with fantastic drinks that is always a good idea – I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Western Massachusetts).

Anyway, this restaurant is in a tunnel adjacent to one of the oldest cinemas in London and is located in Notting Hill, just up the street from the famous Portobello Road market.

One of the best parts about going here is that you’re able to make a reservation for brunch, ensuring that you avoid any hangry (hungry-angry) situations that can set any day backwards.

Andrew and I went half-sies on the avocado toast and the benedict, both of which were delicious. I was too hungry to remember to take pictures and borrowed these from the internet (link available by clicking), which are perfect representations of our meal:

I highly recommend stopping in here for any meal (they serve all day starting with breakfast at 8am and closing with drinks at 1am), you will not be disappointed.

After brunch, we took the bus back toward our hotel to check-in and have a quick rest before meandering over to Chelsea for dinner at The Ivy – Chelsea Garden. It was a bit rainy so we were unable to enjoy the expansive outdoor garden and were instead seated indoors, which was just as lovely:

I started my meal with the most unique gin cocktail I’ve ever come across, known as the Six Bells Teacup it consists of Beefeater Gin with elderflower cordial, grapefruit with a hint of clove and star anise, served in this beautiful china teacup:

For dinner, I enjoyed the fish and chips and Andrew opted for the shepherd’s pie, both of which were absolutely delicious:It was a delicious meal and I highly recommend making a reservation or stopping by for brunch, afternoon tea or dinner – you can’t beat the location and on a sunny day I’m certain the outdoor garden would be an amazing escape from the city buzz. We were exhausted after a busy day of traveling and exploring so we called an end to our first day in the UK a bit early and were eager to get up and enjoy London on Monday…