The skyline view seen above was taken from our window at the hotel. The Grosvenor Chapel, pictured below, is the place where Americans worshipped in Mayfair during World War II. We ducked in for a quick look.
Since there were a couple other company guys on the trip, I got to hang out and play tourist with their super sweet wives. Our hotel was adjacent to Hyde Park, so we did the big walk down through Mayfair to Green Park, then over to Buckingham Palace. We strolled past the Horse Guards up to Westminster Abbey and took the tour. That lovely old church, with all of the great burial tombs, is truly an icon of British history.
Above is an Abbey exterior pic, and below is the inner courtyard. It's a shame we couldn't take pictures inside the lovely interior.
We then hopped on the Tube at Waterloo Station to make our way to Borough Market. We split a couple savory pies for a lite luncheon tasting, then I bought a salted caramel brownie at Konditor & Cook because they are delicious and the husband introduced me to them when we lived in London several years ago. Afterwards, we took the Tube back to Oxford Street for some window shopping, as well as a run through Hamley's Toy Store to pick up a couple things for my CASA kids. If you have kids or grandkids, particularly girls, and don't know about Sylvanian Family critters, you need to check them out.
Bears and bunnies and all sorts of buildings, oh my!
The next day was all about rushing. We got off to a later start from the hotel and enjoyed an early lunch with a British friend. We then hailed an iconic black cab for a ride up to Highgate Cemetery in the north of London for a tour at 1:45. Which might sound macabre to some, but we all thought it was really interesting. The volunteer tour guide was a retired history teacher, so he was very informative as well as entertaining. What is it about a British accent that makes folks seem so educated and cultured?!
Highgate was established in 1839 as one of the seven Victorian garden cemeteries outside the then city limits of London. Our tour guide spun a tale of church graveyards full to the brim with dead bodies that smelled, as well as grave robbers supplying local medical schools with freshly buried cadavers.
It was beautifully green and a very peaceful spot for a leisurely walk, rather overgrown in many places. Egyptian way, as seen below...
was dug into a hill and is topped by this 300+ yr old tree. All sorts of Victorians lie in rest here, some in plots dug 30 feet deep that can hold up to 10 coffins on platforms below ground. Adjacent to this pricier area for the well-to-do Victorians is a rather small catacomb, with eerily exposed lead-lined coffins in most of the cubbies. The one in this pic dates back to 1848.
Our tour guide took us down the path to the right (see the pic below where the path T's), but if you go to the left then you can see the final resting place of singer George Michael of Wham! fame. A fellow tourist spotted it and tried to get a pic, but the tour guide told us that it's considered the private part of the cemetery definitely NOT on the tour and no pictures were allowed by request of George's family.
After a great tour, we hotfooted it back to The Dorchester hotel via the Tube for a really lovely afternoon tea with piano accompaniment.
On our final full day in the city, the ladies and I hit some of our favorite stores for things to bring home... places like Cath Kidston, Fortnum & Mason, Laduree (a golden cave filled with macarons, seen below), Harrod's and Lilywhite's. We had a nice view of Piccadilly Square thanks to our wanderings.
We trekked a local pub on our last evening so that the husband could have a pint of London Pride, his fav British beer, before we went to supper. And it wasn't so much pub crawling as trying to stay upwind of all the cigarette and cigar smoke. All in all, it was a great trip!
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