A Lady in London

The Park Lounge is beautiful. Its dark wood interior and luxuriously cushioned chairs are exactly what I picture when I think of Britain. The books lining the shelves on the walls, the oil paintings hanging over the sofas, and the quiet ambiance all lend themselves to making the room an ideal place for afternoon tea at the Milestone Hotel in London.

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There is no shortage of places to have afternoon tea in London. Every hotel offers one, from fashion-themed to ingredient-driven and everything in between. But there are a few classics that stand out above the rest, and one of them is the afternoon tea at Claridge’s in Mayfair.

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It took months to get a reservation. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised given that it is one of the best places for afternoon tea in London. And one of the most famous. But would afternoon tea at The Ritz be worth the painfully long wait?

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I spent last week immersed in art. From the Frieze Art Fair to the Serpentine Gallery and the Tates—yes, both of them—I looked at more art in three days’ time than I have ever seen in my entire life. And it wasn’t just traditional art, either. Every aspect of those three days was a careful work of art or design.

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Brits love two things: tea and alcohol. If I could make up a statistic (and I can!), I would say that the British consume more tea and Champagne than any other people in the world. Being an expat, I try to adopt my host country’s culture, so when an opportunity arises to indulge in both afternoon tea and bubbly at the same time, who am I to turn it down? Especially when it is the Bollinger Champagne afternoon tea at The Goring hotel in London.

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It’s London Fashion Week. The city is buzzing with all things sartorial, and fashionistas across town are lining up to get a preview of next season’s hottest trends. Said trends aren’t limited to the catwalk, though. They have pervaded every area of life in London, including my favorite British pastime: afternoon tea. In fact, the Corinthia hotel has designed a special fashion week afternoon tea just for the occasion.

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After eating my way through an abundance of Nordic cuisine in Copenhagen last weekend, I returned to London ready to sample more culinary creations. It wasn’t long until I got my chance, either. On Saturday I went to afternoon tea at the five-star Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in Knightsbridge.

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I have always had a strong connection to Alice in Wonderland. For starters, my mother’s name is Alice. As if that’s not enough, playing the role of Alice in the musical version when I was young made me an even bigger fan. But it wasn’t until I moved to London that I learned what a strong connection Alice herself had to one specific place: Oxford.

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I’m not very girly. I don’t care about fashion, I hate shopping, and I haven’t gotten my hair cut since October. But every once in awhile I can be persuaded to fulfill gender stereotypes. This is particularly true when food is involved. Fittingly, when I was invited to have a manicure and afternoon tea at the Sofitel in London, I caved into the temptation to have a girly afternoon.

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The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is less than three weeks away, and London is in a state of anticipation. Some of the pre-celebrations of the monarch’s 60th anniversary on the throne are Diamond Jubilee afternoon teas. In March I went to one at the Andaz Hotel by Liverpool Street. In April it was The Petersham hotel in Richmond.

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After ten days of traveling in Peru and Bolivia, I landed in London ready to settle back into my life at home. Unfortunately, I only had one day to do so before leaving for a trip to Iceland. So what did I do with my sole day in the UK? I did the most quintessentially British thing I could think of: I went to afternoon tea.

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