Surprisingly relaxing…
I spent this past weekend in London for personal and business reasons - specifically Shepherds Bush (home of 'The Who') and Soho. This post is not necessarily about where to go and what to do in London; however, we stayed at a bed&breakfast (it was actually a block of row homes that had been renovated into hotel rooms) that cost about 68 GBP which is relatively inexpensive for the city. It's in zone 2 on the Piccadilly line at the Hammersmith stop so it's not too far out.
There's a great divey place that serves a cheap 'English Breakfast' with excellent coffee nearby. It is breakfast, you don't need to splurge. There's also a French bakery which had excellent pan de chocolat - better than the ones I've had recently in Paris (my father was trained as baker so I know my breads). There is also an excellent Indian place called Raj of India. The Tikka Masala had a unique sweetness to it. The Lamb Vindaloo was fire - so hot - I paid for it later but it made me happy at the time. The Saag Aloo was a lot more deconstructed than what I am used to but it was still excellent. If you are in the area and love Indian food, check it out - everything is right on Shephards Bush.
There's lots of sites to see and check out in London. There's signs everywhere and of course everyone speaks the Queens English which may/may not be challenging at times. I think that's why London is a favorite destination spot for New Yorkers. It's loud, it's dirty, it's crowded, it's cold, it's a lot like New York with just a little twist. There's even a Soho district which is hip and cool. Whatever.
We spent most of our time shopping on this trip (Oxford and Carnaby Streets) because relative to Zurich, things are cheap in London especially because of the weak GBP and strong CHF. So we hit-up Muji, Uniqlo, Wesc (they have sick headphones), and All Saints - basically stores that aren't as prevalent in the US yet.
After all that walking around, we were tired so we did something I had never done before - something I had never even thought of before and it was kind of on a whim. We walked past this store which had trippy looking window displays so we ducked in. The floor was full of candy and sweets and chocolates and pastries. While we were looking around we were like let's have some 'Afternoon Tea'.
There was a huge line but it went rather quickly. We sat and checked out the menu. I ordered the 'Afternoon Blend' (side note: I've only recently become a tea drinker meaning I drink more tea during the course of a week than coffee - I've always been a hardcore Java head - not really sure how this happened). The tea comes in a very ornate teapot that is scalding hot. Yes, I had to touch it 2 times to prove to myself that it was in fact hot as hell. Instead of scones or crumpets, we had pastry. Then we just chilled.
Some people were having deep discussions. Some were reading the newspaper. Some were just looking around. The service was quick but not over-bearing. For some reason, I never felt like I needed to rush and I put down a few cups of tea. All in all, it was a surprisingly refreshing and fun experience that I highly recommend.
We went to Fortnum & Mason but I am sure there are other great spots...