Laduree in London

Laduree, a Parisian tea room, bakery, and gift shop has an entrance from inside Harrods, or from the Hans Road outside. In addition to offering breakfast, lunch, and tea, this shop was a visual feast for the eyes, and an unbelievable treat to visit.

Best known for its macarons, we found that the tarts and sweet desserts were amazing to drool over too. French pastry at its finest! With a shop recently opened in NYC (and on our list to visit some day), it's possible to find these patisseries in the USA now. Although we passed over all the special tarts, we were eager to select a few of the macarons to enjoy later in the evening.

Crispy crunchy almond macaron shells joined together with a tasty ganache filling create a delicious small round cake (cookie?) with a crisp exterior and a smooth soft middle.
Made fresh daily, with traditional flavors such as coffee, caramel, lemon, chocolate, raspberry, pistachio, and rose; you can also select seasonal flavors such as cherry almond, apricot, cherry blossom, and earl grey. The trick is to remember which flavors you ordered, and which one is which. It is suggested that you enjoy these within 4 days of packaging - okay, no problem!

The combination of unique flavors and delicate colors creates the perfect macaron. The packaging simply completes the whole look. Such a treat!

Afternoon Tea - Harrods, London

A visit to Harrods is a 'must' - and we included it on the agenda. Although the upscale shopping is amazing here, Afternoon Tea was our main purpose.











While we enjoyed tea at The Georgian, Harrods' quintessentially English tea room on the fourth floor, the boys went to the Burger Bar, the American-diner also on the fourth floor.
We selected the Champagne Afternoon Tea which in addition to a choice of Harrods tea, included a flute of Rose Champagne. The amuse bouche (tickle your mouth appetizer) was served first.



Vegetarian Option

An amuse Bouche



The tiered tray included an assortment of finger sandwiches, the toppings for the scones, and a variety of petite pastries.

The variety of sandwiches was outstanding. Pimiento cheese, cucumber with savory cream cheese, roast beef on herbed bread, and the miniature quiche was made with caramelized onion. Delicious!

The opulence and elegance of this tea made this a very special event. It is definitely one of our most memorable teas while traveling in England.

The toppings for the scones included clotted cream, lemon curd, strawberry jam, and rose petal jelly.

The variety of pastries was amazing - petite, sweet and tasty, from meringue to tiny fruit tarts, to Battenberg cake, and chocolate delights, we enjoyed them all.

 

We're not done yet! Harrods Trifle was served.

And Fresh Strawberries served with Pimm's syrup or cream completed the tea. Wow!

A stroll through Harrods ground floor took us around the Tea and Coffee section which also holds the Chocolates and confectionery.

The Roof Gardens

There is a secret garden 100 feet above street level in the Kensington, London area a short walk from The Muffin Man Tea Room. This is the elevator that greets you to take you to the Roof Gardens.  Built in 1938, these lovely gardens are built upon 18 inches of soil and feature trees, wildlife, water features and more.

There is a Spanish Garden, Woodland Garden, Tudor Garden and a Courtyard. All six stories above London. Babylon, the restaurant features delicious foods and cocktails and will cater your private event in the gardens as well. 

As long as there isn't a private event or wedding, anyone is invited to visit this hidden treasure at no charge. 
















We spent a few moments walking around and exploring this surprisingly large and colorful 1 and 1/2 acre garden, complete with pink flamingos.

For the most part you didn't realize you were 100 feet above Kensington, London but every once in a while you got just a tiny peek into the hustle and bustle of the city.

Afternoon Tea - The Muffin Man

The Muffin Man at 12 Wrights Lane is the perfect spot for afternoon tea in the heart of Kensington, London. We headed here after our day at the museums. With seating inside or out, we selected a table inside. This is a nice casual tea room where we received prompt service. Their Facebook page is fun to visit, too!

The Afternoon Tea included a choice of two sandwiches, shown here cucumber on wheat bread and tomato on white bread. It also included a choice of cake, the Queen Mother's cake (chocolate, almond) was recommended, and selected. Traditional loose leaf English tea was served.

Susanna ordered the Scones which came toasted with clotted cream and jelly. We shared the sandwiches, scones, and cake which made a perfect Afternoon Tea menu!

This lovely display of freshly baked cakes and pastries included Chocolate Biscuit Cake, Millionaire Shortbread, and Cheesecake among others.

Natural History Museum, Baden Powell House

With our destination the Natural History Museum and the Baden Powell House, we boldly set forth towards the Westminster underground station. "Ya gotta represent" is what I was told by my boy scout when he wore his Boy Scout Troop 190 Class B shirt in London.

We arrived at The Natural History Museum early but still had quite a line to wait in until it opened. While in the queue, a group of teens came up and asked Cedar if he was a scout. It turns out they were participating in a scavenger hunt and had to find a scout and take his photo.

The Natural History Museum was on our 'must visit' list since it was the featured museum in the movie The Night at the Museum 3. We were eager to see this museum in person and the dinosaur exhibit did not disappoint.

It was fun to stroll this free museum which features a broad range of exhibits about the Earth and life on Earth. 

Directly across the street is the Victoria and Albert Museum which was quite convenient and also free, although we found it difficult to fully enjoy both of these fabulous museums in the same day. We spent the most time in the one which was featured in a popular culture movie! 

A short walk from the Natural History Museum, is the Baden Powell House and Conference Center, built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. The B-P house was begun in 1956 as a hostel for scouts to use while visiting London. It features a very small scouting museum as well and is still run as a hostel where scouts can stay at a discounted rate.