Tea & Politics

The afternoon tea spread.

Taking afternoon tea at home may be a little frumpy, but in London it's timelessly cool. In South Kensington, we relaxed the British way with afternoon tea. As dozens of red, double-decker buses passed by the drawing room windows of The Ampersand Hotel, we sipped gourmet tea and snacked on platters of sweet & savory treats. There were macarons, amazing scones and salmon-stuffed croissants. There was some kind of delicious chocolate-berry cream to spread on our biscuits and pastries I've never seen before.

Our "high tea" even
came with bubbly. Cheers! What a great way to start our little London & Paris adventure. Funny how sipping tea in a beautifully decorated drawing room makes you feel so downright dainty. We almost felt like sticking our pinkies in the air as we sipped.

My Dear Lords ...

Big Ben looking majestic at night.

The same type of feeling you get sipping afternoon tea is the same type of feeling you get watching the House of Lords in action on a Monday night. Inside the Houses of Parliament, the House of Lords was holding its genteel debates. Speakers addressed the group during debates with phrases like, "My dear Lords" and "the honorable lady."

The House of Lords also makes it very clear you're just a well, commoner. Signs pointing to the public viewing gallery where you can watch the House of Lords are labeled "strangers gallery." As strangers, we were warned via a nice little sheet of paper against disrupting the debates in any way, etc., otherwise we would be dealt with appropriately. And even if the debate was the kind of politics that makes you want to take a nap, the chamber itself is incredibly beautiful. Too bad it's against the law to take photos in there. The ceiling is gilded and the head of the room features an elaborate gold-crusted, oversized altar or throne of sorts.

While the House of Lords was graceful, relatively tame and maybe a bit sleepy around 7 p.m., the House of Commons had a little more spunk. In the public viewing gallery overlooking the House of Commons, you're separated from the debate floor by a thick plastic partition that's almost certainly bullet-proof. Members don't have any qualms about interrupting a speech on the floor and you get a sense of the feeling toward a piece of legislation by the very audible rumblings, sighs and jeers in the room. But it's all done with a charming British accent, which makes even the most thinly veiled political insults sound pretty.

Bangers & Mash

Bangers & mash is what's for dinner.

As if we had too much charm and grace what with the afternoon tea and all the political lords and ladies, a pub dinner is almost the opposite experience. Just to give you an idea of the relaxed atmosphere, my entree was nicknamed "bangers & mash." Delicious, though! At the neighborhood pub, there were loud groups speaking some Eastern European language, old friends meeting for an evening drink and the best girlfriends dishing the latest gossip.