Kew - Mayfair - Burlington Arcade - The Connaught

Nice clear frosty day in Kew. We walked down our street to Kew Pond, which has a long history of being a tidal creek from the Thames, then a fishery referred to in Charters from 1205 C.E. It was next to the Priory Estate developed in the 1880’s and was a grazing and watering place for horses and cattle. The pond covers 17 hectares and is a very historical part of Kew.

Caught the tube to Brixton to meet Sean and Michaela at a café in an ancient old laundry called ‘The Laundry’, apt name! It was so lovely to catch up with them after last seeing them in May in Sydney. We went back to their flat to drop off the bag we brought with us and then headed into Mayfair. Great to be able to bring more of their things (actually Sean's gear from Aus. but glad to not have to take it with us anymore.) It was fun walking around visiting the gorgeous old Burlington Arcade with shops like Lalique, Laduree and seeing the special jewelry shops too. I bought some macaroons from the pretty selection in Laduree. They were yummy.

We then tried to show Michaela Fortnum and Masons but the queue extended around 2 sides of the building so we took photos of the wonderful window displays. They were all Christmassy! Walking around Mayfair is full of delightful and very expensive apartments and shops like hosiers and glovers! Don't you love that name for a shop? We also walked past The Ritz which had wonderful Christmas window displays. Our destination was The Connaught for a festive high tea as a treat for Christmas for us all. A bottle of Pol Roger in the bar preceded the most amazing high tea. Everything was delicious and our waiter from Romania was very attentive and brought us cute boxes of special festive tea as a gift. The cakes were in the shape of Christmas trees, bells, gifts and reindeers as well as really nice sandwiches and scones. Seriously could not get through it all and luckily Michaela noticed others taking away doggy bags or doggy boxes so we did too! The waiter let us stay for quite a while after others left as the place was full, it might have been because we chatted to him and told him we were from Australia. Don’t know but he liked talking to us about Romania and it all added to a most a wonderful experience. Absolutely so full after our high tea so all we walked up to Regent Street to see the Christmas lights and felt we could not eat dinner with Michaela and Sean so we made our way back to our flat in Kew Gardens. The Christmas lights were really beautiful. We can’t get over it being dark at 4pm. So by 5pm it feels like midnight! Our sleep patterns are still not adjusted so we tend to wake up at 3am still and have a cup of tea. I might have indulged in one of the left over cakes! Shhhh!
Photos are of Laduree macaroons, Burlington Arcade and us together again.