Rudders at Home

Gray day today, and a long day, but a really good one. We went into town to check out the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, and then we wandered around for a bit before heading off to Quaglino’s for dinner.
It was a good day, all in all. Started early, with me having to cut Paul’s hair off, but we were out of the house by 12. To Charing Cross for 1, and then had a bite to eat in the courtyard of a church in Covent Garden. Then high-tailed it over to Buckingham Palace for the 1:45 entry in to see the State Rooms there. They currently have a special display on of the Queen’s gowns for her 80th birthday. Absolutely amazing things to see. The State Rooms were pretty impressive – lots of gold, of course, and really antiquey stuff, paintings and the like. We saw some beautiful gowns and very impressive jewels. It was especially cool to see how the style has changed over the years.

We then walked along down towards Green Park, past The Ritz, and on to Fortnum and Mason. Fortnum and Mason was fun. I hadn’t been before, and I have no idea why it took so long. They’ve got a ton of cool stuff, and it seems like it would be really good for gifts. Paul and I started from the top and worked our way down. The ground floor is really just specialty foods. Very tempting to buy a box of chocolate or something yummy to take home with us, but we held off and headed to Quaglino’s for dinner.

Quaglino’s is one of the Conran restaurants – very posh. We got a nice deal off of lastminute.com, three course meal and a glass of wine for £20. I stole the idea off of one of my colleague’s. She had done it with her boyfriend and had good things to say, so I thought Paul and I could try it out. Needless to say, it was a good idea. Thanks for that!

For starter’s Paul had a goat’s cheese tart and I had some really fresh, fab oysters. I had a lobster and crab cake and Paul had the beef. The dessert was the killer, though. I had Pavlova with summer fruits and the man had creme caramel. So, so fantastic. The meringue was so pristine white and the berries so dark purple. To see the contrast was really impressive. It’s so good to live in London and have these places to eat.

So we’re now back home watching tv. NCIS to be exact. It’s our new favorite, and we have Mom to thank for that!

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