We caught the train just before 10am and had a pleasant journey down to Euston despite the train being quite busy. From Euston, we took an Uber to Marylebone High Street and headed straight for Le Pain Quotidien, where, after a short wait, we were seated for breakfast.
I chose scrambled eggs with bacon and crusty bread while Sophie decided on posh baked beans on toast served with spinach. She splashed out with a glass of Bellini while I settled for a flat white coffee.
The food was delicious and it was great to do a spot of people watching! The restaurant was full of all different sorts of people, and we couldn't help eavesdropping on some of the conversations as we were seated so closely together!
After breakfast, we had a wander down the High Street and found, to our delight, two charity shops. This is definitely the place to shop with houses close by commanding millions of pounds! In the first shop, Sophie found a lovely shirt, which, when she Googled the brand, cost hundreds of dollars! She bought it for £8!
Across the road was an Oxfam shop and she bought a lovely dress which was brand new and from Oasis. I bought some wildflower seeds, a bar of chocolate and some soap!
The weather wasn't as good today, and we had light drizzle when we walked to Harley Street. We took a different route and I realised this is a part of London that I like very much. Lovely old buildings line the streets, and tucked away down narrow alleys are mews houses which must cost a fortune!
We had a short wait in the clinic to see Dr Bawa who was on very good form today. After taking some more photos of Sophie, he injected just a little more botox into her nose and that was it! They then spent a pleasant few minutes discussing restaurants in London and they have very similar tastes in food!
From Harley Street, we took an Uber to St Pancras International station and joined the throngs of people travelling to destinations all over the UK and Europe. There were queues of people waiting to check in and we could see noticeboards with Paris and Brussels leaving in the afternoon. We did a dummy booking and saw tickets going to Paris costing about £300! I would like, one day, to take the train to Berlin as I love train travel and find the motion of the train very soothing!
We took the escalator to the next level and saw two Eurostar trains waiting to depart. Their noses were filthy and the one nearest to us had a pipe sticking out of the bottom making it look like it was smoking a cigarette!
We ambled around, looking at the menus of the various restaurants and bars (we were tempted by a Champagne bar, but didn't fancy paying £20 for a 125ml glass!) and soaking up the atmosphere. The glass roof of St Pancras is beautiful.
We had a booking at The Hansom, part of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, at 3.30pm but we pulled it forward to 2.30pm as some of the trains were being cancelled again, and we wanted to leave before 5pm.
They had no record of the change in our booking but were able to accommodate us, which was a relief! We were seated at the side of the huge room in comfortable chairs and ordered a Zig-A-Zig-Ah! cocktail in honour of the Spice Girls' song! It consisted of Gin, Campari, Aperol, Creme de Peche, orange juice and ginger beer. It was delicious!
The surroundings were gorgeous and next time we'll try and have dinner in The Booking Office, which doesn't open until 4pm. There were lots of people appearing to do business, including two men next to us talking in loud voices. We wished they'd shut up!
With our second cocktail, we enjoyed cajun fried chicken goujons and ham and cheese croquettes with a pickled walnut dip. They were scrumptious and perfectly adequate as I was still full from breakfast!
The time was getting on, so we paid the bill (£74) and as the waitress collected our glasses and plates, she dropped the pot of pickled walnut dip... it went everywhere! All over Sophie's boots, her dress, the waitress, even the banquette seat! It looked like somebody had had an unfortunate accident! The poor girl was distraught and we all mopped up as much as we could with wet wipes and napkins. She kept apologising, but it was just one of those things! I'm glad it wasn't me!
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| Outside the hotel |
We walked the short distance back to Euston and managed to get a train leaving at about 4.15. It was a slow train which meant it stopped at every station between Euston and Northampton! Along the way, we had rain and sunshine, with some very dramatic clouds!
Keith met us, and we popped to The Whyte Melville in Boughton for a quick drink before home!
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