Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Strolling Piccadilly


During my last week in London, friends and I headed out to play, as we often did on any given day. It was rare during my stay in London that we weren't gathering almost every day for some adventure, and this early summer day was no exception. Taking the double decker bus towards Piccadilly, we were forced to stop for the Queen's troops who were headed to Green Park for a 41 gun salute for the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.

Seeing the Queen's troops around town was not an unusual sighting--putting life on a short pause to take it all in.


The city was decked out on Piccadilly Street with banners for the commemoration.


Our destination was off Carnaby Street


for burgers, Hawaiian style, at Kua 'Aina, a London outpost of the famous hamburger restaurant where Obama always eats when he's in Hawaii.


Just down the street from Kua 'Aina is an unassuming corner store, called Choccywoccydoodah,


which as you might assume from the name is not so ordinary of a spot. Tucked inside is a decadent wonderland of over-the-top handmade cakes and


delicious chocolate delights. To make it even more special, there's a little coffee shop inside and a "secret room" upstairs for private events when you can have your own chocolate feast. Sounds divine!

I love stumbling on surprises like this one walking around London!


We carried on and joined a London Walk group for a new tour of the Piccadilly area, that took us in and around the area seeing both some familiar spots and some that were new to us.

We spotted several of the private gentlemen's clubs, like The Athenaeum started in 1824 


as well as others, which are often still private clubs today.


We stopped by the St. James Church, a Christopher Wren church on Piccadilly Street,


and stepped off into its quiet garden space unknown to many, just steps from the hectic traffic of Piccadilly Street.


From there we could look down upon Jermyn Street, which for centuries has been known as the best place to find gentlemen's clothing. Floris is the oldest English retailer of toiletries and accessories, where men have shopped since 1730.


We made our way through several of the covered shopping arcades which date from the 19th century, the Royal Opera Arcade,


the Prince's Arcade


and the Royal Arcade


where we stopped in at Charbonnel et Walker


and got samples of one of my favorite treats, Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles.


After the walk, I enjoyed a stroll through Mayfair and stumbled upon this very pleasant garden with school children 


enjoying the nice weather while it lasted. Nothing cuter than the British schoolchildren in their uniforms  celebrating at the end of the school day.

Which reminds me, there's a very special child on the way this month!

The future King or Queen of Britain--be anticipating an announcement from Buckingham Palace soon!

11 comments:

  1. Hi Debi, I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and seeing the secret places around Piccadilly. I'm so familiar with the area, at least I thought I was, that finding new places gives me even more to look forward to on my next visit.

    This is somewhat bittersweet as I can't believe this is (maybe only temporarily) the last of your London posts. It's been such a great treat to join you!

    Happy 4th to you and yours!

    G

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi!
    I really love your blog and I wanna thank you because I'm in London at the moment and thanks to this guide I was able to really enjoy my time here.
    Tiziana

    ReplyDelete
  3. And how do you pronounce Choccywoccydoodah??????

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very interesting blog. A lot of blogs I see these days don't really provide anything that attract others, but I'm most definitely interested in this one. Just thought that I would post and let you know.

    ReplyDelete
  5. During the summer months, think about using the heat from the sun to dry your clothes instead of utilizing a dryer. Hanging your clothes outside to dry in the sun will give your clothes an incredible fresh smell. Sun-drying clothes gives them a fresh smell. You can also save money on your energy bills.
    play bazaar
    satta king
    Really many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. If Play Bazaar you absolutely need a credit card, search for one that offers you rewards to gain an added personal finance benefit. Most cards offer rewards in various forms. The ones that can help you best are the ones that offer little to no fees. Simply pay your balance off in full each month and get the Satta King bonus.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When developing content for your site, you should include casual references to your social media successes. This can be done with an article Ganga Cassetes Find The Best Secrets To Achieving Amazing Social Media Marketing Success Here Ganga Music , or a simple post on your Twitter account. Be certain to show appreciation for those who express interest in your product, and talk about experiences you have had. This sort of article must quickly be shared.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Video marketing sounds great, but how can one get started? This article will provide you with all the tips, tricks and strategies necessary to find the success you dream of.
    satta king
    play bazaar

    ReplyDelete
  9. If you have the right tools and equipment, make videos. They can be posted on YouTube. You'll need to make sure that your videos have interesting content. No matter whether you are a computer guru, handyman, gardener, movie reviewer or even just a funny person, other users will seek out your videos. Then you can add links to advertisers on your page. There you'll start seeing some income.
    satta king

    play bazaar

    ReplyDelete
  10. Are you having trouble fixing the problem of Google Assistant not working? There's no reason to worry about it right now. Let's get started with easy and intuitive solutions to the problem of ok google not running. To resolve this issue, carefully read each of moves as we have given in this article like Reboot the phone or device and many more. so just follo our all steps to resolve this issue easy and fast. whenever, If necessary, email Google's dedicated support staff, contact them on their support number by going to Google Contact

    ReplyDelete