fh_trips | Spring Break Trip 3/6 - London Hotel & Shopping

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spring break 2006: london

Spring Break Trip 3/6 - London Hotel & Shopping

Chaperone Threads

Landmark Hotel-
General hotel thread
Mirror Bar
Cellars Bar & Restaurant
Wintergarden Restaurant
Health club and spa

Shopping-
Harrods
Oxford Street
Bond Street
Camden Market
Portobello Road
OOC

Or go visit London for sight seeing
Or go visit Stonehenge and Glastonbury

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"Wow...when you said big breakfast, you meant big breakfast!" He took a bite out of a scone and mmmmed.

"Almost as good as...um...showering." He blushed and was glad that he had caught himself. He didn't want to get kicked out of the wonderful meal. "So...today's Stonehenge, right?"

"I don't know why I'd be so hungry," Walter said and grinned at Victor. "But I am starved."

Walter poured two cups of tea, one jasmine, the other earl grey blue flower, and began spreading clotted cream on a scone.

"I have never been to Stonehenge, so that should be interesting. And let's try to fit in some shopping. I need ideas for your birthday."

Victor had some green mint tea ~~of course~~ and tried it with a brie and apple sandwich. "Not too bad. And I already got the best present in the world. Twice. So don't worry too much about me."

"I don't know how you get the best present more than once, but it does set a high bar for me for your birthday, doesn't it?" Walter smiled and took a bite of his scone, closing his eyes in sheer bliss. Now London felt like home.

Victor smiled at Walter's expression. It was good to see his boyfriend look so...free, instead of having to deal with responsibilities or mishaps or emo. Victor wished he could make Walter feel like that all the time.

He waited until Walter was done ~~sconegasiming~~ eating his scone before asking him, "If you're not too busy with your breakfast, do you think you can teach me how you make your tea. After all, the boyfriend of an Englishman should know how to make a good cup."

He smiled and took a sip of his own tea, but almost choked when he overheard a woman at another table asking another if she wanted to "smoke a fag".

"What?" he whispered to Walter.

"She wants a cigarette," Walter whispered back. "Unless the slang has changed."

He grinned and nudged Victor's foot under the table.

"As to making tea, the first thing to remember is that tea bags are items of last resort, not a decent person's first choice."

Victor shook his head in amazement. "Sorry, back where I'm from it usually means "shoot a gay guy with a gun." I thought I'd have to duck under the table for a moment there."

He took in a deep breath and exhaled, then smiled back at Walter. "Okay, so no tea bags. But...how do you make it, then?"

"What an odd way to put it."

Walter shook his head and set aside the matter of odd slang.

"As to tea, you can use a strainer, if you choose, but generally, I prefer to use it loose in a pot. You allow the leaves to settle to the bottom - do not oversteep - and then carefully pour. If there are no leaves in your cup, how is someone going to read your fortune, right?"

"People read fortunes with tea leaves? I've never heard about that. But how long should the leaves be in the pot? I mean, if you put them in and then pour a cup when the tea's ready, won't the tea be steeped too much by the time the pot's almost empty?

"How long varies by the type of tea you're using. Oversteeping can be tricky. The best way to do it is to only prepare as much tea as you are going to be serving. Also, you can use a drop in strainer to pull the leaves out once the tea is properly steeped."

"Oh, okay. Maybe you could help me pick out a teapot and stuff I can use in the room when we go shopping later. That way whenever you come over you can have a cup of tea if you want."

"You're going to be speaking with a British accent before you know it." Walter went back to making his food disappear. "I booked dinner in a capsule at the London Eye through the concierge. We can have up to 12 people, but we have to have at least three people."

He smirked into his cup and had a sip of tea. "For some reason, they won't book a capsule for just two people."

"Maybe so they won't...ohhh, I get it." He blushed and went back to his own breakfast.

After a moment of scarfing, he waved a scone around and asked, "So who else should we bring? Just the usual, or should we invite someone new?" He paused, then scowled a little. "Definitely not Whorey, though. Did you hear her yesterday? She was such a bitch!"

"Rory was definitely not on my list of people to invite." Walter reached across the table for a strawberry and had a bite. "Perhaps we should call that Watcher, Andrew, and tell him that Xander wanted to meet him for dinner."

He shook his head to indicate he was joking. "The usual people, and anyone else who wants to come who is not Rory?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Victor grabbed his own strawberry and made sure there was extra cream on it. "Man, this stuff is good. Definitely not like the candy."

He covered his mouth with a napkin and burped a little before reaching over to Walter's cup. "Can I try some of your tea?"

Walter passed his cup to Victor. "Of course you may. I should make you take back some of your slurs on English food first, though."

Victor didn't say anything in response, because he had just realized something that he did not want Walter to know. So, instead he took a sip and nodded approvingly before handing it back and turning back to his food, trying ever-so-hard to not turn an ever deeper shade of green.

"Um..so...Stonehenge soon, then shopping, then dinner tonight...and sometime today helping Angel out. Rightey-o."

Right. Hiding things from the boyfriend who is receiving intensive training in observational skills. Not the easiest thing to do, perhaps.

However, Walter trusted Victor and didn't push him about whatever it was that he was withholding.

"Right." Walter finished his tea and surveyed the damage they had wrought on the food that had been brought. "I'm ready to go when you are."

Victor looked obviously relieved, and assumed that either Walter had forgotten about Victor's comment or was just teasing him. Either way, he was probably going to have to eat it. Maybe that's what the whole London Eye thing was about; maybe he wanted an audience for the whole thing.

Shit...

"Yeah, I'm about ready. Are we allowed to take the rest up to our room or do we have to leave it here?"

"We can take it with us, although none of this will be quite as good when it isn't fresh."

He called for a takeaway box and packed everything away.

"Unless you need another shower, I know that many of our friends were going to be at Stonehenge today, too (http://community.livejournal.com/fh_trips/5386.html?view=568330#t568330)."

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Spring Break Trip 3/6 - London Hotel & Shopping

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Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant

Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant

Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant

Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant

Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant

Re: 3/6 - Landmark Hotel - Wintergarden Restaurant