Tea on a Boat

Its starting to look like summer... well that's what I hear. Its still in the 60s here & this Atlanta girl is not cool with it. I'm ready for shorts & flip flops and mid 80s - but unless we get a heat wave we won't get weather like that until we head south - France, Spain, Italy etc.

I know its Travel Tuesday but I did that yesterday & its my blog so I make the rules.

Since it's still chilly outside, a cup of tea is always my cup of tea (yes I went there). So why not enjoy that cup of tea on a boat? Here in Reading there is a Tea Barge - Whittington's. Its an actual barge, like a house boat which has been turned into a restaurant with a kitchen in the back and 8 tables inside. They also have 4-5 tables out on shore which will be nice if it ever warms up here!

We ordered the cream tea, which consisted of a large pot of tea & a scone with clotted cream and jam. Unfortunately the scones were so yummy I didn't get a photo of them. They had plain & fruit scones. 

Clotted cream & jam on the scone tray

They also have a full menu of delicious British food - bangers n mash, English breakfast & sandwiches. I'm sure they have more but that's all I saw when we were there. 

I love how they mix and match their cups and saucers. 

I would highly recommend this restaurant for a ladies lunch or a different venue for a cup of tea. 

Update!

Sorry Ive been quiet the last couple of days, my computer has decided it didn't want to connect to the internet so Ive been without for a few days. Thankfully I have built in tech support - AKA Steve. Not sure what he did but I think it worked (fingers crossed).

So here's a quick update on whats been going on.

Saturday: Steve and I took a quick trip over to visit the town of Windsor  - lots of shopping & of course a castle. We took an open bus tour (cause we love them and we're lazy and its an easy way to see the city). Here are a few photos from our tour:

Windsor Castle

Queen Victoria

Old car driving by the castle

Thames River

View of the castle from across the park

This is the famous crooked house - its not open anymore, it used to be a restaurant I think. Its super close to the castle so an easy photo opportunity.

Later in the afternoon we took a river tour up the Thames. It was a nice way to end our day in Windsor but we sat behind a couple with the most obnoxious kids! They were crawling all over the seats and kept jabbering on. Don't get me wrong, I love kids but I love the well behaved ones. Picky, I know. In spite of them I got some pretty good photos. 

Sunday was our lazy day. I didn't get out of bed till about noon. Yes, I know thats terrible but with this stupid head cold I haven't been sleeping all that well. I stay up way too late, like tonight, its midnight and Im here on the couch blogging while Steve is snoring in the other room. Of course Ive gotten myself hooked onto another TV show - Dead Like Me. Anyone ever watch it? Its pretty good. Of course there are only two season on Netflix, which means Ill be done with the show in about a week. Anyone have a suggestion on what to watch next? Remember I only have access to UK Netflix. 

Tonight we had dinner.... wait for it... with friends! Yes we have actual friends here in Reading. Its kind of amazing to be able to chat with someone in the same time zone as us. Plus she's america, from Tennessee (aka she gets Southern stuff, not just american stuff). We went to this Sushi place called Yo Sushi... I think thats whats its called. On Monday every plate is $2.70 (pounds not dollars but I don't know how to make the pound symbol. It was cool, the sushi goes around the restautant on this conveyor belt and you just pick the plates up you want. Very cool and the sushi was pretty good too, more expensive then we're used to, but still good. 

Our blue plates

Beer in a wine glass - pretty good. 

Platform 9 3/4

Friday night we arrived in London and needed a quick activity to fill some time before we went to dinner. One thing I had never done in London was anything Harry Potter related. When I left Europe in 2000, Harry Potter was big but not huge because the movies hadn't started (first one was in the summer of 2001). So there was little to no hype about it in the city. Obviously things have changed drastically since then, there are studio tours and walking tours and of course, platform 9 3/4.

Since it was pouring rain we grabbed a cab to Kings Cross station, about a 10 minute drive from the hotel. After walking around for about 10 minutes we found the short line where a few other HP fans were lined up to take photos with the famed wall.

Here are some of the photos we took:

Steve rocking a Gryffindor scarf

Steve on his way to Hogwarts 

After doing our obligatory Harry Potter fan photos we went to The Parcel Yard - the British pub right there at Kings Crossing station. They had excellent food and and fun atmosphere. The service was a little slow but the food was outstanding. From the appetizer to the dessert to the beer, it was an all around excellent meal!