Without any fixed agenda today, we got off to a more leisurely start to the day. We got downstairs just before 10:00 am and enjoyed a very relaxed breakfast.

After breakfast we headed off to Constitution Hill to watch the Queen’s Horse Guard go by.

Andrea on Constitution Hill.
Andrea on Constitution Hill.
The Queen's Horse Guard.
The Queen's Horse Guard.

Looking back up The Mall to the Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace.
Looking back up The Mall to the Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace.

We continued our walk down The Mall, down Northumberland Avenue, and along the Thames to the Tower Of London, where we had reserved tickets for the Gunpowder Plot experience. This is a two-hour immersive experience that involves real-life actors, virtual reality, motion simulation, and a lot of special effects. It tells the story of the attempt in 1605 to blow up the English parliament. It was very well done and a lot of fun.

Andrea outside the Tower Of London.
Andrea outside the Tower Of London.

From the Tower Of London we jumped in a cab and headed back to the hotel for a 4:00 pm reservation for the seven-course tasting menu at Cédric Grolet’s only kitchen outside of Paris. Grolet is considered one of the best pastry chefs in the world. Our reservation was for counter seats right in the kitchen, where we could see our dishes being prepared and chat to the chefs along the way. An entire meal of pastries (along with champagne and coffee) was very different but very enjoyable (although, not surprisingly, pretty rich!).

Dining at Cédric Grolet.
Dining at Cédric Grolet.

After nearly three hours we departed Cédric Grolet’s kitchen, with the intention of heading upstairs to our room. But we ended up taking a detour via the restaurant downstairs in the hotel so we could enjoy a bowl of the amazing tomato soup they serve. It does seem a bit odd that we’d want tomato soup after a seven-course degustation menu but we both felt like something savoury to eat and the tomato soup was a perfect choice.

After finishing our soup we decided that a post-dinner walk was a good idea so we walked down to Harrod’s to do a little bit of shopping.

Harrod's
Harrod's

After a very pleasant walk back from Harrod’s we went back to our room, ready to retire for the evening.

We have a dinner reservation at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea tomorrow night, which we are looking forward to. We’ve no fixed plans during the day though so we’ll just see what the day brings.