High Tea and the Ocean

A couple of days of catch-up in this one. First we start with High Tea at a very fancy hotel. Mimi really wanted to do this while we were in the British Isles. It was a bit spendy, but worth it.

The setting was luxurious, and the food was unbelievable. We each ordered our own tea from a menu full of fancy-sounding names. The scones came with butter, jam, and clotted cream to spread on them. There were little sandwiches with lox, ham, egg, and tomato with mozzarella and pesto. On top of each tray was an assortment of little pastries, a champagne jelly, and a tiny raspberry trifle. Even though everything was in miniature, we couldn't finish it all. It was so rich, and it added up to a lot of food. After a couple of hours of sipping, nibbling, and trying to act as proper as the setting commanded, we were stuffed silly. Literally.

We were all giggling by this point, but it was Stellar who completely lost it. I think this all started when Emily got some chocolate mousse on her teeth.

Stellar started laughing convulsively and couldn't stop.

Emily looked pleased with herself.

Stellar laughed until she cried...

...tried to regain her composure...

...and failed.

This went on long enough that she had to excuse herself outside to try to compose herself. Here's how that went:

Good times.

Today we got all-day passes on the train and went up and down the coast checking out some of the little towns. Sorry I didn't take many pictures. We stopped at a beach because Stellar wanted to find Bono's house. She's a U2 fan of a proportion of which I was frankly unaware (sentence structure breaking down... sleep imminent).

While she went off to geek out, Emily, Mimi, and I enjoyed the beach.

I have never seen the ocean so calm. It was like a lake. Not a white tip in sight, and it was clear. You could see the pebbles on the bottom all the way out past ten feet deep. I suddenly had an intense urge to go swimming.

I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a cotton jacket. I figured that if I sacrificed my underwear and t-shirt to wetness, I could put my jacket back on over my bra and my jeans back on over... nothing... and get back to the hostel that way. There were one or two hitches in my plan, one of which involved me zipping up a jacket with numb fingers while Emily and Mimi tried to shield my naked body from view with an umbrella and a raincoat and I tried not to fall over from laughing. But it was worth it. So, so worth it. As soon as I got underwater it was as if I had woken up for the first time in days. There's something about the ocean, even if it's cold and unforgiving. And, ironically given that I just went swimming in freezing water in my clothes, I finally feel completely over my sickness. Knock on wood.

I don't have access to any pictures of my swim because Mimi's camera is fussy, but here's one of me with my sopping shirt in one hand, a hot chocolate in the other, and a ridiculous grin on my face.

Good day.