Nothing planned for the day until dinner so we were just going to wander around and shop. One of the ladies on the trip recommended shopping for jewelry at Grays, so that was our first stop. It is in the Mayfair area so a good starting point. Grays is like an antique mall for jewelry. Multiple floors full of beautiful things. Way more high end than I was looking for but fun to look at. I did get a nice silver necklace and a Tower of London charm but I had to pass on the turquoise earrings that I liked (way out of my price range).

From here we went to Liberty an old staple in London. I went with the intention of buying a Liberty scarf and I bought two. Last year we didn’t have much time and they didn’t have the one I saw online so I didn’t buy one. This time I tried them all on and got the one I love that is colorful and trendy and the one that looked the best with my coloring.

The Christmas store was open so the top floor was all decorated. It is always fun to see the new stuff but none of it was really my style so sadly I didn’t buy anything.

I did find some fabric that I want to craft with so I did buy a few pieces. They had some fabric for the Bayeux Tapestry so I bought that. I didn’t get to see it but I will either try to go back this year or see it in France so I went ahead and got some. I want to use it to make some kind of sweatshirt.

By now it is afternoon hot and very crowded in London. We walked over to Fortnum and Mason but it was way too crowded we were hot and hungry so we decided to just grab the bagels and head back to the hotel for a break. We decided to cab back instead of walking to the tube station. This might have been a mistake. It took us about an hour to go across town about 4 miles and cost us £60 but we were out of the crowd sitting down in an air conditioned car so maybe it was a great move.

Once back at the hotel we ate half our bagels since it was a bit later than we thought and we had dinner reservations and saved the rest for later. We cooled off and regrouped for our evening.

We had dinner reservations at the Old Bank Of England which is over by the Temple Church where the “Greatest knight who ever lived”, William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke – one of the castles we visited on our tour, is buried. It is also connected to the Knight Templar. We walked through the area but did not go in the church on this trip.

Dinner was delicious. The restaurant is in an old bank building so it is quite elaborate. There was a wedding party in the downstair bar area so it was quite crowded and hot. It was a good evening regardless of the heat.