Quick trip to the UK

We were home from the States for a few days over New Year's Eve and had time to celebrate with friends here in Munich-but 2 days later we were off again to the UK.  The Hub had a business trip in Manchester which coincided with our anniversary, so I went along to get my fill of British shopping and tv.  In Manchester, there is a wonderful tea shop called Teacup and Cakes.  I visited them the last time that I was in the city with the Hub and wanted to make sure that I found the shop again on this trip.  The staff are delightful-friendly as can be-and the food is top notch.  Last time I went, I tried their eggs benedict. Holy hollandaise was it good!  This time, as you can see above, it was the cream tea that I sampled.

Cream tea consists of a pot of tea for one, two scones and clotted cream and jam.  I am always undecided about the proper order of the clotted cream and jam on the scones, and I forgot to ask my server (they were busy and I was hungry).  So, I went with what I knew: warm scone topped with clotted cream and then jam on top.  No one gasped or stared and pointed when I did this, so I guess it was executed in a satisfactory way.  Anyone have an opinion about this process?  The team at Teacup and Cakes lets you hang out as long as you like and even offers you a warm-up of more water for your fresh leaves.  Brilliant, as they say!  If you ever get to Manchester, find the Northern Quarter, and on Thomas Street, go and have tea. (On a side note, the scones were so good that I almost ate them without the clotted cream and jam....almost....)

After spending the week in Manchester, we headed down to London (it's only about 2.5 hours by train!) for the weekend where we spent a nice weekend discovering a new part of the city-Marylebone/Hyde Park.  I wanted the Hub to get to see Hampton Court since he missed visiting it there with my this past Spring...and so we spent our Saturday there.  It felt like a quick trip, but I know that we were away for a week.  It was fun to stay in a completely different part of London and explore and we have promised that we will stay in another area next time we are in jolly old London town!