Hidden Mayfair

The doorman smiled at me

Banksy - shop till you drop

$$$$$

First automatic opening doors in Britian

Sorting out our new table setting at
Thomas Goode

Having a beer

I can not begin to tell you about what I have seen, learnt and experienced today. All because of the man with the encyclopedic knowledge of London, Peter Berthoud. We set off from Green Park and I am dazzled from start to finish by opulence, history and fascinating connections.

Just some of the gems from the day:

·      Where Kate worked

·      Two Banksy’s, shop till you drop and a photo rat

·      Fire place from Sir Joseph Bank’s house (relocated to science institute)

·      Where Diana’s engagement ring was made

·      The best place to buy a pair of shotguns for about 250,000 pounds

·      Passing Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry’s ex girlfriend on Curzon St

·      The developer of Bond St, was Edward Bond, his motto was “The world is not enough”

·      The spot where Jeffrey Archer denied getting himself into trouble

·      Guy Ritchie’s pub, The Punch Bowl

·      Gambling dens, one of the had a fancy car with three minders

My favourite place for the day was Thomas Goode, exquisite table settings, vases and objects. You pick out all your table settings and then they are laid out on the  “setting table” out the back so you can see how it all goes together. The staff where also so friendly and did not mind us oohing and ahhing over the 6,000,000 pound ceramic elephants, the plate collection out the back of the animal statues.

At the end we retire to a pub for a well earned drink. I try half a pint of London Pride, there is a first time for everything. The other people on the tour have made the day even better, they are all Londoners with lots of local knowledge and a passion for the little out of the way places that makes the tour even more interesting.

At the end of the day Peter went off to a function to celebrate his second trip advisor award. Congratulations, Peter.

I thought the day was over it was time to go home for a bath. But Ravello decided to escort me to Covent Garden, via lots of shortcuts and pointed out many different buildings, bars and restaurants and rated them as we go. Then we get to Covent Garden and we keep going through mews and secret passages and steps to find the impressive Australian Embassy, then up and down dale again and end at a pub on the Strand with such an impressive interior it looks like the painted hall at Greenwich. Well and truly exhausted now.