On my 19th birthday, my boyfriend told me to put on my nicest clothes and took me up London only to surprise me to The Ritz!
There I was dressed up in high heels and fake tanned ready for my boyfriends school prom the following day when everyone surrounding me were ladies in long classy dresses. It's safe to say I stood out for the wrong reasons!
We were escorted in to the entrance by a doorman who gave us a bag each filled with The Ritz merchandise consisting of chocolates, a candle and a Ritz teddy bear. I was still in shock at how I actually managed to end up here and how my boyfriend managed to arrange all of this. As we sat and waited for the afternoon tea to start, my eyes were fixed on the detail of the walls, ceilings and the decor. It looked like somewhere the Queen would dine and I felt like royalty. The walls were decorated with large mirrors, huge chandeliers were hanging above us and even my boyfriend seemed impressed with its elegancy. I went to the ladies room which was led to by a red carpet. Everything in the toilet was a beautiful pink. There were two tables with bouquets of flowers on, a recliner and hand towels for each person who washed their hands. I never knew how prestige a toilet could look!
It was time to sit down at our table and we were asked by a well dressed waiter which type of tea we wanted, in which we looked at a whole menu full of different types of tea. It had every flavour you could ever imagine. Once we told him the classic English breakfast tea, he arrived with two huge golden pots, a tea filter (something which I had never seen before) a cup and saucer. It looked so grand. To top it off, he then brought over two glasses of champagne.
Once we had a cup of tea, the waiter then brought over a three-tier stand filled with cakes, scones and sandwich. On the first layer was a mixture of macaroons, sponge and cheese cakes, the second layer was filled with a range of delicate sandwiches and then they brought out Devon and fruit scones served with clotted cream and jam.
The room was filled with people quietly chatting amongst themselves. Ollie and I sat taking pictures and videos of everything around us as we knew we weren't going to experience anything like this anytime soon whilst stuffing our faces with this amazing food.
Soon we were stuffed. We couldn't drink one more cup of tea nor eat one more scone without feeling like we were going to explode, however much to my surprise one of the waiters brought out a small iced birthday cake with a lit candle on top. It looked lovely but I had to take it home to have later.
I was amazed at the service and how in time the waiters were with each other. It was clear that they were following a schedule and we only had a set amount of time to eat and drink however that didn't seem to be a problem with anyone and it was more than enough time for us. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and will never forget it.
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