Happy things happening: Teatime at the British Museum 大英博物館和下午茶

We planned to spend a morning in British Museum, but ended up leaving the museum in the afternoon because we found one of the best places to have English afternoon tea just inside the museum, located on the highest floor. English people are very quiet when eating at restaurants. Though there were tourists from all over the world dining here, they tended to speak softly as well when immersed in the English culture, including us. This made the teatime extremely enjoyable.

The porcelain teaware with floral pattern was exotic as we imagined. The desserts tasted good but not to the extent that we would be super impressed. However, the scones tasted like heaven. Hubby and I fell in love with scones as well as English tea right away. I didn't miss coffee at all in our one month trip in Europe. And even when we are back in the states now, I still love to have a cup of tea in the morning.

And how about the museum itself? It definitely deserves to be called the second best museum in the world. Even Louvre museum in Paris is after it. Regardless of the collections, it's easy to find and see the masterpieces in the museum, which is opposite to Louvre where we found the tour map fairly useless. The structure of the museum itself was astonishing too. Just strolling around the museum made it a pleasant experience to us, except the part when my toddler was tired and couldn't go to sleep in the stroller.

博物館對我這種知識淺薄, 歷史永遠考最低分的人來說, 還真的記錄不了太多回憶。雖然在參觀時，我也是排除萬難、不顧小孩在旁邊該該叫，把導覽手冊努力念過，把鎮館之寶看完，但想好好記錄一些有深度的內容時，腦中浮現的全是我們對著展覽品開玩笑的內容，失敬失敬。希望看在我也是有想上進的份上，gum gum不會怪我。

不過有了以前不爭氣的經驗，這次我就很乖的立刻在紀念品區買了圖鑑，一本6英鎊買下的不只是圖鑑，還有為人母親的尊嚴啊。如果哪一天QQ看照片問我gum gum是誰時, 至少我還可以和她一起翻圖鑑, 而不是只記得它在博物館夜驚魂的台詞。

"I want gum gum. You are dum dum."

膚淺歸膚淺，但其實我對大英博物館的印象很好。它的動線設計佳，空間寬敞，加上透明屋頂打進來的光線，如果能再加上小孩完美地昏睡在娃娃車的話，真的是逛起來輕鬆愉快。不愧是世界第二大博物館，連法國的羅浮宫都排在它後面。

當然最讓我魂牽夢縈的還是它頂樓的下午茶。我們在這裡喝了在英國的第一次下午茶，行前並沒有特別查過下午茶的名店，因為我們還是喜歡看起來不錯就嚐試看看的隨性，結果完全沒有讓我們失望。

一份午茶19英磅(不包含茶和飲料)，想說沒吃過也不知道吃不吃得完，所以只點了一份三個人一起吃。每一樣東西都是大家咬一口而已，鹹點, 甜點, 加上一個原味和一個鹹的Scone, 這樣分著吃我們還是吃得很滿足。英國的食物口味清淡爽口, 雖然好吃，但要我說出哪一個點心最好吃我還真的沒有太深的印象, 反而是附在旁邊的scone讓我們最驚豔, 我還因此馬上在飯店旁的便利商店買了混好的scone粉, 想說英國的scone那麼好吃, 隨便買回去烤應該也不會太差吧! 我只能說Oh my god, 原來他們也是買混好的scone粉烤的啊(大誤), 也太好吃了吧! 烤給同在美國的台灣麻吉們吃時, 他們也好喜歡, 搭配著Whittard買回來的茶，頓時還有種時空交錯被拉回英國的錯覺。

我們在英國吃了不少次下午茶，但大英博物館的下午茶是我們吃過最滿意的一次。博物館那很有氣質的氛圍, 漂亮的茶具和優雅的服務, 都讓我們好想再坐在那裡享受一次哦。還有帳單不用再另加小費的感覺-真-的-很-爽，美國那該死的小費文化，真的是很讓人掃興。

One was unhappy because we had to feed our girl again when we just arrived;
the other one was unhappy because she didn't want to take a picture when she felt hungry.
舟車勞頓好不容易到了博物館，小QQ就開始吵著要吃點心。

一個因為都還沒逛就要先覓食而臭臉，一個因為肚子餓

被捉來先拍照而不爽。

feeding our fussy toddler first before the tour while we just finished
breakfast at the hotel.
一進博物館的第一件事，直奔餵食區。

Bought a tour guide just in case we couldn't see all the masterpieces.

圖鑑到手，不怕小孩一路該咳叫而遺憾了。

Egyptian exhibition

埃及文物區

Goddess of Venus in bath
沐浴中的維那斯女神

My girl blew out in tears when she was tired and asking to leave the museum.
開始吵著要去外面散步，無法得逞而大哭。其實是累了想睡覺，

最後只好使出鐵手輪流抱小孩。

We ended up holding her in turns so we could stay in the museum.
抱著14公斤的小QQ繼續逛

"I want gum gum. You are dum dum"
Hi gum gum 我終於見到你了

It looked so hilarious to me.
太有喜感的gum gum了

The Cafe on the top floor where we had our first afternoon tea in England.
頂樓的Cafe

"Did you order yet?" I doubt she is ever full.
"點好了嗎？" 很擔心吃不到

They sent us expensive bottle water when I didn't know we should ask just for tap water.
But it tasted really good and refreshing though.
忘了聲明要tap water (自來水可以直接喝), 結果送來瓶裝水。但好好喝!!