My dear girlfriend, Roopa, and I, have a tradition. With our birthdays two weeks apart, midway between them we celebrate with a special outing. This year, we went Royal!
Anglophiles that we are, what better way to spend a gorgeous afternoon in Atlanta than to have afternoon tea at the Four Seasons followed by the world-class exhibition, Diana – A Celebration!
To begin, we donned our “tiaras” and sipped a lovely flute of champagne.
Our trusty driver, my darling Denis, transported us to the Four Seasons in Midtown where we had reservations for Afternoon Tea at Park 75.
After sampling the bouquet of each of the teas presented in the tea chest, we made our choices. A Marsala Black Chai for Roopa and Vanilla Oolong for me.
The Savories, Scones & Sweets were served in the traditional way on a 3-Tier Server.
Roopa’s Tea Sandwiches included Cucumber, Truffled Egg Salad,Salmon Mousse & Coronet Chicken Salad
For me, the vegetarian selection included Cucumber, Truffled Egg Salad & Caprese Stacks.
Our Bread Course was delicious! The lightest and crumbliest Blueberry Scones served with Cream, Lemon Curd & Raspberry Jam.
And there were Sweets Galore! Cranberry Cookies, Pecan Brownie Tartletts, Truffles, Charlotte Russe and….
Huge Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate and Painted with Gold!!
We talked about everything under the sun and enjoyed chatting with a mother and daughter at the next table who were just as enamored by afternoon tea as we are!
We had a few of the sweets boxed up and then we descended the grand staircase and walked out into the beautiful Atlanta sunlight where our faithful driver was waiting to transport us to our next stop, the Atlanta Civic Center. Along the way, he ate every last one of the sweets!! Pity we didn’t bring him a cuppa to go!
DIANA
a celebration
This exquisite exhibit was presented in 9 separate rooms, each dedicated to one aspect of Princess Diana’s life.
We started in the Tiara Gallery - stunning.
Next we learned about some of Diana’s ancestors, the Spencer Women.
Moving through, we enjoyed mementos from her Childhood including her tap shoes!
Her Engagement at the age of 19 to Prince Charles was discussed in an endearing way in the next room.
Then came the Royal Wedding. Diana’s gorgeous wedding gown was on display and could be studied down to the tiniest seed pearls and crystals that were hand sewn on her extremely long train. A video ran continuously showing scenes from the fairy tale-like event.
This room was especially nostalgic for me. Whenever there was a Royal Celebration, my mother (a true Daughter of the British Empire), would return home to England to join the masses on the Mall leading up to Buckingham Palace to cheer on her beloved Royal Family. Here are a few of the mementos from her trip home for the wedding in 1981…
Pride of Britain – Royal Marriage Souvenir. Produced by Wood & Sons.
Commemorative Wedgwood Plate
Pewter Stein
Leather Bookmark
Deck of Playing Cards!
Next we entered the portion of the exhibit that detailed Diana’s prolific Work with charities.
The Tribute room included poignant moments from Diana’s funeral including her brother, Charles’ eulogy to her, Elton John’s composition of the Diana version of Candle In The Wind and videos of the unforgettable funeral procession where the flower arrangements on her coffin were graced with a simple card from her sons addressed to “Mummy.”
The Style & Fashion Gallery included 28 of her beautiful outfits.
The final display was an entire wall of shelves that housed hundreds upon hundreds of books filled with handwritten Condolences to her family upon her death from all over the world.
Our last stop was the Gift Shop where a wide array of beautiful, commemorative items were available.
This pink and platinum tea cup was the perfect memento for me to remember our Princess Day!
A splendid time with my splendid friend!
Royally,
Starr
