This post also serves as my “Summer Vacation: Week 5” post since this was the most noteworthy thing to happen all week, unless you count a trip to Target as noteworthy.

I have had an obsession with The Plaza Hotel since I was a child.  This place has always held an air of mystery to me, perhaps because I associated with the rich, and I so wanted to have enough money to be able to stay at the Plaza and throw money around.  I also associated with everything of the finest, and to this day I believe it to be the epitome of fanciness.

I blame the Eloise books (much like I blame the Madeline books for my francophilia, but that’s a study for another day).

I can only remember one other time that I have been in the Plaza before today.  I was sixteen.  My best friend and I had just seen Annie on Broadway, and then her parents wanted to have oysters and champagne at the Plaza, and thus we were brought along.  We did not partake in the oysters and champagne, but instead wandered the public areas of the hotel and looked at the shops before heading home.  Other than that, the Plaza has remained more or less the mystery it was when I was young (save for the movies Big Business and Home Alone 2 which both prominently featured the hotel).  I viewed it from the street often when I was near Central Park or in the days when going to F.A.O Schwartz was a fun activity.  I’ve always said that when I get married, I want my bridesmaids to spend a night in the Plaza with me as a shower/bachelorette thing.

But that all changed today, when I went to the Plaza for tea.

We were celebrating my mother’s birthday.  I had suggested this plan almost half-heartedly a few weeks ago, thinking that tea at the Plaza would be insanely expensive (and while it was pricey, it was actually much less than I thought it would be).  However, mom agreed, called a few friends, and made a reservation.

Of course, getting dressed up is about three-quarters of the fun of doing something like this.  I wore my current favorite dress (sunglasses) and my new pink heels (see yesterday’s photo of the day).

We were off. The afternoon tea is held in the Pam Court, which is just off of the lobby of the hotel. Walking in, you feel immediately elegant and rich, even if you really aren’t!

Once seated, it was time to enjoy the afternoon. We all ordered – three of us the Classic Tea, two of us the New Yorker – and sat back and relaxed. Tea came first, followed shortly by the food. The sandwich in the front is a lobster with caviar on a round of toast, which was by far my favorite.

The desserts were beautiful:

Mom got a special plate of desserts for her birthday:

The food was good, and the room was beautiful, from the stained glass ceiling to the ornate chairs and velvet covered benches and banquettes, and it was very much worth the wait to finally do something more than just wish I was at the Plaza!

After we ate, we walked around the public areas of the hotel towards the shops. I loved the Eloise portrait:

In the shop area we discovered the Krigler perfume boutique where I discovered my new scent. According to a picture in the window of the shop, it’s a perfume worn once by Audrey Hepburn (they also had some Grace Kelly ones, but I didn’t really like those). Naturally I was curious, so I put some on, and it has only gotten better since leaving the hotel. I must have it, just as soon as I return from vacation and can afford an expensive bottle of perfume!

Alas, then it was time to go… we wandered down 5th Avenue to the car, where I wished for things that were in the window of Bergdorf Goodman. Oh, to have all the money I could ever want to buy clothes and travel!