It’s taken me a while to tell you about the London Tea Room because I was saving it for just the right moment. As it turns out, it’s today.

It’s FREEZING in St. Louis. It’s the kind of cold that makes your breath freeze as you let it out. You start stooping over to brace yourself against the wind and walking two times faster to get from one indoor location to another. If it sounds like I’m being dramatic, I’m not.

To combat this harsh reality, I went to the London Tea Room for cream tea today. For those of you unfamiliar with the London Tea Room, it’s a little shop and café located on the south side of Tower Grove Park. They have almost every kind of tea you can imagine, and pastries and other light fare to complement the drinks.

Today I ordered the “cream tea,” which is a pot of tea that comes with your choice of a scone, jam, and clotted cream. I got lavender earl grey tea and a currant scone. I hoped it would warm me up and make me more ready to brave the cold.

It worked. I leisurely ate my scone, sipped hot lavender earl grey tea with milk, and read some David Sedaris. I forgot about the fact that it’s 15 degrees outside. If I tried hard enough, I could almost believe that it was spring and I could walk a block to the park.

I spent a little time in London when I was a teacher in France but I didn’t get to see a lot of the city. When you’re chasing 50 ten-year-olds through downtown London, you don’t have much time to look around. Still, the vibe at the London Tea Room reminded me of what I saw when I was abroad. It’s the closest you can get to London without leaving St. Louis.

I’d highly recommend stopping in sometime soon, especially while the weather is still cold. It’s the perfect place to lounge with a book or work and enjoy a steaming hot pot of tea.

On an unrelated note, here’s a song that I’ve been jamming out to today. I’ve listened to it 20 times on repeat and each time, I want to start dancing in the middle of the street. That hasn’t happened yet but it probably will soon.