The time I unknowingly went into a Brothel

by Alexandria Berg (United States of America)

I didn't expect to find United Kingdom

I had visited London only once before when I was a teenager on a trip in a group with a planned itinerary. It was such a rush being there, but I didn’t get to fully enjoy it. I have been in love with London ever since. I loved how I felt there, the fashion, food, walking, and all the quaint little shops. During college, I went to London for a week. I had researched places to have tea in London so I could blend in and feel what it would be like to live there. In my travels, I love finding little “holes in the wall” places that only locals know about. I decided to google “secret tea shop” and found several more results than I expected but I finally found a place called the Secret Tea Shop in Soho. One day after visiting several design studios with my graphic design classmates, I invited one of my best friends, Diane, to go with me to hunt down this secret tea shop. Our journey began as we took the tube and walked to the Soho district. The website at the time gave an address but said that the only distinguishing mark on the outside of the shop was a fancy door knocker. We went to the exact location and it was a bar. Embarrassed to ask anyone in the bar about tea, Diane went to the loo while I looked around the bar looking for a door with a fancy door knocker. Ten minutes later, we had walked around the block multiple times. Suddenly we notice a bright red door next to the bar. I thought this must be it as we climbed the stairs. Almost to the second floor, a kind woman walks out. I was so excited that I had found this secret tea shop I just started telling the woman about our adventure to find her place. The woman smiles gently and tells us that her place isn’t the secret tea shop and that she doesn’t know where it is located. Diane and I leave the flat and after going downstairs and out on the sidewalk, Diane whispered to me, “Alex, did you know we were just in a brothel?” “What? Why do you say that?” as I stopped and stared at Diane. “When you were talking to that lady, a man came out of a room covered in red silk, Diane said. When he noticed me he looked down and almost ran out of the place.” Oh shit, really? I just couldn’t believe it. Diane said “yeah!” Damn, but then I was back on track to finding that secret tea shop. I am tenacious as hell and was not giving up, where was it? Damn it, it wasn’t in Narnia and we knew it wasn’t in the brothel! We decided to go back to the bar as a last-ditch effort and asked them if they knew the tea shop. Imagine our surprise that it was upstairs and closed! Diane and I did get to go back to the tea shop when they were open and enjoyed ourselves while laughing about our adventure looking for tea.