A decadent afternoon in London

For my birthday this year, my dad and stepmum bought me a marvellous present: Chocoholics Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two in the Podium Restaurant at The Hilton, Park Lane! Wow. 

Cathy was the lucky recipient of the "Plus One"and we eagerly anticipated May 20th. As it was up in London, we decided to make a day of it and headed up on the first reasonably priced train, arriving about 11.30am. We'd spotted a couple of things we fancied doing and which also fell into the "2-For-1" Offer where, if you produce your train tickets to London, you get (unsurprisingly) two entries for the price of one. 

Our first port of call was the Old Operating Theatre in the Herb Garrett of a Baroque Church in St Thomas' Street. It looked fascinating even on the net and in reality it was even better. The entrance is a tiny door in the wall of the building (from where you can see the almost-finished Shard) and you are immediately faced with a very tight winding wooden spiral staircase. After creaking your way up the 36 steps, you reach another tiny door leading to the ticket office and rather incongruous gift shop. The 2-For-1 system worked perfectly, we paid the grand total of £6.75 between us to get in, and headed up the next flight of stairs.

We entered a relatively small, quite dark attic, absolutely crammed with artefacts. It was a real mixture of old surgical tools, operating tables, early stethoscopes etc and the Culpeper Herb Museum. Both areas were fascinating in slightly different ways - the tools and tables looked incredibly primitive and it was amazing to think that these were once the height of modern medicine! The herbal section was great too - especially given our interest in complementary/holistic health. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) was an amazing herbalist (amongst other things) and much of the information held in his "Complete Herbal" is still used today in herbal medicine. 

After the delights of the garrett, we moved into the actual operating theatre. This was where operations were carried out on patients from St Thomas' Hospital between 1822 and 1862 when it was partially dismantled and the entrances were bricked up. It was basically forgotten about until 1956 when a man investigating the history of St Thomas' Hospital found some records of it and decided to take a look. What a surprise he must have got once he'd negotiated the 15ft of ladder up to the trapdoor entrance that was now the only way in. Since then, it has been restored somewhat and filled with the paraphernalia held there today. 
Although the website recommends a 45-minute visit to the museum, we spent well over an hour there and consequently realised that we didn't have time to go to The London Film Museum and still get to The Hilton on time. 

It was a lovely day so we decided to walk right along the river from London Bridge to Westminster Bridge and then hop on the Tube to get to Park Lane. Our journey took us past Southwark Cathedral, Millenium Bridge, the Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, Blackfriars Bridge, a replica of the Golden Hind, St Paul's Cathedral (on the other side of the river), the South Bank, Gabriel's Wharf, Waterloo Bridge, Jubilee Gardens, London Film Museum, London Aquarium, the London Eye, opposite the Houses of Parliament and finally to Westminster Bridge. 

On the way we stopped off for a drink at the very marvellous "Propstore" bar, a summer pop-up bar, filled with sets and scenery from National Theatre productions. 

And then it was time for the main event - 3pm had rolled around and we were heading into the Podium Restaurant at The Hilton. I'll be honest, once upon a time, "The Hilton" conjured up images of very posh, swanky hotels with chandeliers and marble floors. These days, many of them are, as someone put it the other day, slightly upmarket Travelodges! However, we weren't there to gawp at the surroundings, we were there for our Chocoholics Champagne Afternoon Tea. 

Having been shown to our table, we were handed the menu or, rather, the explanation! A flute of champagne was brought fairly swiftly, along with a small wooden box which contained six tiny glass screw-top containers, each containing a different tea. There were probably twenty different teas on the menu and these were just six interesting ones they thought we might like to sniff. Cathy opted for a white tea and I went for the Hilton Afternoon blend. The champagne was rather nice - Pommery - and went down far too easily. Once that had gone, we were brought our individual pots of tea and the first round of food - sandwiches. They were dainty open sandwiches but absolutely delicious. I had the vegetarian option (of course) - one egg and cress, one cream cheese and cucumber, one cheddar and grape, one mozzarella and tomato and one asparagus with parmesan shavings. 

Then it was time for cake. Cakes. Lots of them. A three-tier metal and glass cake stand arrived, laden down with cakey chocolatey goodness! 

Level One - Scones. Two chocolate chip scones, one fruit scone and a plain scone. A pot of strawberry jam. A pot of clotted cream. A pot of chocolate praline. Heaven.

Level Two - Pastries. Battenberg. Sacher Torte. Raspberry and Elderflower cupcake. Red velvet cupcake. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Level Three - Miniature Fancies. White chocolate and cherry cheesecake with red velvet and orange tuile. Milk chocolate cremeux. Pistachio macaroon with manjari chocolate filling. Iced shortbread butterfly on an orange and chocolate profiterole. Lemon and raspberry marshmallow lolly. Meringue lolly. Yummity yum. 

Oh, and the top level cakes were sitting on a gigantic, half-inch thick patterned plate made of solid chocolate. Everything was beautifully made and presented and, of course, absolutely delicious. We tried to finish it all, we really did but we were beaten by a couple of cakes and the chocolate plate. Needless to say, we were not the first people to ask for a box to take the rest away in. We asked our waitress if anyone had ever finished the whole lot. No. A few people managed all the cakes but no-one had ever actually eaten the plate on the premises! 

So after nearly three hours we headed back out into London with a couple of hours to kill before our train home. Cathy found an internet-based guided walking tour of Jack the Ripper's murder locations on the net so we headed off to Whitechapel and followed most of the grisly tour, ending at The Hoop and Grapes, one of the oldest pubs in London and the only timber-framed building to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666.

And then it was back to Victoria and home. It had been a lovely, interesting and decadent day! Thanks Dad and Ann! 

For all my photos of the day, click HERE. 

For the actual website and their own photos, click HERE. 

And relax - a glorious spa day!

For Christmas 2012, Cathy and I bought each other a spa day experience at the CityPoint Club, London, in the heart of The City.

When January 21st finally rolled around, it didn't have the most auspicious start. After a weekend of snow, the trains were completely messed up on Monday with delays and cancellations galore. Our departure time (and station) changed several times until finally we found ourselves London-bound, albeit to a different station from the one we'd booked for.

Fate turned out to be kind though, as arriving at London Bridge meant a far shorter journey to Moorgate on the tube than would have been the case from Victoria. Very surprisingly, we arrived at the spa only half an hour after we were meant to be there. Thankfully, they had picked up my earlier answerphone message explaining our travel problems and had scheduled our treatments for later in the afternoon. 

Once the formalities were done (medical waivers, registration forms), we were given a tour of the facilities - very impressive. There's a 20m swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, ice-cold plunge pool, several relaxation areas (including one darkened room with Zero Gravity massage chairs), and a state-of-the-art gym. We had nearly three hours before our treatments so off we went to the huge changing room to don our cossies. 

Between us, we've been to a fair few spas but this one was definitely a cut above the rest. Being in the heart of the City of London means that they have some rather well-off members and the place reeked of money, yet managed to remain friendly and unpretentious. 

Just to prove that we're possibly rather easily pleased, the main thing that set this apart from others was the fact that you weren't just given a robe, towel and flip-flops (not those silly little fabric slippers you get at some), and expected to use them all day. In each area of the spa was a wall filled to overflowing with fresh white towels. Whenever you wanted a clean one, you just ditched yours in one of the many towel drop bins and grabbed a new one. There was a whole rack of fresh robes in the changing rooms too. 

Anyway, having got over the shock of the towel situation, we headed first into the darkened relaxation room, rather fascinated by the idea of a Zero Gravity massage chair. The sign on the door says "Quiet please - you are entering a relaxation area". Fortunately, there was no-one else in there as the next 15 minutes was filled with the sound of our giggling as we used the remote control to move the chair into every position between upright and fully reclined, whilst playing with the other buttons to see what bizarre combinations of vibration and massage we could come up with. It's hard to describe the sensation of being tipped backwards while your legrest vibrates and the back of the chair squeezes you round the ribs, hips and shoulders with a sometimes vice-like grip. It was odd but lovely. There are seven massage chairs in the room, positioned facing a very large tropical fish tank and it's easy to see why a harassed City worker would pop in here for half an hour, lean back, get a mini-massage and just watch the fish. It was relaxing enough for me and I don't pretend to have a stressful job! 

We could not, sadly, stay in there all day so for the next couple of hours we chopped and changed between the pool, the jacuzzi, the sauna and the steam room, and Cathy did half an hour in the gym. The sauna is, no doubt, fantastic but it was too hot for both of us. Neither of us are fans of dry heat and we managed about three minutes in there before bailing. Happy though I was not to use the gym, I had every intention of using everything else on offer so I headed with some trepidation to the plunge pool. It wasn't very large in diameter nor very deep (1.3m) so it wasn't possible to do a proper plunge as you're meant to, but I did manage to lower myself rather gingerly into the ice-cold water until my shoulders were under, then after a few seconds I got out again rather a lot faster! I can assure you that was bracing enough. The steam room is very lovely. Perfect temperature, perfect amount of steam, twinkly colour-changing lights in the ceiling and the steam vent is positioned in a corner rather than somewhere under the seat as is so often the case in other spas. I have had plenty of experiences of wondering where the steam vent is, only to suddenly find the backs of my legs on fire as a blast of hot steam emanates from under the seat. No such unpleasantness here! The jacuzzi is a bubbling cauldron of lovely warm water with plenty of room and we were the only people in it most of the time. We took no heed of the "10 minutes maximum" sign and simply kept switching it back on whenever it automatically cut off. The only part which could have been improved was the pool. It's 20m long but is divided permanently into 4 lanes, none of which appeared to be designed for those of us who like to bob about a bit, rather than doing any serious swimming. When we first headed to it, it was effectively full. There were two people in each lane, swimming length after length and all looking very serious about it. We did get in there later in the day, when one lane was free and we splashed about looking distinctly inelegant, and playing silly games with the floats. Rather aptly, the lane we were in had a sign at one end saying "Slow swimmers lane"! 

3pm rolled around and it was time for the proper pampering to begin. Our package included a 30-minute neck, shoulder and back massage and a 30-minute facial each. The treatment rooms match the rest of the place in terms of quality. Well sound-proofed, candlelit, tinkly massage music and wonderfully fragrant. But the best things (apart from the actual treatment) are the heated underblanket and duvet on the massage table! Sliding under a thick warm duvet and relaxing for 5 minutes before the massage began was a gorgeous start. The next hour passed in a haze of relaxing loveliness. My masseuse, Kristal, was really good, using just the right amount of pressure and concentrating on the areas that I had told her got very tense and painful. The facial seemed to involve about half a dozen different oils, creams and potions going on and gently being wiped off but the end result was soft, glowing skin, the likes of which I haven't seen in the mirror for about ten years! 

We had time for another quick massage chair stint and a gaze at the fish before the final part of our experience (and, if we're honest, the reason we booked this package at this spa in preference to any other) - the Prosecco Afternoon Tea! Given that we were there on a discount Travelzoo package, they could have been forgiven for fobbing us off with a glass of cava and a Waitrose scone each. But no! Two champagne flutes of proper champagne came first, followed by a plate of cheese salad sandwiches, egg mayo sandwiches on delicious caraway bread, grapes, pineapple slices and four fruit scones, with strawberry jam and a huge dollop of clotted cream on the side. What a way to instantly replace all those toxins we'd spent the rest of the day getting rid of! 

Forty-five minutes later, very full and very relaxed it was time to head for the changing rooms and get ready to go back to the real world. The shower cubicles are huge, the water set to the perfect temperature and each cubicle has full bottles of luxurious shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. The changing rooms even hold little extras - a whole room of mirrors and dressing-room type stools, with numerous hairdryers, hair straighteners and stacks of mousse, gel, hairspray, deodorant, cotton wool balls all laid on. The number of staff constantly (but inconspicuously) going around replenishing everything, removing used towels, straightening the relaxation couches etc, means that the place always looks and feels as if it has just opened for the day. 

And then it was 5.30 - time to wave goodbye and head back out into the hustle and bustle of London. It felt like a different world. 

An expensive non-event

A few weeks ago, I got an email from The Applause Store, a well-known group which provides (free) tickets to the filming of TV shows. Normally, I ignore them as they're for such shite as Big Brother and various other "reality" shows. However, this one offering was pretty tempting - a show called New Britannia, hosted by Morgan Spurlock (he of Supersize Me) and with such guests as Rich Hall, one of my favourites, and various others. So two tickets were duly applied for and granted. Hurrah.

The filming was due to take place on January 9th in London, out at the BBC Wood Lane studios in Shepherd's Bush. It seemed like a long way to go just for a couple of hours in the evening so we decided to make a bit of a day of it.

It still staggers me just how much public transport is these days. London is only 52 miles from Brighton, yet a return ticket booked in advance, even travelling at a civilised time of day, was over £21.

A bit of a hiccup in the morning meant we didn't set off til about 3 hours after we'd planned and only had time for a quick skip round Camden Market, an hour in the Natural History Museum, which I'd promised myself, and a final 20 minutes in the Science Museum. All free, all good.

The TV filming tickets had said that we had to arrive "in good time" to ensure entry. Actual filming was due to start at 7pm, the doors were due to open at 6.30 so we figured that 45 minutes in advance would be more than sufficient. Coming out of the tube station, walking towards the BBC building and seeing an alarmingly large queue made us a bit dubious but we still thought we'd be fine. The queue seemed to hold audience members for more than one show which also made us feel better.

Misplaced optimism, it turned out. Less than ten minutes after we joined the queue, a guy from the studio walked up the queue shouting "Anyone with tickets for New Britannia from the Applause Store, sorry, we're full up. If you contact the Applause Store, they'll give you guaranteed tickets for the next filming of the show". And that was that. The last people to get in were about 10 ahead of us in the queue. Most other people just wandered off saying "Oh well" but I guess they probably lived in London and therefore it was no great shakes for them. For us however, having spent £42 and most of the day, really just to go to the filming, it was more than disappointing. And we certainly weren't going to spend another £42 going on a different day even with guaranteed tickets.

Determined not to just slink back to Brighton with our tails between our legs, we wandered over to Westfield Shopping Centre, not for shopping, which I hate, but because we assumed it would have a load of places to eat. Wrong again. Well, not wrong, but what was there seemed to be overpriced, chain-type rubbish. We dived into a nearby pub to decide what to do when I realised that I have the Time Out London app on my phone so I quizzed it for suggestions.

Lo and behold, a ten-minute walk down the road was a vegetarian restaurant, of 22 years' standing, called Blah Blah Blah. Good reviews, online menu looked tasty, we were hungry so off we went. What a find. It was lovely. Beautifully done out, chilled, only 3 other people there, attentive friendly waiter and ... a pot of crayons and a paper tablecloth on each table so you could let your creative juices flow before, during and after your meal. The food was absolutely delicious and, for London, not too expensive. We were also pleased to find that despite the online site saying that they weren't licensed, they actually were so we even got a bottle of wine to wash down our food.

All in all, a mixed day. Train fares are a rip-off but bits of London are still worth the effort, the Applause Store isn't worth wasting any more time on but at least missing out on the filming meant we found a great restaurant.

Swings and roundabouts!