A Wonderful Day to Remember

Saturday was a great day.  Not only was it Vanessa's annual Fanciful Twist tea party, it was also the day of the Doctor Who proms.  I love visiting London.  It's difficult to not feel inspired when surrounded by diversity, creativity and energy. 

After a breakfast/brunch of a sausage and hash brown cob (erm just realised lots of people won't know what a cob is, it's just a local name for a bread roll) to keep us going we hit the road.  Boy, were we thankful to have air conditioning in the car.  Saturday was soooooo hot, the hottest day of the year so far, although, I think that record has been broken now, it's been meltingly hot all week.

After battling the underground and making our way to Carnaby Street our first stop was for refreshments.  There had never been any doubt in my mind that we must go to Choccywoccydoodah.  For those who don't know, they are a Brighton based business who make the most divine cakes and chocolate sculptures.  There is actually a tv show, I guess it's like the English version of Ace of Cakes.

Their new London shop is amazing, full of chocolatey goodness.  We managed to get seated in the cafe pretty much straight away, so we must have timed it perfectly.

I had originally thought about having a hot chocolate but it was far to warm for that, instead I had a gorgeous grapefruit lemonade.  We both opted for cake, Chris had lemon while I had coconut.

My, oh my, oh my!  These cakes were delicious, they not only came with ice cream but they were also drizzled in melted chocolate and a raspberry sauce, seriously I could have died with delight.

Once finished we spent some time looking round the cakes in the shop.  These really are works of art.

Chocolate sculpted into unicorns,

magpies,

.....and my personal favourite flying monkeys.

    (that's a chocolate monkey, a huge monkey sculptured from chocolate.  Wowza!)

Seriously, if you are ever in London or Brighton pay them a visit.  The service is wonderful, the staff are friendly and the cakes are divine.

A quick, hop skip and jump (well really a tube and a walk) and we're in Hyde Park, sat under a shady tree opposite the Royal Albert Hall, drinking tea and listening to the soundcheck for the Rolling Stones concert that was taking place in the evening.  Quite honestly, at that moment I couldn't have been happier even if a man had came up and handed me a million pounds.

After a bit of humming and arring about whether or not we wanted some dinner (we didn't, a combination of heat and cake meant we wasn't hungry), it was soon time to head into the Royal Albert Hall for the main event.  The Doctor Who prom was just fabulous!  We got to listen to Murray Gold's wonderfully composed music while Cybermen, Daleks and other famous Doctor Who aliens roamed around the audience looking menacing.  Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman who play the Doctor and his companion were there and lots of other people from the cast both past and present.  Even though it is exciting to see these people in the flesh, really the star of the show was the music, beautiful, haunting, at times sad and sometimes scary, sitting in the Royal Albert Hall listening to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the London Philharmonic Choir was one of those moments that I will cherish for ever.

 

 (looking up to the Acoustic diffusing discs on the ceiling of the Royal Albert Hall)

Without wanting to sound too soppy the best part of the whole experience was that I got to spend it with my best friend, my wonderful Husband, although he's really set himself a high standard for anniversary presents now. ;-)