Sunday, January 26, 2014

Celebrating Australia day with chocolate

Today is Australia day and to celebrate it my beloved and I went into London for posh afternoon tea which I bought on groupon at a discount. So whilst friends and family enjoyed sunshine down under we braved the awful weather for a chocoholics treat at the Hilton in Park Lane. A slightly coincidental thing, as I'm married to a Scotsman, is that yesterday was Burns night.

When we emerged from the underground at Green Park it was blowing a gale and raining  which was great considering that we had a ten minute walk to the hotel so please excuse my hair in the photos.

Afternoon tea started with lovely dainty open sandwiches - all scrummy.


Then the main event arrived, a three tiered stand full of absolute loveliness - scones, cupcakes, and other little treats.




When we walked in we noticed lots of people leaving with little take away boxes as they'd been defeated by the cakes and we made the bold statement that we wouldn't be needing one of the boxes.

The scones came with a choice of chocolate spread or jam and clotted cream.


The next tier up was four very brightly coloured little cupcakes, each with fillings and lovely delicate flavours - also they had glitter all over them which made them extra special.


The final layer was patisserie, and they were sat on a solid chocolate platform with a shot glass full of chocolate beads and two lollipops, one marshmallow and one meringue.




Whilst we were enjoying our decadent interlude we were being serenaded by a young man who was playing guitar and singing - he had a really good voice except when he decided to tackle the Chris Isaak song Wicked Game, there are some songs people should just leave alone.

One of the mini cakes was chocolate and it came with a little tube of Orange stuff - very cute. We shared all the cakes by cutting them in half.



Everything was decorated so nicely including this shortbread biscuit which is made with the bite mark in it.


Now remember our bold statement from earlier that we wouldn't need a take away box? Well we were very wrong - the cakes defeated us. Oh well, at least we'll have a treat for tomorrow.

Ken feeling very full - perhaps a wafer thin mint?
Our cake away box
The inside of the hotel is really posh - here's one of the many chandeliers.


As we left the doorman commented that it was nicer weather than when we arrived - it was still very windy but at least it wasn't raining.


To get back to the tube we did a bit of a back street wander and as usual saw some great things. There were lots of lovely doors - I always like to imagine what is behind the door and who the people are? Here's just a few of them.





The next one isn't technically a door, it's a gate leading to an abandoned mansion - very Great Expectations.


We also came across the Saudi Arabian Embassy - brought back some fond memories of our time there and all the friends we made. The area around had lots of middle eastern restaurants so we'll have to go back to try out one - maybe the Iranian one as I'm not sure if I've ever eaten in one before.


I took a picture of this hotel front as the window boxes were lovely.


Here's my beloved with a Maserati that he rather liked - what you can't see is that there's another Maserati behind this one which we thought was a little bit pretentious.


In the window of one of the many posh hotels (did I mention that this area is Mayfair, one of the expensive properties on the monopoly board) was a lovely sculpture that looked like a jellyfish.


Here's the first good shop name we've seen in a while - great name for a hairdresser in London. You'd have to hope he wasn't in a bad mood as he was cutting your hair.


Last picture of the streets is one that really got my imagination going - old buildings with old street lights, and a good layer of grime - you could almost imagine what it was like a hundred years ago.


So that was our Australia day - posh afternoon tea and a wander round lovely London.

Until next time, stay safe, keep smiling, and eat some chocolate as it's a great mood enhancer (at least that's what I keep telling myself).

Pamela and Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: Another bathroom - not as funky as some but very classy.


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