Birthday on Ice

Byzantine Delight & Rococo cooling off in the Ice Bar London.

Quite possibly our adopted names for our Ice Bar experience, but they were in fact our champagne cocktail orders, with kiwi & mango puree respectively. Wow they were delicious & quite potent too. The splash of vodka on top definitely helped take the chill away!

What a wonderful Birthday I've had! We've seen fun sighs from start to finish. We began the day with croissants on the train to Victoria. We then went to visit the Natural History Museum. A stunning building, looking even more imposing the in the crisp & clear blue sky. The queues were sizeable, but that didn't stop us - we wanted to see Dippy! I can't remember the last time I came, but it's such a fascinating place & it's no wonder marching lines of school kids were parading it's many halls & exhibits. It's like being young(-er!) again, seeing the dinosaurs in all their variety, & the size of the blue whale is always breath-taking. The human body part of the museum too is incredibly detailed & their is just so much to learn. The 8:1 scale foetal baby is quite scary. ..Alien!

We then shot off along the tube to Harrods, to meet Jenny's friend Lou at the Ice Cream Parlour. We shared a delicious peanut butter & nutty ice cream & caught up. Contented after our ice cream & not daring to look at the price tags, we eventually found our way out of the bubble that is Harrods department store & made our way to the Ice Bar, in Regent Street's Food Quarter. It's an ordinary looking place, a very nice looking city bar, but instead here, they draped a big cape over your shoulders & show us through two sliding doors (very cool!) & suddenly we were in a sub-zero bar! Magic! It was very cool & the drinks were lovely! We recharged our ice cube glasses with mojitos & we left with quite a buzz on - just what we needed to continue our day.

Next stop was Hamley's & a chance to have a play on it's many floors & with its incredible array of toys. We did get to the top, where the Lego was, soon after which, the urge to exit was quite strong, as you can imagine. We quickly excited, & then trekked our way to Covent Garden, following the beautiful Regent Street 12 Days of Christmas lights. On route, we stopped in the bustling Leicester Square to enjoy the mini fair there, & we jumped on the ferris wheel for the night lit views of London. I was a little nervi on the first revolution, but Jenny held my hand & it was picturesque & great fun.

We wandering around the stalls & street singers of Covent Garden before finding an Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed some tasty pasta & a bottle of Prosecco. Thank you Jenny very much!

One final treat was awaiting me back at the flat, my pal Bob, working locally, popped over for a late evening cuppa, kindly bringing me a betting shop pen, lovingly wrapped in a betting slip as a present. How did he know!?

Nice to see you, to see you.. ice!