We went out to lunch at the Hereford Arms just around the corner from the hotel. We had a bottle of Portuguese white wine, an antipasto plate, a prawn and crab sandwich for me and salmon pancake for Anthony.  Then finished with coffee, apple crumble for Anthony and panacotta with stewed quince for me. It was very relaxing. Can’t believe we’re in London!

Back to our hotel for a bath for me and a long shower for Anthony before heading  off to see Kinky Boots at the Adelphi Theatre. What a great show! We had second row seats so we were close to all the action. A few songs even made me cry but it was a very positive story. We might even see it again at the Capital Theatre in Sydney when it opens in April this year.

Google maps got us to the theatre and back to Leicester Square tube station. We thought we might have a drink at our hotel bar before bed only to find find that the hotel is ‘dry’, meaning that it doesn’t have a bar or serve alcohol. The Adria is owned by an Arabic company, hence our free mini-bar which only has water and soft drinks but posh brands such as Bleinham Palace mineral water.

We had a very comfortable night’s sleep only it be woken about 7.30am by a fire alarm! We started getting dressed but it turned out to be a false alarm. We were no sooner settled back and dozing when there was a second alarm and then a third!  Not sure what was going on, probably telling us not to sleep the day away. So, downstairs for a leisurely continental breakfast. Great coffee. Lovely setting but level of service just OK. We had breakfast – fresh juice, water, fruit, yogurt, coffee, croissants, cold meats, cheese, bread rolls, croissants – and read the Sunday papers.

After breakfast we walked to Hyde Park and along the Serpentine but didn’t get to the galleries on the Serpentine.  Lots of families out walking,  and joggers and cyclists. Cyclists and horse riders have their own paths through the park. Then onto Harrods, just because it’s a destination in itself! We looked but didn’t buy anything, not even teas or jams!

Then onto the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is a lovely museum and we spent time strolling through the mediaeval sections and sitting outside in the quadrangle. I had pre-booked the Victorian afternoon tea which is only available on Sunday afternoons. It was in the Morris Room with a menu themed on the favourites of Queen Victoria. Our personal favourites were the nasturtium open sandwich with fresh anchovy, chives and blue nasturtium on pumpernickel bread and gooseberry tart with gooseberry compote and crime patisserie. It was beautifully done but very expensive and spoilt slightly because my second pot of tea was very weak and not refreshed with more tea leaves!

Back at our hotel we had an Arabic coffee flavoured with cardamom and  a date (they had these in a wooden box just like in Abu Dhabi) in one of the lounges downstairs. Then, upstairs in our room, we relaxed by the fire. I finished my book – the Nutshell – and Anthony read the papers.

There was a 24 hour train strike from Sunday night so our trip to St Pancras station on Monday morning was by cab rather than tube. All taxis were booked but luckily our ‘butler’ was able to flag a taxi outside our hotel otherwise it would have been a long walk to St Pancras station for our train to Bruges.