tea and friends and les miz...oh my

after buying the tickets for les miz, the hub surprised me again as we continued on foot and arrived at the sanderson london hotel.  they do a pretty fantastic "mad hatter"-themed afternoon tea, and while we didn't have a reservation the host was able to set us at an inside table.  it wasn't ideal, because part of the experience is to be seated outside by the garden, but we were happy to be there at all.  the place settings were adorable:

and then we were presented with the selection of special themed teas to choose from.  we could open the little bottles to take a whiff, each described on the little cards attached to the bottles.

sugar for the tea was inside the music box.

right after i snapped this, the host came over to let us know that he'd found a table in the garden area that he could seat us at.  it was much nicer out there, and we were happy to move.

inside this book was the menu that described what we'd be served on our tiered trays, along with cocktails and other drinks we could order.

these cards gave a more detailed description of the teas.  we chose the "alice" and the "cheshire cat."

the hub pointed out then that the cups and plates all matched, which i hadn't noticed because i was so busy looking at everything else.

i went for the pink champagne, because duh.

the teapots came like this:

and then the rest of our goodies arrived.

the top tier held "carrot" meringues, magical mushroom marshmallows, and a chocolate "caterpillar."

underneath that were more sweets:  vanilla "pocket watch" macarons, queen of hearts rose and strawberry sandwich cookies, lemon curd cakes, and a mocha chessboard cake.

the bottom tier contained the savory sandwiches.  ham and parmesan croque monsieur, crab brioche roll, cucumber and cream cheese, and a delicious smoked salmon scotch egg topped with caviar and cream cheese.

of course, there were fresh scones served with clotted cream and jam.

and then the "drink me" bottles that were super cute but totally not my thing - alice's exotic fruits potion.  the hub loved it (since he hadn't had any sort of juice since last august, and he likes smoothies anyway) while i took a sip just long enough to snap a picture.

inside, there were a few spots for photo ops that i posed awkwardly at.  heh.

we caught another uber that took us back to the hotel to get freshened up and relax for a little while before showtime.  while the hub decided to go downstairs to enjoy a cigar, i stayed in the room to stretch out on the bed and just happened to catch an episode of my favorite show on tv.

we ordered another uber that dropped us off at the theater with just enough time to spare before the show began.

it was pretty crowded in there, but the hub still managed to get through the line to grab a drink and a snack before we made our way to our seats.

we had great seats, and i even got to go up to the front and peek down into the orchestra pit.

the show was wonderful, as we'd anticipated, and we enjoyed every minute of it.  when it was over, we were both pretty hungry but found that most of the restaurants nearby were closed for the night.  and that's how we ended up at shake shack for our post-show dinner.

i'm not complaining though.  not one bit.