Katherine MacAlister has an action packed overnight stay in the capital

In the cold winter evenings of early 2014 we were discussing our New Year resolutions in the local pub.

The usual hopes surfaced from the gang – to lose weight, spend more time with our children, spend less time with our children, go abroad, and then it was my turn. “I want to go to see Carlos Acosta in the flesh,” I blurted out, “the famous Cuban dancer who has had made ballet sexy again.”

“Let’s do it,” my friend squealed.

The next morning, while perusing the Sunday papers in a blur, there he was, in all his splendour, staring at me from the page, talking to me, begging me to come and see him in Romeo and Juliet at The Albert Hall, and like a harpooned whale I was there, hook, line and sinker, phone in hand, booking tickets.

It was meant to be.

We could have left it at that, caught the train to London, seen the ballet and gone home, but where’s the fun in that? Why not make a weekend of it? Give us something to look forward to during the gloomy months of January and February, so that when spring appeared we were ready, primed and excited.

Not nearly as excited as my travelling companion who had actually bought a portable champagne cooler along for the ride. But then as we were staying at mybloomsbury hotel and dining at Polpo, as well as extensive shopping trips planned for Selfridges and Oxford Street, there was much to celebrate.

We got the train from Bicester to Marylebone, a smooth 45 minutes these days, giving us plenty of time to book into mybloomsburyhotel and have some lunch at the wonderful looking Gail’s Kitchen next door, sitting out on the terrace watching the world go by in the spring sunshine, a wonderful start.

The food was equally as superb, little sharing plates of delicious fragrant food, bursting with freshness and taste, a meal I can still remember.

An in-house beautician, buried in the depths of the hotel, then had her wicked way with me – a full pedicure – meaning that I would be looking the part for Carlos. Getting changed in our fantastically tasteful suite, all charcoal greys and exotic art, I realised what a gem of a contemporary boutique hotel mybloomsbury was, especially in central London – a real find.

Emerging polished to within an inch of our lives we tottered off to The Albert Hall, intending to tube it until we realised there was no way those heels would go underground and hailed a cab instead.

Dressed up to the eyeballs I was stunned to find that most people were dressed down for the ballet, some were even in jeans which seemed a shame. There aren’t many opportunities these days to get properly glammed up.

All of which detracts from the main purpose of our visit – to see Carlos Acosta in all his splendour – and he didn’t disappoint, the Shakespearean tragedy playing in the round, the setting almost as inspiring as the drama unfolding before us, until dewy-eyed, we emerged into the still light evening and disappeared off pronto to a nearby cocktail bar.

It would have been too easy to revel in the emotion and excitement of the evening and wipe out the entire next day with celebratory alcohol, but we had a full agenda to fulfill the next day goddammit, and beauty sleep was required. Besides after a bottle of champagne in both intervals, we were replete.

It was the right decision because it meant that after a fabulous breakfast the next morning, we were a 10-minute walk (in much more sensible shoes) from the delights of Oxford and Regent Streets, including a quick tour of the new trendy furniture stores on Tottenham Court Road.

But the real treat lay behind the grand doors of Selfridges, where shoes and jeans beckoned, having been assigned a floor each.

We emerged in time for our lunch booking at Polpo in Soho, Russell Norman’s first restaurant, of which I’m a massive fan. Loaded down with yellow Selfridges bags, we could scarcely fit them all under the table as we squeezed into our banquette for a round of delicious nibbly sharing plates and a well deserved rest for our feet.

And as we ate and chatted and laughed the rest of the day away, we reflected on how much we had fitted into our 24-hour London stint.

ESSENTIALS

* mybloomsburyhotel
11-13 Bayley Street
Bedford Square, 
London, WC1B 3HD
0120 3004 6000
bloomsbury@myhotels.com

* Best unrestricted rate for a standard double room based on two people sharing is £140. Breakfast is not included.

* 48-hours in London
Two overnight stays
Complimentary breakfast both mornings
Lunch/dinner at Gail’s Kitchen on one of the days
Starts at £360

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