My Favourite Martian

Well, London has turned on some of the best weather for April in 30 years...apparently Thursday was the hottest day on record for the month of April (a whopping 23 degrees) – so just like the entirety of Melbourne’s summer this year then? No complaints – I love the crisp mornings and evenings and the beautiful cloudless skies during the day have persuaded Londoners to strip off, embrace the flip flops and adopt the most pleasant demeanours. Let the sunshine in indeed!

Embracing my inner Whovian geek I toddled off to The Doctor Who Experience at Olympia 2, London first thing this morning and I had high hopes for the experience and I wasn’t disappointed. WHOA how cool was it to walk through the TARDIS door and enter the console room.

The experience is really only 4 rooms but I was completely absorbed by the entire experience. I was also really, really happy that Matt Smith’s Doctor narrated the duration of the show and there was no trace of crappy Amy Pond anywhere (well almost no trace). By far the best room was the Dalek room...the kids on our tour were genuinely scared of the tinpots – funny to watch little kids cowering behind their parents. Ahhh Who how I love you. The 3D show at the end was also pretty special – the Weeping Angles were made for a 3D experience – and was a nice fitting homage to Series 5. My only complaint is that the “Experience” is only a Series 5 Experience. There’s little in the “Experience” that references either David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston’s stints as the Doctor...which is potentially a missed opportunity.

The exhibition after the experience was really the highlight of the show – whether it was the costumes of all the Doctors...

... or My Favourite Martins...The Ice Warriors...

... or the scariest monsters from the new series – The Scarecrow...

...or some favourites from the 4th Doctor Era – is that a Zygon in your pocket?

I’m sure the weather knows there’s a Royal Wedding in the offing and appears to be doing its best at hinting that it might play ball for Willy and Katie’s special day. From the amount of memorabilia that’s around the place you really can’t escape the “excitement”. So what better way to celebrate than with a trip to Buckingham Palace.

How to quell the excitement...what about a ride on the London Eye? Sure, why not? Although I did not think I was afraid of heights (hello! Sears Tower, Seattle Needle etc etc) the experience in the Eye is somewhat disconcerting. A couple of times I found myself edging toward the safety of the centre of the pod (with the scared little children) and never really felt comfortable for the entire go-round. However, the view really made up for any discomfort experienced.

Finally, a bit of shopping on Oxford St including an obligatory trip into Selfridges and the day is done...and I have not even mentioned Emmerdale once (whoops!).