Both on Friday and on Saturday this week,we spent some time in Central London and began to experience this.
On Friday, our good friend Cynthia (who is paying an unexpected but welcome visit to London) planned to do one of the guided tours that are organised by 'London Walks'. She suggested we come as well and we happily joined the 'Dickens Walk', which takes one along the border between the City of Westminster (also called the "West End", where most of the theatres, the Government buildings, the shopping areas and the major parks are) and the City of London (also called "the City", which is the financial centre). More or less on this border are the Royal Courts of Justice and all the (old and new) buildings which have and had something to do with the legal system over the centuries. This is the area around which Dickens moved for part of his life and where he got the inspiration for many of the characters in his books. The tour was very well guided by Jean (in period costume), who must have been an actress in earlier days.
After the tour we warmed up with a cup of coffee and then walked past Somerset House where there is a very festive ice rink.
Here are some pictures:
Guide Jean
Lyn and Cynhia in front of "The Old Curiosity Shop"
The Old Curiosity Shop itself
The Ice rink at Somerset House
On Saturday, Rachel (Lyn's niece) and Mathew (Rachel's husband) came down from Cambridge and we spent the day together. The plan had been for Lyn and Rachel to go skating at Somerset house, but all tickets for the day had been sold. As they had ever been to the National Gallery, we went there for a short while. Sean joined in after we came out of the Gallery. This is on Trafalgar Square, where they were just having a 'Santa Takes Over Trafalgar' event (maybe with a reference to the Occupy movement at St Paul's?). The square was teeming with cheerful and festive red clad Santa's; here they can be seen sitting on the base of Nelson's column:
After lunch on the South Bank, we slowly moved to Hyde Park where they have 'Winter Wonder Land', a massive affair with a nice Christmas market, an ice rink and many rides. Unfortunately (and probably at least partly due to the nice weather), it was heaving with people, it was impossible to move around at all, so after a cup of mulled wine we left and walked to Oxford street and Regent street to see the Cristmas lights (which, especially in Regent street, are nice although not on the scale we saw in Vienna two years ago).
Mulled wine at Santa's pub.
The Winter Wonder land rides from a distance.
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