Over-priced food, busy rides, and freezing weather – what else but Winter Wonderland! My sister and I visited Winter Wonderland a few days before Christmas to enjoy the lights and sights, especially as both of us have not been for a few years. We enjoyed a few (expensive!) rides, and had a look around to enjoy the fun vibe in the air and the beautiful lights. One of the things we liked as well was exploring the market which is around the area, which sells lovely hand-made goods and pretty pieces.
I’m not sure I’ll be going again next year as I did find the rides and food very expensive – we easily spent over £30 on two rides which felt a little extortionate, especially as most theme park tickets now cost this much. It is a seasonal thing and it has a nice atmosphere, but it makes me think that Winter Wonderland is an example of a seasonal thing which has become too commercialised, which takes advantage of the holiday season to make a lot of money! While I understand that this is normal for the Christmas season, I have decided a long while ago that when I do spend my money, I’d like to spend it on things which are worth it, good value and also enjoyable!
But that’s enough for now – here’s a few snaps I took at Winter Wonderland. Unforunately my phone camera is great at night time, but I did try!
Hi all, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve taken a small(ish) break for a couple of months to refresh, look for more ideas and basically focus on a few other things, but I have missed blogging so here’s hoping I’ll get back into it again!
In the meantime, here’s a sneak at somewhere pretty amazing I visited recently – the vibrant Big Apple, which was pretty amazing in a lot of ways. More to come very soon!
My sister and I came across these lovelies a few weeks ago in Broadgate, next to Liverpool Street station – beautiful glow trees. The art installation is called Lumen, part of artist David Ogle’s collection called Light Traces, and designed to make us stop from our busy lives and appreciate the environment around us, by enjoying the bursts of colour in the dark after a short winter day.
One of the things that I liked about these pretty trees was how cheerful and calming they look, and how nice it is to walk around and bask in the coloured lights. It’s striking how simple the trees look together, and yet when you look a little closer and see how the different pieces are fixed together, it’s surprising how much more complex it actually is.
This art piece will be up in Broadgate until 22nd February 2018, so if you’re around then take a quick look, it’s a nice place to stop and admire for a little while.
I recently found myself walking through the beautiful, 14th century Leadenhall Market which is located near Tower Hill. I didn’t realise that the actual market doesn’t run on weekends, so got the chance to see the ornate walls and arches up close and while it was quiet.
There’s something beautiful, yet eerie about walking through these halls – you can see just how much history it carries, and the grandness of it all encapsulates the beauty perfectly. Apparently the Market is situated in the centre of what was Roman London – which just shows that it is so much more than a market or a walkway to it all.
If you’re around the area, I’d recommend a visit through the grand halls of Leadenhall Market so you can explore and feel the weight of the history, and to enjoy the beautiful atmosphere as you walk along.
My friends and I managed to get a table at the constantly-booked Dalloway’s Terrace restaurant, which took us about a month to get, but was worth it for the visual experience and the ambience. The restaurant is known for it’s pretty decor and looks lovely at night – which was the first thing my friends and I noticed as soon as we got to the restaurant.
The decor which was up was mainly lights and lanterns, painted pine-cones and white trees and rushes, which made for a very intimate feel to the restaurant. The seating is centred around the trees and the lights and it feels pretty surreal to sit in the middle of it because it feels a little like being in a fairy-like enchanted woods (without the cold, there were heaters everywhere!)
The food itself is a little limited in terms of halal, but we were re-assured that the chicken in this restaurant is halal. There is a mix of cuisine, with mainly English and a dash of Meditarranean and Asian. We all opted for some fondues and also chose a meal each as well – I picked a miso cod on a bed of quinoa, with spinach leaves in cream (and we also got chips for everyone to share, becuase why not!)
My friends also picked a mix of food – one went for a mixed sea-grill, another went for bruschetta, while my other friend was in the mood for dessert and went for fruit-tarts and a hot chocolate! The food was presented quite nicely, and I personally liked the dish I picked – it was tender, juicy and had a good mix of sweet and savoury. I think our favourite thing was the fondues though – we ordered a cheese one with fruit, and another white chocolate fondue with strawberry which really completed the night (not to mention fighting over and stealing each other’s fruit from the fondue pot!)
Cheese Fondue
Bruschetta
Miso Cod, Spinach in Cream and Sea Food Grill Mix
White chocolate fondue
Hot chocolate and gingerbread
Fruit tart
The bright lights have been taken down from Dalloway’s Terrace now (which will be back at the end of the year at Christmas time) but it’s still worth a visit when the restaurant re-opens in May with their springy green decor. I really enjoyed myself at this restaurant and would love to try afternoon tea in the summer at this place – I’m sure it will be just as fun an experience!
Have you been to this restaurant? What dish did you like best?
Lasts week my sister and I managed to catch the Winter Lights Exhibition at Canary Wharf, which is a follow-up from the amazing Lumiere London light festival last year. It was a cold night but we persevered and followed our trusty map to get to as many light installations as possible – and were not disappointed!
The exhibition was on for a week, and like the ones before, it was pretty busy while we were walking around, but there was also a lovely vibe in the air – lots of people enjoying art, London and beautiful lights.
The first one which caught our eyes immediately was this egg-shaped installation, which was in front of the station as soon as we stepped out, with changing colours, musical lights and lots of people exploring the inside of the egg.
We saw most of the installations (out of 30 I think we only missed two!) and managed to get a good look at most of them (and also take three hundred photos!). I loved the different ideas from all of these, from moving art to stationary, lights, pictures and words which all looked pretty beautiful.
Alongside the egg-shaped installation (called the Ovo), we also found lots of angel wings in the park nearby, which were very popular. I loved this idea, it let the public interact, take pictures and wander around exploring.
Ovo
Angels of Freedom
Winter Lights
We then walked onto West Ferry (which took us a while!) and got to these beautiful neon-lines wound around trees with fairy-lights. There was something very surreal about this part, which felt a little like a dream-world and was really fun to walk around. The interesting thing was, although these look like glowing strips, these were just ordinary coloured tape lit up with lights in the right places. We also went on a little further to see a Garden of Blooms – coloured baubles which changed colours and tinkled soft music, which looked like beautiful flowers.
Bloom
Horizontal Interference
Bloom
Next we went onto the more commercial and busier side of the area to Canada Water / Cabot Square, which had more buildings and offices. My favourite about this place was the Water & Light installation, which dropped quickly enough to form words (you can see in the video below). We also went into a few office buildings and saw spinning ‘Poemdums and Koans) which were cylinders and cones in various colours and sizes, some with words which caught your eye.
Huge Reeds
Bit.Fall
Poemdrums & Koans
Poemdrums & Koans
Poemdrums & Koans
Koans – The Dance
We then moved on to the Cross Rail which was the busiest part of the Winter Lights exhibitions, although it was spread out on three floors with lots of outside exhibitions that were lit up in the night. These are my favourite pieces, colourful rainbows, columns which mirrored your movements, flowers that lit up, recycled bottles used with lights, and a really fun musical and light show on the water controlled by people’s movements.
Water Wall
Cathedral of Mirrors
Liter of Light
Transforming from Stardust
Origin
On Your Wavelength
There were quite a few very innovative ideas, which were really interesting as these were things we hadn’t seen before. I managed to get a clip of a very popular exhibition which was lightwaves affected by brainwaves, and the idea of thoughts, focus and brain activity. I also liked another exhibit which were mirrors that said one thing but changed into another word when you looked at the reflection, as well as a ‘body scanning’ exhibit which scanned the person standing in front and posting a quick ‘imprint’ image on the screen in front.
Neon & Mirrors
The Haze Series
Selected Works
Light Movements
Lumen Presents Inflow
Lumen Presents Passage
We finally finished by wandering around and enjoying the lights (and even popped into Zara at one point) on our way back to Canary Wharf station, so that we had come to a full circle, where we found this poem lit up in the park.
We also managed to find lots of light benches (which we spent lots of time sitting on and posing on!) in front of a colourful lit-up ice-skating rink, which looked very surreal. I’m pretty terrible at skating, so didn’t want to risk damaging myself but having a go on the ice rink!
All in all, it was a really fun evening (although still pretty cold!) and we found a lot of things to see which we loved. I love that light shows are becoming more popular in London, and that a lot of people like myself and my sister enjoy wandering around and exploring the city. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of these over summer, and have already seen a few which look interesting!
Did you go to this event? Which light installation did you like best?
It‘s not often I get a chance to stop at beautiful gates like this, but naturally when they come on a beautifully grand scale like this, a picture must be taken. It brings me to mind stories that I’ve read in the past where the hero (or heroine) has to reach the gates fast enough to get their happy ending – or even Greek Tragedies like Orpheus and Eurydice‘s tale of lost love. Inspiring enough to try my own hand at a fable like this, if I manage to finish it, I’ll post my story!
My sister and I were lucky enough to see all the beautiful lights which were set up last week for Lumiere London, one of the country’s biggest light festivals. We managed to see most of the light installations – out of 40 of them we only missed around three or four.
I won’t describe them too much because there were so many, and because the pictures looked amazing – the lights were looked beautiful in the night and there was such a nice atmosphere of tourist and Londoners all out at the same time exploring the different streets with installations.
Mayfair and Bond Street
Sanctuary – Sarah Blood
Dissect I and Dissect II by Sarah Blood
Spinning Night in Living Colour by Elaine Buckholtz
Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker
Brothers & Sisters by Ron Haselden
Aquarium by Benedetto Bufalino & Benoit Deseille
Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker
1.8 London by Janet Echelman
Aquarium by Benedetto Bufalino & Benoit Deseille
Regent Street and Carnaby Street
Luminéoles by Porté par le vent
Keyframes by Groupe LAPS
195 Piccadilly by NOVAK
Lightbulbs at Carnaby Street
195 Piccadilly by NOVAK
Shaida Walking. 2015 by Julian Opie
Luminéoles by Porté par le vent
195 Piccadilly by NOVAK
Eléphantastic
Pall Mall and The Strand
The #Hibernot Stand
Neon Dogs by Deepa Mann-Kler
I Haven’t Changed My Mind in a Thousand Years by Beth J Ross
Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne
I Haven’t Changed My Mind in a Thousand Years by Beth J Ross
Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne
Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and Westminster
Garden of Light by TILT
Garden of Light by TILT
Centre Point Lights
Plastic Islands by Luzinterruptus
Plastic Islands by Luzinterruptus
Garden of Light by TILT
Kings Cross
IFO (Identified Flying Object) by Jacques Rival
Litre of Light by Mick Stephenson
Joining the Dots by Cleary Connolly
Light Graffiti by Floating Pictures
Circus of Light by Ocubo
Dresses by Tae gon KIM
Litre of Light by Mick Stephenson
Circus of Light by Ocubo
We spent about four hours walking around all over London, but it was great fun and we managed to find spots of London we hadn’t been to before!
My sister went to Winter Wonderland recently and posted some seriously gorgeous pictures of the bright lights, decor and yummy food – take a look at her blog post about it, the pictures are beautiful!
Hyde Park, London hosts Winter Wonderland every year which is a family event running over the festive season. There’s fairground rides for thrill seekers, Christmas markets for anyone looking for beautifully crafted gifts, and tasty food to make sure energy levels are topped up. Seeing as it looked like a fun evening out I went with my sister and her family to experience the sights, smells and tastes on offer.
I went on a ride or two with the kids, was distracted from stall to stall with the interesting and beautiful items on display and was awed by the pretty lights and great atmosphere.
I didn’t manage to experience everything as we ran out of time, but hopefully I’ll be able to return next year to enjoy more rides as well as see the circus show, the cool ice sculptures in the ice kingdom and take a spin on the…
Here’s one of the highlights on my weekend, this picture. My niece had a birthday party today and invited friends and cousins to come play and eat cake. Not everyone could wait for the cake to be cut though…
The Harlequin Tea Set 