To enjoy the pre-Christmas lead up, we were a bit more active around London - walking to Covent Garden to see the Christmas Tree, drinking 'hot' cider in pubs and we also admired the Christmas decorations and lights put up by our neighbours that gave our street a more Christmas feel.
Celebrating Christmas
In December the celebratory excitement notched itself up a couple more rungs and everyone was talking about upcoming Christmas parties, Kris Kringle / Secret Santa names and what kind of decorations were needed in the office.
We immersed ourselves in the London yule tide celebrations by visiting multiple Christmas markets including the iconic Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park; and the Bavarian Christmas village along Southbank.
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| Christmas lights |
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| Ferris wheel at Winter Wonderland |
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| A very large slide for old and young alike |
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| Regent Street Christmas decorations |
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| Yummy bratwurst |
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| Drinking up the mulled wine |
Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland is set out like a big amusement park with plenty of places to buy a bratwurst, gingerbread or a cup of mulled wine, or to spend many pounds trying to win an oversized soft toy for your loved one by throwing hoops over glass bottles or as Olie did, race a wooden reindeer by bowling the highest number of winning balls down the slots over a set period of time. Mei soon became the proud owner of a cute white fluffy teddy bear prize as a result of Olie's efforts.
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| Racing a reindeer |
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| Carousel bar where its not just the alcohol that makes you dizzy |
Southbank Christmas Market
We visited the Southbank Christmas market with Mei's uncle Collin and we spent more time determining what food to buy, and later which pub to head to, rather than seeing the handicrafts on sale - including wooden toys, christmas decorations filled with dried spice and fruit. These were all great stocking filler type souvenirs but as they were plant-based, it would be unlikely that they would pass through Australian custom checks so we would not be able to bring them home. After the Southbank excursion, we ended up at the Waterloo 'Slug and Lettuce' pub chain, downing two bottles of red wine - none of it mulled, but quite enjoyable never-less.
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| Uncle Collin and Mei - look at those pink cheeks! |
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| Christmas markets |
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| Many things to buy |
Christmas Panto
Winter in London also brings out the advertisements for Christmas pantomimes - Mei admitting to her disbelieving work colleagues that she had never been to and actually had no idea what a 'panto' was. One colleague said "bit like Shrek" - based on a fairytale, usually a clear distinction between the good person and the bad person and with a bit of humour. The other colleague, offered a different take on the concept saying its "usually a lot of men dressed up in women's clothing throwing sweets to the crowd - which is why it appeals to both adults and children".
Ice Rinks
Ice Rinks
A number of temporary ice-rinks also sprung up around the City this month. Olie, an ex-ice hockey player during his teenage years decided that it was his sole ambition to get Mei into a pair of ice skates, promising the world that he would be there to catch her in case she fell. Mei tried every stalling excuse out there but as the ice-rink in the moat at Tower Bridge turned out to not be booked out, both of us headed there one sunny Sunday. The 45 minute session ended with only a few small falls by Mei, no face-plants and a lot of holding Olie's arm for balance and reassuring support.
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| At the Tower of London ice skate rink |
Winter Clothing
Going ice-skating was about as close was we got to experiencing a White Christmas, although the online news reports revealed that Melbourne did in fact experience one this year with hail not snow. London's weather hovered around 2 degrees for a few days and we stocked up at Uniqlo for their trademark HEATTECH long-sleeve t-shirts and TK-Maxx for goose down jackets. Then, Mother Nature decided to switch the weather and it was a balmy 10-12 degrees around the 20th of the month.
Not yet weather acclimatized, Mei spent most of December rugged up in a scarf, three layers and a fur hat. She was a constant target of her colleagues amusement every morning, as they pointed out 'it does get colder than this' and boasted that they only needed a shirt and light coat.
Not yet weather acclimatized, Mei spent most of December rugged up in a scarf, three layers and a fur hat. She was a constant target of her colleagues amusement every morning, as they pointed out 'it does get colder than this' and boasted that they only needed a shirt and light coat.
Kris Kringle
As this was our first Christmas away from Melbourne, we had an expat Christmas dinner with friends in the private room of Koffman's restaurant at the Berkeley Hotel where we pulled paper crackers (with cheesy jokes and paper hats), ate amazing food and received a teapot and Christmas goodies from our Kris Kringles (Secret Santa).
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| Celebrating Christmas with our Kris Kringle presents |
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| Guessing my present |
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| Pistachio souffle |
Christmas Parties
For Olie's work Christmas party, we headed off to Battersea Evolution - a function centre in the middle of Battersea Park where an iPad2 was given away during a raffle, but although the odds were good (1 in 30), the prize went to someone else on our table.
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| Performers at Olie's work Christmas party |
Mei's two work Christmas parties were at Hoxton Apprentice - a restaurant that gives young people that may have a criminal record, the opportunity to work, very similar to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant chain; and also the London Eye and Chez Gerard, a restaurant that supported the theory heard from friends that the best steaks in town were cooked by the French. Mei's Secret Santa present was from someone that must have known of her travel bug; as she received the ultimate travel tale book - Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) - Around the world in 80 days.
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| Houses of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye at night |
London Food
And as December brings in the shortest day / longest night of the year we made the most of our London weekends to find indoor activities to entertain ourselves. This included heading to Borough Market for the most delicious roast belly pork roll with apple sauce or crossing town to Greenwich market for the roast beef with cheese.
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| Roast beef dinner with cheese - addictive |
Da Vinci Exhibition
Another touristy activity that we ticked off our list was visiting the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery where we saw a replica of the Last Supper painted by one of Leonardo's students - the original masterpiece is deemed a 'ruin' on the wall of a monastery in Milan.
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| The Last Supper |
West End Theatre Shows
We also made sure we spent some time watching musicals - Chicago, featured the US TV show Ugly Betty lead actress America Ferrera playing Roxie Hart. Our second trip to the theatre a few weeks later was based on an impulsive need to do something one Saturday night, so we bought tickets for Thriller based on Michael Jackson's life. It turned out to be very disappointing and cheesy but it at least had a rendition of some classic songs and more than one 'moonwalk' display did provide some entertainment and brought the crowd of mostly middle age couples to their feet with a collective sing-along that would have made any karaoke establishment proud.
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