15 December - Walkin' In a Winter Wonderland

Everyone says that if you’re in London at Christmastime, you have to go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Who am I to flaunt conventional wisdom? So off we went on the #414 bus to Hyde Park. It was around noon or so and though the park opens at 10:00, we thought the crowd might not be enormous. There are three entrances, each of which takes you to a different part of Wonderland.  We chose the entrance at the Bavarian Village, not because we knew where we wanted to go but because the red gate takes you to Santaland and the blue gate takes you to the skating rink and being old and wise, we decide not to chance the broken bones.

The park is enormous and seems designed for kids, daredevils, drinkers and junk food lovers. Come to think of it, I guess that describes every fair. The rides were divided into two camps: gentle rides for the kiddies and lose-your-lunch-type rides for the adults. There were also a significant number of haunted house rides. I guess the owners don’t make enough money at Halloween.

Can you hear the screaming riders?

Not on a bet!

Food came in every possible variety: burgers, hot dogs, souvlaki, fondue and raclette, fried chicken, barbecue, seafood, duck,  Indian, Chinese, fish and chips (this is the UK after all) and so much more.  Then there were the sweet things: crepes, donuts, churros (so many churros stands!) cheesecake, and every possible permutation of chocolate dessert.  In the Bavarian Village you could indulge as though you were in Munich, with schnitzel, bratwurst, schweinshaxe and pretzels. Then there were the bars. Unlike the food stands, most of the bars had seating areas. In the Bavarian village there were beer gardens complete with Jägermeister kegs and glühwein. Mulled wine stands were everywhere and you didn’t have to look far to find serious cocktails. My favorite bar looked like a carousel. The bar was stationery, but the fence had little carousel horses painted on it and it rotated.  I wonder how that effects you after a few rounds.

We wandered for close to an hour before we found the holiday craft market and it was pretty disappointing.  A lot of cheap jewelry, mass-produced ornaments, toys, scarves and hats.  I was determined to buy a hat but I’m sensitive to wool and the acrylic ones I found didn’t fit on my head. Well, one did, but I thought it was too goofy even for me. SUpon reflection, I should have bought it cause I'm just that goofy.

After a couple of hours, Bruce was ready for his pub crawl, so he got a brat to fortify himself.  I really wanted a Nutella crepe but thought that might be just a little too much sugar, so I opted for halloumi fries instead. I really wish someplace served fried halloumi in Seattle. We walked to the bus stop and Bruce headed off to Marylebone; I caught a different bus to Oxford Street.  There was a very sparkly blazer that I didn’t buy earlier in the week so I went back to get it.  Yeah, no. Sold out. As I was leaving the store I saw a vibrant red-orange bouclé coat that had my name on it. It came in size 8 or size 20 (UK sizes, which translates to US size 4 or size 16) They were kind enough to look in the stock room and online but no luck. Guess it didn’t have my name on it after all.

This evening we wandered out to view the lights in the neighborhood. We wandered down Sloane Avenue to Anderson Street to end up on the King's Road. I love how they divide the "S".

Walking down the road there's a not-so-subtle reminder that this is King's Road.

We ended up at Sloane Square which, in years past, hosted a skating rink or a Chrstmas market, but this year they settled for lights.

There were some lovely lights on the street off of Sloan Square as well.

On the way back. we went to the Duke of York Square shopping area.

It featured a "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. We shot some photos but because of the surrounding lights, some of them were quite washed out. I went back and shot them the next day, hence the difference in lighting.

Twelve drummers drumming and eleven pipers piping

Ten lords a-leaping (top hats)

Nine ladies dancing (toe shoes):

Eight maids a-milking:

Seven swans a-swimming:

Six geese a-laying:

Five gold rings:

Four calling birds:

Three French Hens: Please

Two turtle doves were among the missing.

A partridge in a pear tree (a GIANT partridge!):

On the way back, we passed some examples of tradition old school Christmas decor. This is the sort of decoration I remember from my first visit oh-so-many years ago.