End of the Year: Part 2

So this will actually be the end of the year and the beginning of the next! (I am still very much trying to remember to write 2016 instead of 2015. I'm sure I'll have it sorted by December at the latest...) Before leaving London, my classmates and I had a celebratory gathering at a bowling alley, which turned out to be quite the fun adventure.

While none of us will be winning any championships soon, it was great fun and definitely an adventure to pursue again (if we ever get the time to do so!)

Not long after that, it was time to travel. Heathrow was all decked out for Christmas, and there were actually people playing Christmas carols when I arrived!

From there I headed to Dublin, and Jenn and I hung out for a day before it was time to scurry off to Florida to see the family.

Byyyye Ireland.

Christmas in Florida was lovely, if warm, and somehow the only picture I came away with from the holidays was this one... haha. It was fabulous to see family and friends, and I'm glad we could make it back for a bit.

But it wasn't long at all before Jenn and I were back in Dublin. Where I demanded steak on a stone, which was every bit as delicious as everyone made it sound, and quite the exciting meal at that.

Plus Lott's had some stylish classical decorations.

New Year's Eve was a blast, and a few days later it was back to London.

And not long after that, back to school! The sun still set pretty early, (luckily less so now!) But when the weather is right, sunset does lend a lovely warm, orange glow to the city. 

The Krishnas were having a celebration one afternoon as I walked by. They spent the morning making that sand mandala, which was even more vibrant than the picture can show. There was music and incense, which made for a pleasant little corner to walk past.

This church! Again. It's just at the other end of the square from the IoA, and it always looks so pretty... hence I've a million pictures of it.

A friend and I wandered into the oldest bar in London one afternoon, which was awesome, tiny, and super-old. Apparently its been here since 1546, which is a feat, as it was one of the few places to survive the great fire in London.

There was a Lumiere festival, with lights of all sorts coming up, and I wandered around a bit and saw some of the set-up...

Though all lit up at the moment, during the festival these lights were animated, and used to show a stick figure running around and jumping and such. It was quite neat!

This thing was to be all lit up at night in various colors, supposedly one suggested by visitors with the app to change it.

Before getting too caught up in work, I did have a wander out to see a Japanese garden I had read about, the Kyoto garden, which was tucked within a larger green space. It was a lovely sunny day.

It was a little bit of a walk from the tube to the garden, but it was a nice stroll.

Plus it ended up taking my down the Trafalgar Way, a historically important stretch of road for messengers and the like who were entering London with news. 

I imagine it's far more peaceful today than it was then, though.

Ta-da! Found Holland Park, which is the larger park that the garden was set within. It was a beautiful place all on its own, though.

With the occasional, interesting, bits of outdoors sculpture scattered around.

There were some more traditional English-style gardens laid out near that building in the background. 

But perhaps more excitingly, there were peacocks wandering around!

This little stoa was beautifully painted.

Each archway had its own panel, looking in on a busy, social afternoon in the garden.

The art work was quite lovely, though, and very well done.

I did eventually find Kyoto Garden, though.

It was most pretty in the afternoon sun. 

All done in traditional styles, the garden was a gift from Japan to England.

It was centered around a pond.

And there were more peacocks!

There were even koi in the pond, which was surprising, considering the chilly weather. But I guess it isn't any colder than it might get in Japan. They seemed happy enough, at least!

It was difficult to get a good picture of this bonsai planted in the stump of an old tree, but I quite liked it.

It was a small garden, but very peaceful and definitely worth the trek to go see it. The rest of the park held more interesting sculpture...

And a statue of its namesake, Lord Holland himself.

And by then it was cold and the sun was thinking about going down... but it was an afternoon well spent!