Well. It's been a while! Not to worry, I've not forgotten (entirely) what I was about here! The holidays brought about a bunch of busy-ness before, during and after, so between that and traveling I've fallen a bit behind. So let's catch up right quick! The lead up to the holidays was quite nice. Emma's birthday celebration took us to the Piccadilly Institute, where we ended up at a table with a fantastic view of the square.
It was a neat place, and made for quite the fun evening!
The rest of December was spent finishing up classes...
And for a brief few weeks they took the construction barriers down in front of our building! (That's the Institute of Archaeology, where all my classes are.)
Unfortunately, its gone back up now, but it was nice while it lasted. We did have some lovely clear days, even if the sun was usually most of the way down by 4.
One clear day I visited a nearby park, and found this lovely bunch of pigeons camped out in the shallow fountain. Maybe it was nice and warm? Maybe pigeons have spa days too?
It was definitely cold, though. I've grown fond of this giant fuzzy scarf...
The British Museum had a Celtic exhibit on, and part of it was some modern art borrowing from the old themes.
I do love this enclosed courtyard area. It's so pretty on a sunny day...
This appeared along one of the bigger streets not long after the incident in France. A sign of solidarity, with a bunch of disparate figures all holding the French flag, signed 'To Paris with Love'.
There were Christmas lights to be found all around the city, pretty much anywhere you looked. On campus...
On office buildings...
In the mall... (I love the Christmas Pudding stand. Too bad it wasn't open!)
Around the shops...
I did come upon this little place, tucked away down a small alley, and full of food and shopping.
Some of the more alternative shops were celebrating Christmas in their own ways, too!
And there were some really pretty lights up on the lamps.
There was a fair right in Leicester Square, too.
But the biggest fair was in Hyde Park: Winter Wonderland! It's like a county fair, but... times five. Definitely worth at least one visit.
There were plenty of lights...
Entertaining bars... This one had a round bar in the middle and it and a circle of tables around it were all on a floor that slowly turned. I imagine that gets quite entertaining...
I even saw a robot-thing!
There was a large section called the Bavarian Village... which was pretty much like Octoberfest for the Christmas season.
There was even a giant hall with music!
There were all sorts of rides, too. Fun houses and such.
And scary ones! Which, of course, had to be tried out.
They did turn out to be quite entertaining.
Other rides were all about the spinning and the flinging people up in the air.
I did quite like this sea horse on the Carousel!
And... another haunted house. Because yay!
This little roller coaster was quite fun, perhaps as much for the ride as the fact that the line you waited in was designed a bit like a fun house. So waiting was far more exciting than usual!
More bits!
We tried out hands at archery, too, but didn't end up earning a prize, haha.
It was, all in all, quite fun! On to part two!
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