Day Trips

It amazes me how no matter what time or day, somewhere in London will have a traffic jam. I like to get out of the city to escape the craziness to see the lovely English countryside. 

Canterbury:

Canterbury Cathedral

Weymouth:

Lumiere London

This January was the first Lumiere London event, a free light festival spread across landmark locations where artists from all over were able to show their illuminated works and light up the city. Yet another amazing free event London had to offer and was great to see how many people went out to see the beautiful exhibits. There were a total of 30 different instillations and I managed to see most of them in one night. 

First we headed to Mayfair to see the first few.

Spinning Night in Living Colour by Elaine Buckholtz

Lightbench

This one was very popular! They took an old phone booth and put an illuminated aquarium. The only downside is there were way too many people trying to take pictures which created a bit of chaos. 

Sanctuary - Bird Feeders

Next we walked to Piccadilly, Regent Street and St. James Street for the next grouping of exhibits.

1.8 London by Janet Echelman 

Keyframes - This one was my favourite! It was a video of dancing stick men which ran on a loop and lasted a few minutes. It was amazing and really entertaining. 

Les Lumineoles 

This wasn't part of the exhibit, I just liked the lights

Patience is halfway to happiness.

Garden of Light

Next we moved closer to Trafalgar Square - we were unable to make it to Westminster for a few of the exhibits there, which is a shame as they light up Westminster Abbey and it looked amazing.

Neon Dogs

 We ended with the main grouping of instillations at King's Cross.

If you got your map stamped then you could get some free candy floss that had a glowing light for the stick. 

Overall it was an amazing event and I am glad that I went out to see as much as I could despite it being a cold January night. Another reason why I love London for it's free events!

Home for the Holidays

Marcel came to Canada with me, and we both were hoping for lots of snow and a typical Canadian Christmas, unfortunately for us we had beautiful weather. During his stay we went to Niagara Falls, Toronto and Blue Mountain. It didn't start to snow until the day I flew back to Dublin. It was hard going back after such a nice visit home. 

View from the CN tower

Bruges Round 2 + A Concert

When Shannon first came over in October we got tickets for a day trip to the Bruges Christmas Market as they were an amazing deal for £39. I had already been to Bruges back in April, but I was more than happy to go back. Their Christmas market was a disappointment but I was able to get some Belgium chocolates for Christmas gifts. 

The night before I flew back to Canada for Christmas I saw Mumford and Sons (for the 3rd time) at the O2 with Katy and Lauren. What better way to start holidays than with a concert! As usual they put on an amazing performance. 

Christmas Galore 2015

I had been looking forward to going back to Winter Wonderland since last Christmas and was so excited to attend even more Christmas events. I said it last year, but London really goes all out for Christmas and I LOVE IT!

This year they added these beautiful lit arches 

Last year I discovered the Carousel Bar and didn't get to experience it - this year I knew I had to go! It was awesome.

Kirsten and I along with some Aussie friends went to Winterville, yet another Christmas market in London, for the Bogan Bingo. Being a Canadian, I had no idea what "bogan" meant, but learned it's the equivalent to "trailer park trash" for Australians. It was pretty hilarious and fun to explore a new Christmas market.

My last week before going home for Christmas I met some friends for a Christmas Lights Bus Tour around the downtown.

My favourite was Carnaby street, which has a different light display each year. I really like the disco theme this year!