Results matching “Christmas”

Welcome to another post about festive afternoon tea. I headed over to the Savoy with one of my friends to indulge in my second festive afternoon tea this year. I last visited the Savoy for festive afternoon tea in 2022 (Festive Afternoon Tea at The Savoy), and this year was very different. The room had been renovated and much more less intimate as so many are packed into a small place, and there is now a bar at the end. I was told that it only opend about three weeks ago. 

We had a late sitting for afternoon tea from 5:00. It was proving to be popular, and we had to wait in a queue with others for ten minutes. and some people on the side were waiting for a bar stool. This was not the standard that I was expecting from the Savoy at all, and th service was rushed and not personal. Normally, they offer to take the coats, but nothing like that happened, and we were crammed into seats with the room being at least twice the number of occupants compared to previously.

There was also a lack of decorations; last time, there were trees. This time, they use every bit of floor space for patrons. It just felt impersonal. 

We had a glass of champagne to start. We received a selection of different sandwiches, such as cheese and chutney, cucumber with butter, turkey, and cabbage slaw. We also received an egg roll and a parsnip, carrot, and thyme mini muffin. The savouries were good.

The egg one came decorated with gold leaf.

We had live piano music, and a couple of singers and a cello player provided some music. The singers were barely audible as the acoustics were very loud. I wished that they would have played festive music, though. It just did not feel very festive.

Next up were the scones. We received a plain and a raisin scone, and these were both very light. There was strawberry jam, clotted cream, and lemon curd.

The pastries followed. We received the following selection of pastries: Mon Blanc - chestnut cream with meringue; Santa - vanilla cake, chantilly, and redcurrant glaze.

Christmas Bauble - white chocolate mousse, lemon sponge, and blackberry. Chocolate and tonka bean - chocolate sponge and ganache.

Overall, I was a little disappointed as I compared this to my previous visit. 

I wanted to post some photographs that I have been taking over the festive season with some of the things that I have gotten up to. I am currently celebrating Christmas in Ohio this year, but I have not come for long and will be back in London by the time this post has been published. I've been walking every evening or day in December while I was in London, and I love to check out the local Christmas lights and decorations.

I also went to St. Paul's Church to listen to a concert / band by the Northwood Royal Navy band. They played a selection of Christmas music, and they were really good. I also won a gift in the raffle for the first time ever.

My friends and I visited the White Bear in Ruislip for our festive meal and Secret Santa in the middle of the month. The food was not that great; one of my friends last year went and enjoyed it, but all of us were not too impressed by it. We also should have gotten a Christmas cracker. The portion sizes were very small, and we all left still feeling hungry.

Duck Pond Markets also had several special evening and full weekend Christmas markets in Ruislip, and I visited them starting in the middle of November and enjoyed browsing. 

The time really went by quickly, and I struggled to keep up with my blog this year.

This year, the holidays have crept up on me, and my friends and family have said the same. The time has gone by so quickly. It does not feel like it should be that time of year again. I hope that all of my readers are enjoying their day and have had all of their dreams come true. Enjoy the day and happy holidays.

I am currently celebrating Christmas in Ohio.

Welcome to 2024's edition of London's Christmas lights, displays, and decorations. This year, London decorated much earlier than it has ever done before, and many of the displays were in place from the middle of November. The earlier start meant that I was able to venture out to see the displays and lights without enduring the crazy crowds that were in place last year when I found it much too busy to enjoy myself.

Fortnum and Mason: The well-known department store has been decorated like an advent calendar for the past few years with the date displayed on the side. The windows are also always worth a look as they are clever, and this year features cute animals along with festive scenes and merchandise.

Hedonist Wines: This wine and alcohol shop in Mayfair always decorates for Christmas and Halloween. This year, it has created an advent calendar with gingerbread houses where people can open the doors to see little scenes featuring their products.

Neill Strain Floral: This shop front floral specialist always decorates for special events, such as Halloween and Christmas. This year, its shop front is transformed by red and silver baubles.

Mount Street: A few of the shop fronts and restaurants here decorate, and the street has gotten new Christmas lights this year in the shape of golden pine trees.

The Strand: New lights with fairies, stars, and snowflakes have come to the Strand this year.

Harrods: Harrods has decorated a lot this year with features of production of textiles in the windows.

Knightsbridge: Along with Harrods, some of the other brands have decorated.

Liberty: Liberty department store always have their Christmas trees decorating their building, and this year they are green. Inside the shop and in the windows, they are advertising the "Wicked" movie.

Holborn: Holborn's lights are the same as last year with baubles.

Covent Garden: The market always dress nicely for Christmas. Inside the hall are the bell decorations, and there are always opportunities for photographs with their Christmas tree and floral displays.

The Ivy: The restaurants this year have a ski theme with large snowmen.

Covent Garden's cafes and restaurants also decorate.

Seven Dials Market: This year, the market has added lights and a tree.

Neale's Yard and Seven Dials: This nice spot in London has lights and a tree, and this mimics the column in the middle at Seven Dials with the light display.

St. Martin's Lane: The past couple of years, the theatre Christmas lights return to pay tribute to this area.

The pubs also decorate.

Trafalgar Square: The Christmas tree is launchd in early December each year, and it comes from Sweden. The square also hosts a Christmas market, and carols can be caught at the church St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

Soho: The past few years, Soho has displayed the children's drawings Christmas lights on the lampposts. Also, the Soho lights are back.

Regent's Street: The angels are back and an icon of Christmas time in London and are probably London's most beautiful lights this year.

Burlington Arcade: The arcades around Mayfair always decorate well, and Burlington Arcade has festive decorations.

Mayfair: Large brands in Mayfair, such as Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Cartier, and several others always decorate their shop fronts. This is one of the best places to see Christmas lights. Mayfair's street lights this year have also been upgrades and include Chanel branding.

Anabell's: This night club for the wealthy always decorate. This year, it has transfromed into a peacock snow globe.

St. Christopher's Place: Off Oxford Circus, this is a "blink and you will miss it" street with restaurants. The decorations are the same as last year with coloured dots. 

Oxford Street: The star lights return.

Selfridge's: The building glows in pink, and the shop windows are very colourful and remind me of the 1980s with multiple colours. 

Carnaby Street: See my post here.: Carnaby Christmas.

Connaught: See my post here: Connaught 2024 Christmas Tree.

City of London: The building at Bank is decorated with red ribbons.

Previous London Christmas lights are below:

• London's Christmas Lights and Decorations 2023
• London's Festive Christmas Treats, 2023
  London's Christmas Lights, Decorations, and Treats 2022
• London's Christmas Lights, Decorations, and Treats 2021
• Where to see London's Christmas Lights and Decorations in 2020
• Where to Buy Christmas-Themed Treats in London (2020)
• Where to see London Christmas lights and decorations (2019 Edition)
• Christmas in London 2018 - Lights and Displays
• Where to see London's Christmas Lights 2017
• London's Christmas Lights 2016
• Christmas Lights and Windows 2015
• London Christmas Lights 2014
• London's Christmas Lights 2013
• London Christmas Lights and Window Displays 2012

Previous London Window displays are below (I've phased these out as they have not been as interesting the past few years and more interest seems to be on the facade of the building as opposed to displays inside the windows):

• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

Earlier this month, I visited Brussels for the Christmas season and to see the Christmas market. This was my third ever visit to Brussels having visited twice already this year in February and in April. With only a two-hour journey via train from London, Brussels is a quick and easy trip for a long weekend. For the festive season, Brussels hosts a Christmas market and a a light show projected onto the Grand Place square. There are also other activities and shopping, tourist attractions, and more festive cheer.

I watched the light show projections onto the Grand Place, which I enjoyed and covered in a separate post on this blog. You can see my experience here: [INSERT LINK]

Brussels' famous icon, the Manneken Pis also is worth seeing, and there's a couple of different costumes of a festive nature that he adorns in December. One of them is Saint Nicholas. You can see photographs here: [INSERT LINK]. I also saw someone dressed as Saint Nicholas and his sidekick known as "Black Peter" as I visited on Dcember 6th, which is a special day in Belgium.

In the Grand Place square, there is also a large nativity scene.

And someone with some vintage cars was offering rides.

I then headed to the markets. Most of the Christmas market stalls are near Saint Catherine's Church. There are a few clusters on the way from the Grand Place to Saint Catherine's. I browsed at the items and bought some items, including a nice perfume, fruit jam, nougat, hot chocolate, caramels, and cuberones.

The man who made the flowers out of soap told me of the carving process. I didn't have anyone to gift these to, and I wouldn't use such an item collecting dust. However, they do look pretty.

There was a model city or nativity scene in one of the stalls on display.

Saint Catherine's area has most of the stalls and a giant ferris wheel. I spent awhile browsing here.

I bought a hot chocolate, which tasted delicious. You pay for the cup, but you get the money back for the cup if you return it. This helps sustainability. I also bought a mulled flaming wine later one, and this is pictured at the top. They lit a brown sugar cube on fire for it.

There are different Christmas lights around the city, and I photographed some of them.

The Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert are always worth a visit. There are some expensive shops and a fair share of chocolate shops to visit. Inside, it is decorated for Christmas.

The below light sculpture is located near Art Mountain, which I suppose is an appropriate place for it. There were a couple of food stalls near here.

And lastly, I enjoyed delicious ice cream (despite the weather being a little bit cold) from Gaston near the Christmas markets. I had the pistachio and the speculoo ice cream, and these were both delicious.

I enjoyed the visit to Brussels at Christmas. It's definitely worth a visit.

I always love to do an illuminated light trail during the festive season to help cope with the fact that the days are shorter and darker, and this also helps to get into a festive feeling. I visited Windsor Great Park Illuminated this year after having been for a visit in 2022 at the beginning of January. (You can see my visit from 2022 here: Windsor Great Park Illuminated). Keep scrolling down to see my photographs of Windsor Great Park Illuminated.

When we arrived, we were greeted with a large area of rides and food stalls, and this area marked the entrance and exit of the venue as it was next to the parking. The route this year was backwards from the route that I did for the 2021-2022 season. We first headed down the road with illuminated poles on both sides, over a bridge with the "Windsor" sign illuminated.

Off to the left, the path continued with multi-coloured trees.

The trees were lit in rainbow colours, and some glowing orbs in changing rainbow shades were overhead. As we walked, the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" song was being played.

We finally arrived to the edge of the lake where we could see the illuminated trees on both sides, and we saw an illuminated art sculpture inside the lake. It looked like flames and had an orange glow.

We continued on the walk around, and the next part reminded me of "Narnia" with various lamp posts, a large clock, and there was fake snow falling.

Further ahead, we saw signs for Santa, and we saw the man himself and his reindeer with Rudolph leading the way.

Finally, we came to the middle of the trail, which was set up as an elf party with elf DJ and disco balls. Some people were dancing, and this was a place to get some food and drink. I got a waffle on a stick.

When we continued the trail, we saw an illuminated white reindeer walking through the forest.

And the trees had an eerie glow around their trunks.

We came to another light sculpture with pulsating orbs that changed pattern and colour, and this tunnel of orbs we walked through.

This eventually led to an illuminated area with bright lights that changed pattern and colour, and a smoke machine emitted lights that shone onto the smoke and created awesome effects.

The trail continued around with bright trees illuminiated in multiple colours and a wave of pools that illuminated like a road, changing colour and simulating movement.

We arrived at another stop with a couple of food stalls and marshmallows, and this offered some rest where my friend's daughter enjoyed some marshallows. After the break, we continued around and watched an illuminated tree with pattern changes set to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song.

There's always a tunnel of light, and we walked through this.

There were several illuminated sculptures around as well with photograph opportunities.

We then arrived at the glowing fields of orbs set to music. This was the same as my visit at the start of 2022, and it is really beautiful as the orbs change colour and pattern set to music.

We then got to the other side of the lake again where we watched a fountain set to music with different colours and patterns.

This led up back around toward the exit.

The last illumination was a face onto a tree, and it spoke to us about the forest being old and tired and left with a parting farewell.

At the end, we enjoyed some food, and my friend's daughter went on a ride. I had Chick'n'Sours, and you may remember my visit here: Chick'n'Sours in Haggerston.

Windsor Great Park Illuminated has been going for a few years now, and it improved since my last visit. I enjoyed my visit.

The Christmas tree this year at St. Pancras International station in London celebrates the story of "Wicked", which is a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" story, and it is a major theatre production and now a film. The story covers the characters of the wicked witch, Tin Man, Scarecrow, the good witch, wizard, and other characters. To celebrate this, a Christmas tree in the shape of the "emerald city" has been placed at the station. 

In addition to the tree, there is a display of some of the props from the film, such as the wand and broomstick and a model of the train at "emerald city". Inside the "tree", visitors can view one of three "windows" to see a model of the "emerald city", witch's castle, haunted forest, poppy fields, and other sites from the "Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked" story.

A giant face of the wizard also appears on the structure. I love the movie "The Wizard of Oz", so I will no doubt see the new film. 

St. Pancras International has promoted many brands over the years with their Christmas tree, which is a tradition starting from 2013. The past ones include:

• Book publisher (2023)
• Prince's Trust (2022)
• London Zoo (2021)
• EL&N cafe (2020)
• Lancôme (2019)
• Tiffany & Co (2018)

Earlier this month, a group of friends and I went on our annual festive afternoon tea tradition. This year, we had it a little earlier due to availability, and we ended up at Hotel Cafe Royal at Piccadilly Circus as they were one of the first to launch their festive afternoon tea offering. We could not have been happier. The food was delicious, and we were looked after very well by excellent service. 

The interior of the cafe was designed like a Parisian cafe. Many famous people have dined here from Winston Churchill to Louis Armstrong, and we were sat at the table where Louis Armstong sat.

I had a glass of champagne with my afternoon tea.

The first course was the amuse-bouche, which is a little starter. I had the vegetarian option, which was a parsnip and apple panna cotta. 

My non-vegetarian friends had the truffle scones of chicken liver parfait and Port jelly.

Next up was the sandwiches. I had the vegetarian sandwiches, but I am ok with chicken and turkey so I had the turkey. The vegetarian options that I had includedroasted pumpkin with chickpea, cucumber, egg, and roasted chestnut. Salmon and turkey was on the non-vegetarian menu. 

Next up are the scones. We had clotted cream and two types of jam. One type of jam was with Earl Grey tea, and the second was a spiced plum and cinnamon. I really liked the spiced plum and cinnamon jelly.

Next up is the sweets. One of my friends is completely vegetarian so had a selection of the sweets which did not contain gelatin from animals. They are photographed below.

For the rest of us, we had the following options: Chestnut mandarin and yuzu compote with gingerbread sponge, a winter cherry mousse with chocolate sponge, coconut ganache with meringue and blueberry, and a prune Cognac with speculoos tart. One friend doesn't like coconut, so he had a strawberry tart instead. I really liked the tart, which was shaped in a rectangle with a Christmas pattern in white chocolate.

We also received a small slice of cake at the end. Christmas cake was the offer, but they accommodated me when I informed that I dislike Christmas cake. Instead, I recived the lemon drizzle slice. My friend received a birthday Christmas cake slice.

The hotel was also decorated with all of the festive flair. 

Everyone loved the experience, and I would definitely return to Hotel Cafe Royal for their afternoon tea.

For the festive season each year, the Grand Place in Brussels puts on a light show in the evenings until 10pm at night. The show lasts for five miniutes and runs every thirty minutes. The light show changes each year and is projected onto the main buildings in the square, such as the city hall and the guildhalls. This year's light show is called "Echos of Colours". 

"Echoes of Colours" is a celebration of colour with different colours projected onto the buildings, highlighting the architecture and height of the building and set to soundscape.

The light show is visible until the 5th of January from 5-10pm except on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and I enjoyed watching it.

The fountain statue of the urinating boy, named Manneken Pis, is a symbol of Brussels and a top attraction of the city. It has inspired popular culture and attracts tourists from all over the world. The fountain has its own wardrobe, and on some days each month, it is dressed in a unique outfit celebrating a country, charity, event, group of people, or character in popular culture. When I visited Brussels in early December, I saw two outfit changes on the three days that I was in the city. The second day of my trip was the feast of Saint Nicholas, and this is a big day in Belgium for children for the Christmas season. 

Manneken Pis was decorated as Saint Nicholas, which was an inspiration for "Santa Claus".

On the first day, the little statue was not in an outfit. 

The fountain was dressed festively with lights and decorations. On the final day, the statue was dressed as a beekeeper to celebrate Saint Ambrose.

Additional posts featuring Manneken Pis on this blog can be seen here and here and here.