Christmas Market in London

Bavarian Village in Winter Wonderland

I had some business to attend to in London yesterday morning, and since I try to combine business with pleasure as much as possible I scheduled in a visit of Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, a quick look at the London Museum, and a Mug-Up with S.

Seagulls in Hyde Park

I had a wonderfully successful day!  The weather was great, cold but crisply sunny.  Being paranoid about traffic jams and missing my appointment I had taken a very early bus, so had plenty of time for a good breakfast.  My favourite breakfast place in London is at the Eurostar terminal (just as well, given my migratory tendencies), the Pain Quotidien.  This is a chain, but most outlets don’t serve my favourite breakfast.  Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered a new outlet just next to my ancient much lamented demised Italian restaurant The Lucky Spot in North Audley Street – and glory be! They had scrambled eggs with fresh mushrooms!  And they are next to a news agent, so I was able to purchase a newspaper to go with my repast.

Shop window in Sloane Street

The denizens of Belgravia were charming and helpful, so my business with them took just half an hour and 15 minutes waiting, and I was free after 10:30.  Just around the corner the Hermes boutique had the scarf I had been tracking for three months (C’est la Fete in sky blue), creating a serious moral dilemma – is this a Christmas present for next year (!!!) or do I add it to my already huge number of Christmas presents this year?  Since C’est la Fete features a skeleton horse & rider it is clearly a Halloween scarf, so if I keep it until Christmas 2013 I’ll miss next Halloween ….

Pirate's Parrot in Winter Wonderland .....

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park was wonderful!  Since I was there on a Friday late morning it was only sparsely populated.  The light was good for photos, so I shot lots.

.... and the pirate to go with it!

I especially liked the Bavarian Village part of the compound, as usual.  Say what you will, but Germans are still the Masters of Christmas.  Their chalets are much higher and larger than the ones in Paris, making them easier to photograph and much more house-like.  The Christmas Market at the Champs Elysees has an air of impermanence, of trading stands beside the road.  The one at Hyde Park, like many German ones, looks solid and traditionally dependable – we are here to stay, these markets proclaim, we have been here for hundreds of years and that’s how it’s gonna be for the next millennium.  A very reassuring message in these uncertain times!

Rural idyll with carnival atmosphere

Unfortunately the curry wurst I partook of was sub-standard, and I failed to locate any of the Bisou (?) de Noel sweets that featured so strongly in Paris.  Well, it is early days yet and perhaps they will make an appearance when I go next in two weeks time.

 Tables shaped as Christmas trees

 Scary Amusements

Bavarian stereotypes run rampant

 Giant cartwheel with talking Christmas-Ent

Then I walked up Oxford Street and resisted every single shopping opportunity, all the way up to the Bank of England Museum.  The advantage of buying hideously expensive scarves is that you spent the next few months upraising yourself for it and forbidding yourself point blank to ever buy anything ever again.  Thus I ended up with a chest of drawers full of high quality scarf with excellent re-sale value and almost NO worthless clutter.  I walked past Selfridges, John Lewis, Virgin, and any number of smaller shops, and only stopped whenever I saw a coin on the floor (two pennies and a twenty pence piece!).

 London Museum

 Complete with Cool Horse

The London Museum is at the Barbican walkway and strictly modern.  It has an amazing giftshop, where I finally broke with my Scroogish habits and purchasedtwo rolls of ribbon for wrapping presents and one roll of tape with little skeletons on it – if you are reading this, A this is for you!

S was in fine fettle as usual and we had a good old chin wag until the museum closed and kicked us out.  Nice clean toilets they have, by the way!

I briefly considered going back to Winter Wonderland to take some night photos but was a bit to fagged out.  I had walked about four hours that day, carrying my somewhat heavy bag, and frankly longed for home.

I found an almost empty bus, so no one sat next to me, oh joy!  A wonderful day all round.  Now I am off to bake my cookies, the ones where the dough has sat next to the heater for the last three weeks.  I do hope they will turn out right this time!