I haven't really been posting much on my blog this year, due to focusing on my job and sorting out my mental health. However, if there's one thing I would never forget to post about, it's my experience seeing the London Christmas lights each year.
I uploaded this year's blog post a bit later than I usually do. Usually, I tend to upload it before Christmas Eve, but due to having so many things to sort out beforehand, such as getting cards and gifts for relatives and sorting out visits to relatives, I had to upload it after Christmas Day instead. Fortunately, I have managed to upload it on New Year's Eve, which I myself feel is a decent time to put it up on.
This year's trip took place on the 14th December - I can tell because the TV special Dynamo is Dead was airing that night and the train stations were showing adverts featuring a timer for how many hours were left before he was buried alive. When I first entered London, it was at five hours left. Those I will not show any photos of, as they didn't relate with the Christmas lights at all, and besides, why would I take photos of them anyway?
Random anecdotes aside, the first Christmassy place we passed was the Ritz hotel. They always have the nice Christmas wreaths hanging down with the baubles on.
Along the way, we got to see this display on Bond Street, which has been there before but always looks magnificent.
Along with these decorations on Burlington Arcade.
Fortnum & Mason's had their elaborate window displays as always. For starters, they showed the year on the side of their building as usual.
They even featured a miniature version of their shop in the shop windows.
The church had their Christmas tree up again, so of course I had to take a photo of it.
As usual, we stopped in Waterstone's to have our afternoon festive feast. I had my hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows as usual, but this time the treats we had were a cinnamon bun and a toffee apple blondie. They were absolutely delicious and I wish that the toffee apple blondie was offered throughout the whole year rather than only Christmas due to how much I loved it.
Once we'd finished our food and drinks, we looked round the bookshop to have a look at the books and decorations. These are some of my favourite decorations.
After our time in Waterstone's, we headed on down Piccadilly Street and then Regent Street, which have the same angel decorations as usual. Here's a photo of the Regent Street one.
There were some really good shop window displays as well. This one was for Barbour, who did the Paddington-themed one last year, only this time it was themed on Shaun the Sheep. Notice the sheep-themed pun they used in the window based on their name.
And here's another one for another shop featuring a gingerbread man, who somewhat reminds me of the one from Shrek.
On the way to Carnaby Street, we went through the Soho area, meaning that we got to see the Christmas lights designed by children again. I always love seeing these, and I love the fact that my own hometown does the same thing as well so I can see them anytime I like. Here's one featuring a snowman.
Carnaby Street's theme this year was space. This one was absolutely gorgeous, as Carnaby Street displays usually are. Here are some highlights.
Just for fun, I'm going to upload a picture I took later in the month of another model of Snappy that was at Kew Gardens as part of their own Christmas lights trail.
One of the last window displays we saw was the one for Selfridge's. I missed the display last year due to a lack of time, but I did hear that it wasn't up to their usual standards. This one however was amazing and easily one of their best displays of all time. It was themed on a show being put on by different representatives of Christmas. Here are some of the stars who performed in the windows, with the curtains opening and closing on certain occasions.
Culminating in Santa waving to the audience next to one of the fanciest cars you could possibly imagine.
On the side of Selfridge's (I don't remember if this was a smaller display they had or part of another shop) were these vintage-style cutout displays, which really made you feel like you were looking back on a Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian Christmas with a magical touch to it.
Our final stop was Waterloo station. This year, the tree was themed on the Kate Spade brand and shaped like green boxes stacked on top of one another. But what really won me over were the little toy trains whizzing round the tracks around it, which you can just see in this photo if you look closely enough (the close-up shots I took came out blurry due to the movement).
Overall, a really wonderful Christmas experience. And I wasn't even that bothered by the trains running late home that night due to how much I enjoyed seeing the lights.
I hope everyone has had a happy Christmas and enjoys the new year, whatever it offers us. As for myself, the new year starts with celebrating my dad's birthday followed by making the most of the Christmas season until the 6th January. Either way, see you all next year and hopefully I'm able to upload some more blog posts in the process! :D
