London's wonderful Christmas lights and trees

London looks brilliant any time of the year but in the build up to Christmas London dresses up in its very best festive lights and trees pop up all over the city.  

I'd love to show you a few of the fabulous sights to enjoy right now in London.   Covent Garden is a good place to start as they have the best tree, in my view, and fabulous lights. This year's theme is mistletoe - ahhh...   You can shop for gifts and enjoy some refreshment as you explore. 

The Queen's grocer (they have a plaque to prove it!) has some really unusual windows this year including the boy and the brussel sprouts and the turkey having a tug of war with a chopper! They are all beautifully crafted in the strangeness. 

Last year Regent Street had an epic fail with their decorations which were far too dark to enjoy so it was a relief this year to see the light, bright and very sparkly angels that cover the full length of this famous shopping street. 

Kew Gardens goes all out with their illuminated trail which sells out so fast I missed out last year so was determined to book early and was entranced by their lights.  The high point was a laser and lights show on the palm house, hard to photograph but here a a few to give you an idea of the magic. 

Ice rinks pop up in all of London's most iconic sights:  the Tower of London, Somerset House and the Natural History Museum:

Talking of ice, one of the more unusual trees was to be found at Kings Cross where a tree is trapped in an enormous block of ice.

The Strand didn't want to be left out and repeated last year's jolly decorations, as did Oxford Street: 

And finally, the best festive afternoon tea, happily consumed at St Ermin's Hotel:

I hope you enjoyed a virtual tour around festive London, where it really is 'looking a lot like Christmas.....'

Bye for now

Sue 
@itsyourlondon
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Christmas lights in London 2105

It's that time of year again when London comes to life with festive lights in all the major shopping areas. I've been out and about checking them out for you and my view on 2015 is that some new ones are great, some areas have kept with old favourites which is no bad thing  but some of the major shops have not made much effort this year and one major street is just not up to our high standards. 

Carnaby Street's 2015 offering wins as usual, it's fun, it suits the street and is new and fresh and even looks good before it's completely dark!

Carnaby Street

A Carnaby Street side street

Carnaby Street 

Trafalgar Square hosts the Christmas tree sent each year by the people of Norway to express their ongoing thanks for our support during the 2nd World War. This year it's been a bit battered by a storm which hit the capital just after it went up, so it's slightly crooked but as lovely as ever, especially when reflected in the fountains. 

Trafalgar Square

Oxford Street has stuck with it's massive baubles which works well for them and I was pleased to see that South Molton Street have kept with their elegant blue arches.

Oxford Street at the Selfridges end

South Molton Street

Covent Garden has gone for enormous mistletoe this year which I liked and had some fun to it and they have kept their enormous Christmas tree and the striking silver reindeer.

Giant mistletoe in Covent Garden

Covent Garden's tree

Covent Garden's silver reindeer

This year's big disappointment is Regent Street where they have replaced their successful reindeer antlers with the 12 days of Christmas with small shiny triangles which are too small to bring much light and large circles with projected video animations which I couldn't quite fathom and the circles are not always lit on both sides.  Apologies for a poor photo to match!

Regent Street 

The Strand has joined in this year with a jolly look in blue which brightens up this part of the city: 

The Strand

Two of our major stores, Selfridges and John Lewis, usually have inventive and playful festive window displays but this year they are unimpressive and so have not made this gallery of the light show of 2015. 

London hosts ice rinks outside many of the famous landmarks such as the Tower of London and Somerset House, and the Natural History's rink is one of my favourite sights especially when the kids have a go. 

Skating a the Natural History Museum

Finally, I visited the posh shopping streets of Mayfair to see their lovely display, again kept from last year, of delicate, feathery lights. 

Mayfair

Mayfair

I hope you enjoyed this visit to London at Christmas, it's a great time of year to come here and even the shorter days are a bonus as you can see the festive lights from late afternoon onwards before enjoying a mulled wine in a cosy bar. 

Bye for now,

Sue

@itsyourlondon

www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

London's festive lights! (Part 1)

When does Christmas start in London? If you believe some of the shops it's September or even August but for me it's when the famous Christmas tree is lit in Trafalgar Square on 4th December.  The tree has been sent from the people of Norway every year from 1947 to thank the people of Great Britain for their support during the Second World War. I was in the square to see the lights go on as the carols are sung and suddenly felt all Christmassy! The reflection in the fountain was a bonus.

A tour of all the Christmas lights with a good friend is a Christmas tradition and here is this year's photo gallery so you can join our tour virtually. There are so many lovely lights I've split them into 2 blogs - welcome to part 1:

Selfridges department store is famous for its lights and windows: 

A bold claims

Paddington is everywhere this year with his marmalade and a taxi

Mother Goose

Golden spider's web

 Marks and Spencer are making their slogan as big as possible:

 Classy Mayfair has great windows and some peacock feather new lights:

House of Fraser is hard to miss:

South Molton Street is an annual favourite of mine - classy, simple, festive: 

John Lewis have gone big on penguins in their window among household bringing us cute fun - penguins with pants on their heads!!

Part 2 of London's festive lights to follow very soon. 

Bye for now,
Sue
@itsyourlondon
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk