Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

Every year around Christmas time, Hyde Park hosts a month long family fair called the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.  I went to it at the end of 2009 with a friend from work, Rico, and had a great time, so I made plans to go again in 2010 with my friend Lisa.  We decided to make it an all day thing so we met up at 2pm.  It was freezing cold (at least minus 6 degrees) but we arrived with our layers on and braved the cold. 

The first thing we did was buy some gluwyn, a warm red wine with spiced, which did the trick in warming us up!!  We then looked at what all there was to go and we decided to go on a ride called The Black Hole, which was pretty much a cart that you sit in which goes into a huge dome which is pitch dark inside.  As the cart went up the ramp, you could see an amazing view of London which was pretty special.  The ride was fun and different from any other I had done before.  After that we went to look at some of the shops and another friend joined us for some more drinks.  We then went on another ride which was a seat which hung from a rollercoaster, also quite fun.

I can remember sitting on the bench by the stalls in the freezing cold and just feeling so unbelievably grateful to be there.  The atmosphere of a winter Christmas with all the carols playing and everyone walking around so happy cannot possibly be described, but there was nowhere else in the world that I would rather have been at that time.  I said to Lisa, ‘’if it starts to snow now, my life will be complete.‘’  (I had to wait until the next day for the snow)

Lisa completed her shopping by buying a big Banksy panda with the pistols, or as she called it the ‘’£35 pandaaaaa’’.  Afterwards we went for a drink at The Bell and Compass in Trafalgar Square before heading home.  The journey home took about 2 hours, as I had completely forgotten that a tube strike had started at 6pm and so I ended up taking a bus home (well several buses) and getting home just before 1am.  But it was so worth it!!!