We ventured over to Hyde Park today. Throughout the Christmas season they have an event called "winter wonderland". I had bought tickets a few months back, but I wasn't sure what to expect.
We had a great time! It's a mix of a carnival, a Christmas market, special activities and a London park. The carnival was bigger than I expected, with at least half a dozen rides and even more games. The market was closer to what I expected, around 50-60 stalls. It's free to walk in, and you pay for special activities. I mistakenly thought that I had paid to get in - and cover all rides. In reality, I had only paid for "magical ice castle". We had a great time in the castle, it reminded us of the Gaylord Hotel ice experience, if you've been to one of those. It's a freezing cold room full of impressive ice sculptures and an ice slide.
They play up the Germanic tie to Christmas markets in this Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. We noticed a lot of Geeman food, beer, etc. Several signs were even printed in German. We walked through a "crazy house" that had jumping floors, spinning walls and lots of other tricks - fun!
I don't know if it was by design, but the whole experience really tapped into all 5 senses. I think that kind of experience makes it a lot of fun and quite memorable.
On the train ride home, we sat next to a grandmother and grandfather. The grandfather was very funny, like a true comedian. He had the whole car laughing at one point. He played the crowd, teasing himself and those around him. He obviously had instant material with our American accents. He asked us where we were headed, and we didn't even need to answer before he yelled out "well, I'm going to Basingstoke and clearly any place you're going is smarter than that". It was funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment