A Very Merry London- Our First Christmas Overseas

After travelling for four and a half months, I think we can safely say we have met people from all over the world. In the lead up to Christmas our conversations started to change tune a little though- instead of 'where are you going' we spoke more about 'where are you from'; Christmas was on everybody's minds and so we started to hear stories about what Christmas was like in other parts of the world. Jose, the Spanish (Canary Islands) guy we worked with in Oban, told us how they celebrated the story of the Three Wise Men on the 6th of January rather than Christmas Day and Santa Claus; likewise Argentinians celebrated the Three Wise Men, and I had a fun conversation with Augusto from Argentina while we were in Oban comparing how I used to leave carrots out for reindeer as a child and he used to leave food for the Camels that carried the Three Kings. We learnt from a lady on our day trip to the tiny isle of Kerrera that Austrians celebrate the 24th of December, and believe in an angel that delivers presents and then they all sing around the Christmas tree with their families. And by far my favourite Christmas story we have heard of has to be from when we were back in Barcelona, and how the Catalunians believe in the log that excretes presents when beaten with a stick. And so after hearing all of these stories, it was only fitting that our first Christmas overseas was a very international one, shared with people from all over the world. So this post is dedicated to the week we spent in London over the Christmas period and how we celebrated Christmas on the other side of the world.

Although we may have once been dreaming of a white Christmas, we ended up in London where chances of snow were pretty slim. It turns out the whole of Europe hasn't been as cold as expected for this time of year, and so even friends staying in the alps of Germany didn't get snow on Christmas. We returned to London to stay at the hostel we had spent two weeks at earlier in our travels- we wanted to see what London was like over the Christmas period, and plus we ended up filling in for our friend Grace and working at the hostel in Victoria for a few days to cover our accommodation while we were there. We only had 2 hours of work between us to do each night, and even though it meant I did clean on Christmas (only for about 45 minutes), it was over and done with in no time.

With accommodations sorted, it left time for us to experience London at it's best- when the streets were filled with Christmas decorations, where outdoor ice skating rinks were set up, and where Winter Wonderland had taken over Hyde Park. There was definitely a nice feeling being there at that time of year. We spent time battling the crowds last minute Christmas shopping on Oxford Street, before bailing out from the crowds and heading to Camden to find something for each other in the shops there. At least I got the chance to wander around the lights of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street since I was still out shopping when the sun sets at 4pm:


We visited markets of all descriptions again, since that was one of the best bits we found about London in the first place, and even battled on in the typical London rain.

And last but not least, we visited Hyde Park on Christmas Eve to see the huge Winter Wonderland display that had taken over the park- the whole area was filled with Christmas markets, food stalls, German-style bars selling gluwein (my new favourite) and beer, rides and ice skating (which I wasn't sad to say we didn't get to do because all the tickets were booked out!). It was the perfect way to get in the mood for Christmas the next day.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas of 2012 seemed the like the Christmas that kept on giving- because of the time difference back home and skyping both of our families, it felt like Christmas was actually a two-day event this year. In the lead up to Christmas I was missing home (or probably the prospect of Christmas day feasts) more than I thought, and so it was nice to be able to celebrate it with everyone back home. When Christmas morning finally arrived in London time, we had our own little celebration- Mike and I had pancakes and strawberries for breakfast (so it felt like summer at home), then we exchanged presents (I got mike a nice shirt from a cool shop called Spitalfields, and he got me a headband that I wanted, a necklace from Camden markets, and tickets to see the Lion King!).

Since it was rainy we settled in for a day of movies with a picnic spread we had bought with a couple of people from the hostel- first we watched the Christmas classic the Santa Claus, then we counteracted the gooey feeling by watching Kill Bill. Because nothing says Christmas like Uma Thurman with a Samurai sword. That night we were treated to a huge traditional feast with everyone from the hostel as we had our own little 'Orphan Christmas': it just do happened that an Italian guest is also a chef, and so he spent the day de-boning two huge turkeys, covering them in a delicious basting, and stuffing them with bread and roast vegetables. The dinner was DELICIOUS- which is saying something, considering I'm not normally the biggest fan of turkey. We shared Christmas with other staff from the hostel, along with guests from Italy, Spain, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, and finished off the night with bottles of wine. Definitely a memorable Christmas.

We spent another two days in London after Christmas, and we went and saw a matinee of the Lion King on the 27th which was fantastic! Tickets were all but gone and so we managed to snag some last minute seats in the downstairs stalls. This turned out to be great because a lot of the performers came through the crowd in our section to make their way onto the stage- at one point there was an 'elephant' going down our aisle. Afterwards I couldn't get songs like 'hakuna mattata' out of my head, definitely the sign of a good time.