Tarts in London: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

As the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year across Europe. While preparations have been underway for a month or more in many of the biggest light shows across London, its now less than a month away putting me quite into the holiday spirit.

I've been thinking a lot about the infamous Christmas markets that so many flock to Europe for. Despite the cold weather, or perhaps in part of it, they are the perfect occasion to welcome the season. Our first visit was Germany back in 2011 when we first started on our expat adventure and it took 3 years for us to make another visit.

When Paul's family came to visit in 2014, we took in everything London has to offer for Christmas, from Winter Wonderland, ice skating at the Natural History Museum, carols and lights across the city, but we still wanted more Christmas. So, we grabbed a train and headed across the channel to Belgium.

Once in Bruges, we set to finding our apartment. The great thing about apartments are that they get you a local feel, the hard part is navigating less signposted streets. Our wandering was not in vain though, we meandered through the cobbled streets, peeking into windows filled with Christmas decorations and gifts as we passed. Following the canal, we found our home for the weekend conveniently situated near the oldest pub in Bruges, Herberg Vlissinghe. The pub was charming with wooden panels, a carved wood bar and a metal fireplace that was far too tempting for a 3 year old with beer that was far too tempting for grown men.

The main attraction for us was the markets so we made our way back into the city centre. In Germany, the market took over the entire city, but here, perhaps due to the city size and perhaps due to the fact it wasn't Germany, everything was concentrated in the square. A skating rink formed the centre with circles of food and mulled wine stands around the outskirts; it was too crowded to snatch an open table so we balanced mulled wine in one hand and sausage in another. The market had all the normal stands you'd expect, but somehow was a little less Christmas market than I had hoped.

Undeterred, we spent the rest of our time alternating walking around the city, with shopping, eating and drinking. The men picked out Cambrinus with their selection of over 400 beers, but we were pleased to find they also had a hot chocolate in the traditional Belgian style, where you're presented with hot milk and a "spoon" of chocolate to swirl in and create your drink. The women picked shops full of Belgian lace and Christmas decorations. We all chose plenty of food stops along the way.

Most of our attempts at true sight seeing failed - we did manage a visit to see the Madonna of Bruges, but our canal boat was thwarted due to rain and when we tried to go to the bell tower, the line was so long and it was so windy that we abandoned the plan and got hot chocolate instead. It was our first trip with friends with kids and perhaps the perfect introduction to how travel could be with a little one (which was perfect impeccable timing as unbeknownst to us, I was pregnant at the time).

Looking back two years later, it's hard to remember specifically what we did throughout the whole weekend, yet I still recall little moments and details; picking out hats in a shop off the square, following the crowd only to find a chocolate nativity as the star attraction, picking out the perfect chocolate flavours and dealing with what I know is the over tired toddler. But despite the fuzzy memories, I remember it as a great trip among family and friends. It's been a lesson to us - sometimes the best trips are those where you aren't rushing from site to site, but rather enjoy the true meaning of vacation - and of course a great hot chocolate!

Last year, we stayed in London for Christmas - our first Christmas away from family. We filled the days with a types of Christmas themed things. Ice skating, Christmas markets, plays and lots of Christmas lights around London. Then, Christmas day, we opened gifts, watched Christmas movies, cooked a small, but traditional meal for the two of us, and skyped with family in the afternoon.

This year, we decided to use our days off to do the opposite of Christmas and head to the beach for a big vitamin d fest (which is what every Londoner needs in the wintertime). We headed East to the destination that everyone is always talking about - the Maldives.

There are so many resort options out there, it can be overwhelming. After lots of research, we picked out Reethi Beach Resort in the Baa Atolls, north of Male. Even from London, it's a long way - a day full of trains, planes, automobiles and boats, but we finally made it to our island the Saturday evening before Christmas. While I hated all the travel, I loved flying to our island in a little sea plane. It was the perfect vista to take in the magic of the Maldives. These tiny spots of green, surrounded by turquoise blue of sandy water and the beautiful dark colors where the sand drops off to the depths of the ocean.

The setting was perfect - the bluest waters, softest sands, small little islands popping up all across the water, coupled with the fact that each resort is essentially it's own island. Even at full capacity, the island would have something like 300 people there! While it certainly isn't the smallest resort in the Maldives, it still manages to feel pretty intimate when you see the same people day in, day out. And since there's no where else to go, you are guaranteed to see the same people each day, unless they somehow lock themselves away for the week.

We spent our days lounging at the beach, or on our private balcony of the water villa, enjoying pina coladas, reading a book and applying copious amounts of sunscreen to our pale British-like skin (oh for the days of a Texas tan). We had some lounges on our balcony to enjoy watching the waves roll in, or in Paul's case to cool off after too long in the sun, or we could head around to the front for loungers with umbrellas and beach-side service of the aforementioned pina coladas.

We also took one day to go to a private island on all our own for a picnic. They call it Robinson Crusoe since you're "stranded" on the island. As our boat engine went out on the way over, I was thinking we may truely be in for a Robinson Crusoe adventure, but we made it safely to the island (in view of our resort) for another perfect day at the beach. We snorkeled, tanned, and picnicked on cheese sandwiches and fresh fruits before having to head back to nearby civilisation.

While I loved the relaxation we found there, I am sad to say I was a bit disappointed by our experience with diving & snorkeling, only due to the weather. Because of the strong currents that were unusual for the time of year we were there, we didn't have a lot of visibility and were restricted to options for dive & snorkel spots.

But, even despite that, we enjoyed getting back in the water for some diving. It had been almost 3 years to the day since our last dive and as soon I was under the water, I completely forgot why we hadn't been diving. I had even been worried about my ears after some ear infections between then and our last dives, but after a few uncomfortable minutes trying to equalize, I was fine.

While we didn't see everything we hoped for underwater, we still got to enjoy dives, with lots of schools of fish, some beautiful reefs (though not as abundant as Belize) and my favourite - all the little nemos hiding in the anemone.

Up until the holiday, we had debated what it would be like to spend Christmas in a tropical atmosphere. How can you celebrate when trying to sing "Baby it's cold outside" or "Let it Snow" when those are both so far from the truth of your environment? Even though it was the least Christmas like atmosphere (reminder, 85 degrees!), it still managed to feel like Christmas.

Okay, not Christmasy, but picture perfect!

The hotel decorated the palm trees around the islands with Christmas lights, lighting our walk back to our room each night. They had Christmas music, trees and drinks, with a big feast on Christmas Eve and brunch on Christmas Day! Everything from turkey, pork, (even tacos of all things), to all the traditional sides like brussel sprouts and stuffing. It was the best and worst part about the all-inclusive, all you can eat style buffet. So many options to choose from, I always ended up with a very full plate AND dessert.

While Paul and I didn't want to lug gifts around (and since the trip was our gift to each other), we just had our stockings for a few small gifts in the morning. We finished off Christmas day with an afternoon dive followed by cocktails on the beach and probably the best sunset of the trip.

Perhaps another trip to the Maldives is in order - next time to the South Atolls to search for whale sharks!

For the last and final of our Christmas escapes in London, Paul and I made a trip to Hyde Park. While we have been here several times before with the pup on weekends, they transform it for Christmas into the Winter Wonderland. I had seen it advertised, but flying over it one night, it was lit up and beautiful in comparison to the darkness around it. That was the moment I decided to go.

I had thought it was going to be a lot like the Christmas markets last year in Germany but with more. I should have known from the website it wasn't though. The website touted a ferris wheel, carnival activities, an ice skating rink, a frozen (magical) ice kingdom in addition to the usual stalls with foods and other Christmas-y goods.

We decided to walk there from our place, about 45 minutes, strolling, enjoying the brisk evening and I went as far as to sing Christmas carols along the way, once we were off the busy streets. Within 15 minutes walk of the park, you could already see the lights. Like a beacon, calling you to them!

Winter Wonderland ended up being less than I expected from the Christmas markets, but more in other ways. While it was lacking the expanse of shops and delicious goods (while there were some food stands, there was a really odd assortment and not nearly as much good food as I would hope), it made up for as a carnival. There were rides and games galore. Paul ruled out most of the easy ride (aka the carousel and "reindeer" ride I suggested as a joke), and I ruled out the rides where you could possibly injure yourself, which left us with mostly carnival games. Paul tried his luck to win me a life size bear, but alas, the darts circled and missed their target, and I am bear-less.

After our losing streak in the games, we found the Bavarian Village and staked out a table. Basically, its a large area where you can, you guessed it, drink beer. They sell some food as well, but we had already stuffed ourselves on bratwursts, potato pancakes and candied cashews, so we stuck with a litre (for Paul) and a pint (for me). There were some lively bands going to keep us entertained until our show time at 8:30.

Bavarian beer

View of the Bavarian village from our perch

Most of the things within Winter Wonderland are free; however, there are a few things where tickets and/or reservations are required. One of these is the Magical Ice Kingdom. I decided it was worth the couple of quid to give it a try, so I had booked us in for this as well. Reservations are needed not just because you need a ticket, but also because it is a frozen little village. They want to regulate the number of people coming through to make sure it doesn't get too warm to melt the sculptures inside.

While it is small, some of the sculptures are pretty amazing. We got to "ride" in a carriage pulled by a unicorn and sit a top a frozen throne, although we did restrain ourselves from joining the 5-8 year old kids in sliding down the ice slide. After the freezing temperatures there, we were quite content to head back home and warm up by the fireplace!

Christmastime is over in London, as I was harshly reminded of this morning by the men sawing up our office's Christmas tree in the lobby.

As I had previously mentioned, this was Paul and I's first expat Christmas where we stayed overseas. Which meant, we had Christmas all to ourselves for the first time in our married lives.

It was a great chance for us to wind down and catch up, away from the usual hustle and bustle of Christmas. So, what was our agenda for the big day?

Eating. And everything else that revolves around eating.

We woke up and popped into the oven the ham, which I had cooked and prepped glaze for the day before, the egg casserole, fruit salad, and re-heated and iced the sweet cardamom bread I had prepared the day before.

My first ham - success!

We opened gifts with Christmas music playing and a fire on in the background. My favorite gift? An antique Belleek tea set from the 1930's in a sea design (think coral and sea shells!).

Even Belle was able to "open" gifts, which she immediately christened
by running around in mad circles and squeaking, much to Paul's delight.

We watched Love, Actually. I think Paul only agreed because he didn't know exactly what it was, but this is one of my favorite movies for Christmas.

We cooked some more! The evening course included left over ham, mashed potatoes with bacon & chives, corn bread stuffing, sweet potato casserole and some delicious rolls. We were so full, we decided to not even attempt the dessert.

Okay, lots of carbs. Note to self - veggies next time!

This meal was also followed by movie watching - this time, White Christmas, as neither Paul or I had seen it.

Finally, we wrapped up the day by Skyping with family and friends. Perfect end to a relaxing day.

Merry Christmas from the Tarts!

This Christmas, we will be spending our Christmas in our new home in London, which means for the first time we will be away from our native home and families back in Texas on Christmas. At first, I was sad to miss it - all the time with family and friends, the food, the traditions.

Then, I realised the opportunity we had to create our own traditions and do whatever we wanted on Christmas. We were skipping out on the hassle of flying back during the busiest time of the year and simply relaxing at home, kicking up our feet by the fire and doing what we like best.

Coming up with your own traditions can be daunting though. To compensate, I think I have tried to fit in every possible Christmas celebration I can in London from ice skating, to orchestra concerts, and now, seeing the Nutcracker at the London ballet.

Me and the Nutcracker go way back. My grandmother used to take us often to see the ballet in Fort Worth, dressing up especially for the occasion. Oddly enough though, my most distinct memory of the Nutcracker is from my elementary school, where each Christmas, the 5th graders put on a show of the Nutcracker.

Now, don't get too impressed yet - this was no performing arts school. Our version was not something people had to pay to see (at least I don't think so!).

It was more along the lines of this.

Okay, it was almost exactly like this, lyrics, dancing and all. I will say, our costumes had something on these baggy t-shirts. I remember painstakingly wrapping red around my white tights. And for some odd reason, this performance has stuck with me all those years - my first and last "ballet" performance.

Back to present day, seeing the Nutcracker here in London was the first time in probably 10 years that I had been to the ballet. There's some things I had forgotten, such as how unlike my elementary school production, there is no speaking, and it was nice to reacquaint myself after all these years.

You couldn't ask for a better place to see it - the theatre itself even gave off an air of Christmas with the red, plush velvet seating and ornate stones decorating the stage. Add to that walking out of the theatre to Trafalgar Square and standing to admire the Christmas tree puts you in the Christmas spirit.

This weekend, we buckle down for our final Christmas preparations - wrapping last minute gifts (and buying them), shopping for our Christmas feast and hoping for a little bit of Christmas snow.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

First of all, I apologise for going rogue again this last couple of weeks. But, I have been back in the good old US of A and have been in a food coma from gorging myself on TexMex and other delicious Americana food. That and I was too busy eating to bother to take ANY pictures. Okay, and I might as well blame jet lag too for the additional week it took me once I got back to London.

Before we left for Texas though, we got in one more Christmas celebration to put us in the holiday spirit before our week of weather in the 70's (lower 20s for you Celsius folks) made us forget about the upcoming winter holiday.

We had seen a few concerts online at Royal Albert Hall, which looked amazing. So, I browsed out their website and they had all kinds of Christmas festivities, from formal concerts, to sing alongs to dancing. We decided to check out the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which included festive carols & sing alongs, as well as more traditional orchestral music like Handel.

It is a beautiful venue, and with the snowflake patterns lighting up the stage, it had that magical Christmas feeling. That may have been the champagne, but either way, it was so fun! Carols have always been my favorite part of Christmas. They had some of my old favorites and some new ones I hadn't heard before. They also had someone do a rendition of Deck the Halls in Welsh, which was pretty interesting.

After caroling our hearts out, we went back to a friends for a little gingerbread man decorating. Now, bring on Christmas and perhaps a bit of snow!

During the Christmas holidays, which in London seem to range from October to December, you see ads for ice skating everywhere. Postered all over the tube, in the daily papers, online.

I decided to surprise Paul with a trip to go ice skating on his birthday, because we would be in London and it was the first time we would be by ourselves, without family to help celebrate it.

I was excited about my little secret. I went online, purchased the tickets, got the email confirmation and felt proud of my plans for his special day. Then, next day, I re-read my confirmation email and realise I bought the tickets for the wrong month. Doh. What was I thinking?!

Luck was on my side though. Despite Ticketmasters refusal to change the tickets, my travel plans got cancelled and I was able to take the afternoon off to enjoy our skating. Despite losing the element of surprise, Paul has enjoyed the gift of mocking my lack of details in this birthday planning.

So which of the venues did we decide to try out for London's imfamous ice skating? Westfield? The History Museum? Tower of London?

None of the above. We tried out the Somerset House. I had seen an ad in London's Time Out magazine and a co-worker told me it was the IT place to be for ice skating. I'm sold! To add to that, it's on the Thames and is a stately 17th century building that was once remodeled by Christopher Wren, the same one who you may remember designed St Paul's Cathedral.

Beautiful Christmas tree

So, we decked ourselves out in sweaters, coats, hats and gloves and hit the rink. It was awkward at first. I started out holding the rail. Made it a couple of laps around. What?! It's only been 5 minutes?!

Doning my "babushka" aka rabbit hat for the first time.
Figured it was the perfect opportunity for its debut!

Then, I was able to hit my skating "groove" if you will. This consists of not constantly teetering and avoiding most of the hand rails.

30 minutes later, I was done. Man, skating is tough! My legs will be sore tomorrow.

Overall, it was a fun experience. It was a beautiful, picturesque setting. For those who enjoy skating, its a must. For those who don't enjoy skating, give it a spin, but then cut your time short and hit up the rink's bar for mulled wine or hot chocolate and Bailey's. I may not ever go back for a second round of skating, but I'm glad we were able to take time together to go for our first Christmas in London. Now, what's up next in our countdown to Christmas in London?

Without Thanksgiving to sandwich in between Halloween and Christmas, Christmas gets an early start in London.

I've seen lights and small decorations up at various places throughout the month of November, but as of this weekend things were getting into full Christmas swing in London.

Oxford Street - best shopping and Christmas lights

Oxford Street again

Stores are beginning to sell Christmas wares, grocery stores touting their hams and turkeys for festive meals, neighborhood trees being raised and lit, and tons and tons of street decorations.


Our neighborhood kicked off Christmas with a tree lighting, free hot chocolate and a kettle drum.

So, despite Thanksgiving looming over this week, we decided to get into the Christmas spirit early this year. Heck, since we are celebrating Christmas in London, I figured an early start is required to be like the locals!

So, with peppermint tea in hand and Christmas carols playing in the background, we trimmed our tree, lights, ornaments and all except the tree topper. I think I may need some pintrest inspiration to make the perfect topper.

Our beautiful little tree!
We are missing a lot of our
favorite ornaments but have
still managed to pick up some
new favorites along the way

Up next to celebrate Christmas? Infamous London ice skating, carols and maybe even some snow!

This weekend Paul and I took my first trip since I moved here - I must say, I love being able to take a quick 3 hr flight for a weekend trip in Europe. We had heard alot from other expats here about the Christmas markets in Germany and decided to give it a try.

The markets were so amazing - the market stands were all over the city. We spent two whole days exploring them. Apple wine, nutcrackers, ornaments, lots and lots of food, toys, scarves, carved wood, art, steins, so much more.

It was great during the day because you weren't fighting the crowds. We got to enjoy looking around. At night, the crowds kicked in - and I know why. It was magical at night to see everything lit up.

While we had expectations of doing some much needed Christmas shopping, we ended up spending most of our time eating, with some walking in between! We had brautwurst, fries, schnitzels, potato pancakes, some uber delicious apple pancake (apfel pfannkuchenspezialitaten according to the sign - see delicious picture below!), apple wine, mulled red wine, hot chocolate, beer, crepes, delicious choclate creme pastry, candied pecans, and probably lots more I am forgetting. It was delicious.

We also had a chance to attend a vesper service at the St Nicolas church that is right in the middle of the Christmas markets. It was such a great way to get into the holiday spirit and nice to be around people speaking English :)

We head back to the US next week for the holidays - Merry Christmas everyone!