So yesterday morning I decided to spend my weekend checking out the leading Christmassy locations in London, firstly Southbank Christmas Market, then Winter Wonderland and lastly Somerset House. Although not museum locations they are definitely cultural/social areas of London, and I found a few prezzies that I'm sure any Museum Geek would love!
So early Saturday evening I headed over to the Southbank Christmas Market with some friends from Uni. The Southbank is one of my favourite London locations, not only is it a beautiful view of the Thames at anytime of year there is always something happening and the Hayward Gallery is there!
The Market was great, filled with all sorts of nick knacks and homey bits and pieces, plus alot of winter hats, the usual and the silly and then the animal ones. Unfortunately my friend M took quite a liking to the animal hats (that I personally can't stand) and spent quite a while deciding on one, then deciding on an Elmo hat then not to getting anything!
We headed over to the Hayward Gallery to check out the large outside installations. Currently the Hayward's big exhibition is 'Art of Change: New Directions from China' that focuses on 'Chinese Art that refuses to sit still' exploring contemporary installation and performance in China from the 1980's. However I'm unsure of whose art had been installed outside of the Gallery but the Igloo like sculptures with hanging ornaments were very fitting next to the Christmas market, so like everyone else we took our camera outs and had a little play...
Mulled wine of course was a necessity to end this trip, however from this market it was a bit cold, and not very fruity. The non alcoholic fruit punch however was lovely and perfectly toasty!
Next up was the infamous Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park! I love visiting this every year, going ice skating and on the Ferris wheel. However this year myself and the boyf went to meet some friends, and check out the bars instead of the family friendly entertainment. Firstly it was hell trying to find our friends! The lodges and bars all look very similar and it was the busiest I'd ever seen Hyde Park at this time of year, so it took a little while. But finally we spent our evening drinking and dancing in the Bavarian Bar, where you have to put a £2 deposit down to drink out of tanker of beer ( it is tempting to steal the glasses!) and the mulled wine is freaking tasty but so hot I burnt my tongue. The music was pure cheese, garage and R n B - my favs. But trying to do Gangnam style in a busy bar with hugeee tankers is not the greatest idea, and people didn't take getting danced into quite so well! Blergh to them!
The shops here were them same tat at the Southbank centre, lovely tat but definitely overpriced and I wouldn't recommend doing any Christmas shopping there. However at Southbank my friend got me a great little gadget called a 'click and heat handwarmer' the same company were at Winter Wonderland and sold a better variety so check out the stall at Hyde Park if you fancy one if you fancy one.
Winter Wonderland is great for a mooch about, its free to get in and its open until 10pm, I'd recommend meeting friends there for an afternoon/evening drink this winter!
Lastly I headed over to Somerset House today to meet a friend for a cuppa, this place is beautifully christmassy, with the ice rink perfectly situated in the middle of the courtyard, a massive Christmas tree and the rooms to the side filled up with pop up boutiques!
Here I found some great museum geek Christmas presents...
From Tatty Devine jewelry
https://www.tattydevine.com/shop/christmas-at-tatty-devine/christmas-jewellery/horse-and-carriage-headband-pearl.html
https://www.tattydevine.com/shop/christmas-at-tatty-devine/christmas-jewellery/enamel-gingerbread-heart-necklace.html
To Hoxton Street Monster Supplies! Sweeties and yummy things in great containers!
http://www.monstersupplies.org/
And then of course it came to Mulled Wine time! Whilst watching people fall over on the Ice Rink and eating tasty tasty cake I had the best mulled wine at Somerset House. Very fruity and warm! Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to check out the Valentino exhibition that has recently opened, but I'm very excited to spend an afternoon ogling at the couture!
All in all its been a great christmassy weekend, I think the pop up shop at Somerset House and Winter Wonderland are a definite must do!
Remember if you're on the look out for Christmas gift ideas for Museum Geeks K has posted some ideas...
http://curiositycollective.blogspot.co.uk/p/a-museum-geeks-christmas-list.html
hopefully Ive added a few and given some people a hint (wink wink nudge nudge)
Happy December peeps!
T x
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