A Kew Christmas walk

Each year, Kew Gardens hosts a nighttime Christmas event in the arboretum, a walk filled with lights and music.  My w.wezen and I went a few years ago and found it enchanting.  Word of mouth for this year was good, so we got tickets and headed out into the year-end cold for a look.

Entry is via on-line ticket application: book for a specific time and get a couple of hours to wander a loop through the park.  There’s a small village with food and shops midway through, bathrooms and a kids play area.  Otherwise, it’s a leisurely stroll through a half-dozen set pieces, lots of lit trees, and several good performances. 

 

The stand-out arrangement this year was the five gold rings of  Christmas, cast in flaming yellows circles, each surrounding iconic sculptures from the song.

 

I had a bit of fondness for the bauble-laden tree, marshmallows, and stage plays.

   

And the display of candles, and the light show over the lake, were both great.

  

I think the only discordant bit was playing with hats in the gift shop afterwards…

  

No worries, I didn’t purchase the pudding head.

The Maastricht Market

It took a couple of days before work let up enough for me to visit the annual Christmas festival at the Vrijthof Square.  ‘Magisch Maastricht, indeed: this is the best Christmas Fair that the city has organized in the past few years.

The layout seems better, the lighting and arrangement sparkling and open, winding through the grounds and colorfully accented.

The food is more varied and fresher.  A Krakauer sausage comes in a lighter, toasted bun.  The Glühwein is more mulled, less fruity-sweet.

The venue for tree decorations and home trimmings has returned, all white beards, red robes, and round polar bears.

   

As dusk falls, the Sky Wheel glows and parents gather at the Sinterklaas trein.  The rink fills with skaters while the carousel spins, café’s buzzing with couples and families.  A busker strums out seasonal pop tunes over the passing flow of bicycles, drawing listeners from the oliebollen stand beyond.

   

My favorite memory remains the the year that the Market sprawled across a half dozen city venues, the year that an ice rink settled outside my windows.

I’d still want some snow along the eaves and underfoot, but this is a public celebration of Christmas done right.

More pictures, as always at my Flickr site.

Approaching Easter holidays

The big spring holidays are swinging into motion in Europe, with a four-day weekend and Easter holidays starting Friday.  The Tube is full of schoolkids, excited in a half-dozen languages;  Piccadilly Circus overflows with groups jostling for the best selfie. 

Over at St. James Church, the cherry blossoms are out.  Our CEO visited Tokyo’s gardens last week, sending back lovely pictures.   Friends in Japan are also starting to share compositions. For me, the flowering trees in London, Cambridge, and Poole will comprise the displays this year.

 

Tuesday:  I’m feeling like Tokyo as well, on the early train into London for meetings .  The presentations are going better now that I have finished product to show and revenue plans to promote.  But it’s still a long day on the hustling's, ending at 6 pm, wearily dodging the holiday throngs.

‘Time out for balans en grenzen, leavening work with reward.

The Easter displays are brightly lit as darkness falls outside Fortnum and Mason.   The store glows bright daffodil-chick yellow; gigantic chocolate eggs and molded bunnies grace every table.  Larger items cost upwards of £100, but there are stacks of hand-painted boxes inlaid with rose and violet infused puur chocolate flowers that are perfect for giving.

And so I shall

    

Christmas at Kew Gardens

Midnight strolls through public parks are always fun.  Museum Nights are held in major cities across Europe, and I still remember the flashlight exploration of Amsterdam’s Zoo, bears and lions sleepily blinking at the late visitors.

Similarly, at Christmas, Kew Gardens decorates their park with a wonderful show of seasonal lights and illuminated sculpture.  The w.wezen arranged dates and tickets: Despite bitterly cold weather, it was a lovely shared evening after a day of shopping in London, with a marshmallow roast and lots of hot tea to help to keep the chill off.

The displays vary a lot. Simpler ones include chandeliers hung from trees and sparkling tunnels.  The more elaborate bits include Shakespearian productions and lit fountains synchronized with music and firepots.  In between  are ethereal flowers and groves constructed from neon and incandescent lights: these were among my favorites.