Ringing in the New Year in London's Winter Wonderland

Following a festive Christmas in Rota, it was time to adventure outside of Spain for a New Year's celebration to remember for years to come!

Back in October, I planned our New Year's trip as Bryan's birthday gift. Knowing Bryan's love for everything Harry Potter, I knew he would love to ring in the New Year and fill our time with everything HP-themed. I'd say it was a successful trip and this man was like a kid at Disney World throughout the entire experience! He may have had to wait a while to cash in his gift, but it was well worth it!

Friday, December 29, 2023

After a busy day at the hospital, Bryan and I took off for Sevilla Airport, where we caught an 8:10 pm flight to London-Gatwick. After receiving a little nervous email saying our flight may be delayed due to weather, we were happy when our flight left on time and we landed at 10 pm! Whew!

McCafferty's Bar & Guest House

B and I love public transit. In high school, I used to say I wanted to live outside of DC because I LOVE the metro! After all our travels so far, I always look forward to public transit and London's Tube is no exception!

I was shocked at the $86 ticket it cost us to get from the airport to our hotel...BUT taking the Tube into the city was fun! We stayed about 20 minutes outside of the city to save on our hotel, but we weren't disappointed with this choice! We never spend much time in our hotel anyway, so as long as we have a clean bed, hot shower and a place to store our luggage, we are cool with the commute into town! McCafferty's is an Irish Pub with a cute little boutique hotel over the bar! So we checked in, dropped our bags in the room and then headed downstairs for a drink before calling it a night!

Saturday, December 30, 2023

After sleeping in, it was time to don our coats, gloves, and hats and brace ourselves for the chilly weather of London!

Comptoir Cafe & Wine

We made it to the city center earlier than expected, so we figured we would find a coffee shop for some morning fuel. Walking the streets, I thoroughly enjoyed the English architecture and black cabs! I kept waiting to see Pongo and Purdy walk out the front doors (catch that 101 Dalmations reference!?) So British!

We stumbled upon a cute cafe, where we enjoyed warming up over a cup of Joe and a chocolate muffin. Once we warmed up, we were ready to brace the cold for our timed entry into today's highlight: Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland!

Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park

Most Christmas Markets close on Christmas Eve, but London's scene is a little different. Hyde Park transforms into a Winter Wonderland for the season, complete with fair rides, fair games, a Christmas Market, German performance stages, and all kinds of food stalls!

We didn't really know what we were signing up for but at 10 am, we were in line and ready to experience this London staple! My favorite surprise find of the day was a map of Japan from 1864 by Johnson & Ward Co. This Japanese map is not only a colorful rendition of our last home, but it even has JOHNSON printed along the top to designate the creator. Seeing our surname on a map of Japan- there's no way we were going home without it!!!

Bryan's favorite find was a handcrafted ornament for Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station! Just wait, that ornament will mean more later this evening ;)

Once we explored the park, we enjoyed a lunch of tacos and cider while enjoying a German band playing traditional German Christmas music!

At 3 pm, we were able to enter our timed ticket to The Magical Ice Kingdom! Since Bryan missed out on the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, I figured this would be the closest experience! The Magical Ice Kingdom was themed around Nordic Mythology, so we enjoyed statues of Loki, Thor, and Odin alongside dragons, elves, trolls, and dwarfs!

Nordic Ship

Dwarves

Loki's helmet

Ice Slide

Thor

Loki

Dragon Skull

Odin

Wolf

Trolls

Dog!

Another Dog!

While this was a "cool" exhibit, it didn't even touch the magnificence of Sapporo's Festival! Bryan and I are going to have to visit Japan again for that amazing winter festival!

Oxford Street Disney Store

As the crowds got larger, we knew it was time to leave the Winter Wonderland. What we weren't expecting was the craziness outside of the park! Several of the closest train stations weren't allowing people to enter; they had turned them into exit-only stations because of the number of visitors! So we made lemonade out of lemons and made a pit stop at the Disney Store on our way to the next open train station!

While we didn't buy anything, it's always fun to see what Disney sells in different countries! This time we left empty-handed, but with a few pictures of their displays!

Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station

Knowing we weren't quite ready for the day to end, it was time to start our Harry Potter portion of the trip! First stop: Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station. We didn't know what we were getting into; Kelly sent me the Platform 9¾ store location and so Bryan and I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go see the station that inspired JK Rowling's famous story setting!

Little did we know that we would be waiting in line for an hour and a half to get the famous photo at THE station! Yep, you read that right- our quick detour turned into two hours of waiting in line and then shopping in the tiny, tightly packed store! Whew! While the line was pretty extreme, the staff were great at funneling people and taking pictures! I'd say our photos turned out pretty great!

There's no way we were waiting that long and NOT buying something! I'm happy to say we walked away with a few pins and a new hot mat for the kitchen!

Gordon Ramsay Street Burger

By now, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at our train change station for a bite to eat! This was our first Gordon Ramsay food experience and we weren't disappointed! Bryan has been craving a burger, so this hit the spot.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Happy New Year's Eve! We started this trip with a Christmas experience at Hyde Park, and now for the main attraction: finally seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in English!

Mediterranean Cafe

But first, food! We made our way to London's theater district early enough for breakfast. We weren't prepared with reservations, but we stumbled into the Mediterranean Cafe, where we shared a true English Breakfast and shakshuka. Made from poached eggs, peppers, and tomatoes, Bryan's Greek shakshuka was killer! I learned that the Brit's breakfast beans taste like SpaghettiOs...which was a disappointment, but everything else was delicious!

Then it was time to head to the theater...and we stumbled upon my first love! Les Mis is the longest-running play in the world, having been continuously running in London since 1985! How did I miss that when planning this trip!?! (I guess my focus was on Bryan's birthday trip...but still!) Being the great man that he is, Bryan Googled it, but the showtimes wouldn't fit into this trip. Oh well, that just means we have to come back!

Palace Theatre

Eventually, we made it to the main attraction: the Palace Theatre! We picked up our tickets, purchased a pin & Coke, dropped our coats, and then found our seats. We may have been up high in the top balcony, but we were HERE. The OG Cursed Child play. And the best part? This time around we get to see it in English.

Interestingly, London's performance sells tickets for Part One and Part Two separately. Each part has its own intermission and a two-hour break between. After 2 hours and 40 minutes of Part One, we were appreciative of a break!

BrewDog Seven Dials

We passed the two-hour break at BrewDog, right down the street from the theater. We tried a few different drinks, shared a buffalo chicken sandwich, and chatted to pass the time!

Then it was time for Part Two at 6 pm!

The Old Thameside Inn

Boy, did time pass! We got to the Palace Theater at 12 pm and left at 8:30 pm. Our entire day was spent at the theater and we couldn't have enjoyed it more!

Now it's time to ring in the New Year! I tried purchasing tickets for an assigned area for London's Fireworks display, but unfortunately, they were all sold out. Bryan did some recon and learned that people recommended watching the fireworks from Southwark Bridge for free, so we made our way there.

Since we were a few hours early, we figured we would keep warm and grab dinner, so we found The Old Thameside Inn Restaurant, where we split a Steak Pie. Lucky for us, the restaurant stayed open til 11 pm, so we enjoyed the warmth until they kicked us out!

Southwark Bridge

At 11 pm we made our way back to the Southwark Bridge for the Fireworks show! When we made it there, the crowds were much thicker and we didn't think we would be able to see much. We decided to try our luck off the bridge and see if we could get down by the Thames River to get more space and a similar view.

What we didn't know was the number of people trying to get on the bridge...at one point, crammed chest-to-chest with strangers and holding onto Bryan for dear life, I couldn't help but think of Halloween 2022 in Itaewon, where people were crushed to death. I can honestly say, I have never been so scared of a people surge. People were pushing, screaming at the crowd to move, children were crying, parents hollering to watch out for the littles...it was very scary. For 15 minutes, we were stuck in a mob of bodies trying to move off the bridge..and why weren't we moving?!

By the time we made it off the bridge, cops were everywhere and they were directing people away from the bridge and onto the streets. While people were angry, we were so relieved to breathe and have some space.

But now, where were we going to watch the fireworks? It was 11:45 pm and we were wandering the streets trying to find a place to see the show. We, along with thousands of others, followed the blocked-off streets and eventually stumbled upon an opening along the Thames right before the clock struck midnight.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As the clock (and building lights) completed the countdown, we rang in the New Year with a kiss and then began searching the skies for fireworks.

And another bridge blocked our view.

Nothing like a good laugh! Nothing like starting the New Year by nearly being trampled on a bridge and then swarming a riverbank for a blocked view of a fireworks show!

Hey, it may not be the most fantastic, picture-perfect end to 2023, but I can't complain. It's just new memories! We are in London and our trip isn't over yet!

Keep an eye out for the final part of our New Year's Trip! Bryan is authoring that one, so look forward to his fan-boying post soon!

--Katie