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Lumiere London 2

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Lumiere London was a big lighting festival that was held in January. I visited several areas in central London and my journey continued from the venues I took viewing the installations at Westminster Abbey, Soth Bank, Oxford Cirus to Piccadilly through Regent Street in my previous post.

Leicester Square

One of the main exhibition areas of this year’s Lumiere London was Leicester Square. Inside the square there were giant rabbits, fox, frogs as well as a huge Foxglove plant and many Butterflies glowed in the darkness, creating a magical fairy tale world.

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It was really the Night Garden

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Lumiere London 1

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

There was a wonderful event in London about two weeks ago (the 18th – 21st January) called ‘Lumiere London’. This was a festival of Lighting displayed in the public space in central London. I went into town and took lots of photos so I would be able to share the experience with you all. However, straight after that event, Bang!! I got the flu… I don’t catch a cold very often so this flu germ must have been a super strong one. Somebody in the audience gave it to me. I gargled to spit out the germs and washed hand as soon as I got back home but two day after the day I became ill with a high temperature with aching muscles and stuck in bed for a week.

I apologise for the delay of posting these photos but because it was a very interesting event I would like to share the photos with you here.

Lumiere London

The event ‘Lumiere London’ was the open viewing art works of 50 lighting works by different artists in public space. The venues were spread out in several areas in Central London. The area I went to see first was in Westminster.

Westminster Abbey

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This was one of the major art works for this year’s event. The lighting was done in two entrances. The light of the main entrance changed from time to time. There seemed lighting from inside as well so the stained glass rose up clearly to emarge with the outside lighting. The unusual colour choice of lighting for a cathedral was great too.

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Another Afternoon Tea in October

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There were so many things I had experienced this year that I did not have a chance to post on my Blog. This post is one of them and I wanted to introduce it to you before this year ends.

In October one of my friends came to London to see me from Paris and I did not miss the chance to take her for an Afternoon Tea. The last time I had High Tea was spring time this year. I posted the experience on my Blog and received a recomendation of  another restaurant which serves good Afternoon Tea from one of the readers. So I booked a table there and went to have another experience with my friend.

Another Afternoon Tea in London

It is a Viennese Restaurant located in Aldwych of London. It has a quite rich atmosphere with very decorative walls and a European style setting. I had dined in this restaurant before but never been there for Tea time. We were taken to our table promptly and not long after ordering a pot of Earl Grey Tea the traditional three layered cake stand served at our table.

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London at Night Time before Christmas

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Every year the main streets of London get a Christmas Illumination to brighten up the town and cheer up shoppers. Different sponsors create different types of lighting and some years I get disappointed but this year I was very impressed with the beautiful illumination. It seems like it has got a theme of an Angel, wings and Feathers throughout the town. I think London looks very pretty at Night Time before Christmas.

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Piccadilly

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

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You might not have guessed but I am a quite Harry Potter fan. I have to admit that I am not the young generation who grew up with the characters whilst the books were published but I have read all the stories and saw all the films. I even read the sequel story “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” which was written in the theatre script format. I generally like going to theatres and am also accustomed to reading scripts, however, in this book I occasionally had problems visualising the scenes described how it would be created on the live stage. As you can image the story was about the wizardry world so there are several scenes the characters are using magic or some un-natural event occurs. That is why I wanted to go and see it for real. For the people who would like to see the play, don’t worry I am not going to give away any spoilers here.

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Afternoon Tea in Canary Wharf

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Last year I made a debut to a very British customs ‘Afternoon Tea’. The concept of it is similar to Cream Tea that I occasionally have, however, they are a little different. Basically Afternoon Tea is a mixture of lunch and tea time together which serves tea with some sandwiches and dessert. By knowing it is a traditional custom for upper class people, it is a little intimidating experience but it is becoming more popular among wider range of people these days.

I had another opportunity to try this high end custom (at a reasonable price) the other day. It was a farewell occasion with somebody who helped me out and is leaving the UK soon.

Afternoon Tea

To be honest it is quite difficult to choose the venue. Of course if you want to spend lots of money for the best experience there is no problem. The top quality afternoon tea costs over £100 per head. However, if you want to find a venue for a great experience but reasonably priced, you have to do a lot of research.

Afternoon Tea 13I finally booked a table in a hotel, but I was worried if it was not as good as I hoped it would be. However, once we arrived at the hotel I got a good feeling. Although the restaurant is located on the ground floor, we were led to the Executive Lounge which is on their 14th floor. There were some other people having tea already but tables were placed with some distance so our conversation was not disturbed at all.

We settled at the table and not waiting that long, our tea arrived, followed by a three tiered cake stand.

Afternoon Tea

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My First Afternoon Tea Experience

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I have been living in England for many years. During that time I have picked up several English customs such as having toast with Orange Marmalade and a MUG of Milk Tea for breakfast or Tea-time at 4:30 often with Earl Grey Tea. I also love Scones but it has to be with Clotted Cream and Raspberry Jam. However, I have never experienced having a set of Afternoon Tea in a Tea shop … until recently.

Last week I saw a friend of mine in Central London. We decided go to Patisserie Valerie for Afternoon Tea.

afternoon-tea

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