Winter Wonderland 2023
Yesterday, made my annual pilgrimage to Winter Wonderland - as usual, booked the Ice Palace (Norse mythology this year!) and Cirque Berserk. My goodness though, my bank isn't a fan - this booking caused problems with online payments with my card.. now sorted. They're very conservative - blocked a duty free payment on the plane on Friday. The cabin steward remarked that this was often a problem with this bank - I managed to pay with another card. Tickets for Winter Wonderland, anyway, are through See Tickets, who re-sent them to me at the weekend, conveniently.
I left it a little late to head off - but then, times are generally fluid. I had to enter the park between 6 and 8, enter the Ice Palace between 6 and 7, and the circus was at 7.30. So, my goal was to get to the Ice Palace for 7 - in the event, I made it at 6.45. Once you're in, you can stay until closing - the rush is to get there in your allotted timeslot. The Shard, of course, was doing its thing again, en route:
Naturally, this far out, I had to get the Tube - I did manage a seat after a couple of stops. Then a bit of a trek.. but I have to hand it to Winter Wonderland, they really cater to people trying to navigate what is a confusing location, with the website and app, where there's not only a map, but also a list of the different gates - all of which are colour-coded - and their What3Words locations! Plus a description of where the family entrance is, and what attractions are near each. So I could decide where my best entrance was, look up the location, and get directions. Neat!
The map seemed more accurate than in years past, and I soon found the Ice Palace. Where, as usual, the only entrance was by running the gamut of the photographers - they just assume you'll want a photo! I zipped past, ignoring her instructions to stand by the green wall. She was most disappointed..
And so, in. A very informative ice passageway, further in, describes the different realms you'll pass through - but first, appropriately, you come to Midgard, realm of the humans:
..where she's putting out the washing:
I loved the runes, scattered about:
So yeah, they should really have had this at the entrance:
But we were soon enlightened:
The path through these realms doesn't seem to go in order - but hey, whatever fits!
The pathways are cooler than in previous years - first you pass through the ice corridor where the realms are explained, then (in Helheim), apparently through the belly of a beast! followed by a spooky gateway:
There's even an icy armoury, suitable for would-be adventurers:
Finally, you exit to Midgard again. By longship, naturally:
Fantastic display, as always - I was particularly taken with this year's, though. They do offer ice sculpting workshops, which take place in another part of the same structure. I wasn't tempted, but it was interesting to see them whittling away - there are windows to the outside.
There also seems to be a more interesting range of pubs, this year:
Personally, mind, I was more interested in the hot chocolate with shots - and was delighted to see there are two places to get that, this year! Firstly, as usual, the end of the bar that you come into upon exiting the Ice Palace - the Alpine Bar - but also, there was a stand outside! where I ended up getting mine, this year; the one with chocolate liqueur and peppermint tempted me. Comes with cream, and tons of mini marshmallows. I also had churros - widely available, and from what I could see, priced the same everywhere. Which is not a cheap price, but hey..
Straight away, though, I was headed for the circus tent - it was now 7pm, and they were letting people in for the 7.30 show. "Warm inside", the sign says - and it is; I took off my coat for this one. Probably the only place in Winter Wonderland that you can do that! Open seating, and by that stage, the full frontal view seats were pretty much gone, so I went for a nice side view.
They start with some impressive acrobats:
It isn't long before the motorbikes make an appearance:
Even the clowns ride them in this show!
Back to some more crazy acrobatics:
and plenty of work on the high wire:
But it's the bikes that everyone comes to see:
The air reeks of fumes as the globe holds first two:
..then two and a hapless onlooker:
..then three:
and finally four motorbikes at once, with the house lights down and their headlights on:
Excellent show, as ever - about 45 minutes long, and we had the ringmaster appear at the end to hurry us out so they could set up for the next.
And so to my chocolate and churros - and as I say, they have interesting bars. This one was made from a carousel, and actually revolves the whole time! Not very fast, but still, I don't think I'd fancy it:
There's a Bavarian village:
Had a wander - the Christmas Market, as shown on the map, is tiny - what's nice is they have a kind of Marketplace, this year, with shops, eateries, and places to sit, in a little plaza. Great idea! but the market, in general, is much depleted this year, in favour of food stalls and games. There are a few stalls for jewellery, woollens, Christmas ornaments, bags, or perfumes - but the range isn't great, and I wasn't tempted.
Hey though, they now have a live music stage! I don't remember that from before:
I came in by the Gold Gate, near the circus tent and Ice Palace - exited by the Blue Gate, which was handiest for where I ended up:
It being later now, and the traffic lighter, bus was more feasible. So I caught the bus, with a lovely view of the local hotels as I waited:
Always a good night out, Winter Wonderland. Runs till New Year's Day. I couldn't blog last night though - we had a maintenance man come around yesterday, who said he'd be back first thing in the morning to do the rest. So I had to get to bed. Of course, he never came..
Tonight, I was heading to a free carol concert at St. Stephen Walbrook. As advertised by Cultureseekers - who apparently have 74 signed up, as of my last peek. So I figured they shouldn't miss me.. but then Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) suddenly (and quite belatedly, for them) advertised an outing to see Old Friends by Stephen Sondheim, at the Gielgud. And I figured - hey, this concert was free, and I'm going to a carol concert tomorrow night anyway.. I'd like to see the musical. So I booked - UITCS helpfully let me know that ShowFilmFirst (SFF) has cheap tickets. And yay, a number of us subsequently got upgraded - I'm now in the Stalls!
Tomorrow, at another carol concert - this with Buddies on a Budget. And my last Meetup of the year! This is at the Actor's Church - St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Tickets from SFF again. Anyone who's interested is heading to the Chandos afterwards - and Ivan is planning on joining us, soon as he can make it!
On Thursday, back with CT to the Backyard Comedy Club - hoping for a better lineup - then back to Ireland for Christmas on Friday. Happy Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!
I fly back to London on the 2nd, and on the 3rd, well, there isn't a lot advertised on Meetup - at the moment, I'm thinking of heading to the Winter Light Festival at the Southbank Centre that day.
And on the 4th, I'm off to see The Time Traveller's Wife, at the Apollo. Handily enough, Seatplan was one of the sites with the cheapest tickets to this - and I was eligible for a Seatplan voucher. So I used it, and got my ticket for £5. Let's just hope, from that high up, I can see something..!
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