A Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Well it looks like Winter has finally arrived in London. All through December the temperatures were very warm, not dropping below about 8 degrees the whole month.

The past two years in London have brought a snowfall before Christmas, and with none last year we thought we wouldn't get any snow this Winter. However over the last few weeks,the temperatures have been steadily dropping, and since the start of January have hovered around -4 to 3 degrees.

We got out first official peek of snow last Friday, when it lightly snowed on and off the whole day, but not enough to really settle. Just enough to disrupt transport because the UK can't handle more than an inch of snow on the ground at any given time.

The proper snow came on Sunday morning, when we woke up to find a thick layer of snow on the ground outside, and still steadily falling. 

One of my hopes for this year was to get some photo's of London in the snow, as the past few years we haven't left Chiswick when the snow was on the ground, so when we saw the snow outside we were up and out the door to spend the day as tourists!

Our first stop was Westminster, to see Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Because of the snow, one of the busiest parts of London was almost deserted. 

Even walking from our house to the tube station, we noticed an absence of people on our High Road, which is usually heaving with people. Whatever the tourists and locals were doing, it didn't involve going outside!

Parliament Buildings

Westminster Abbey

As it was Sunday, Westminster Abbey wasn't open, so we had to content ourselves with peeking over the fence. The Abbey looked beautiful in the snow, with lights shining out through the stained glass windows.

The snow fell steadily for the entire day, the first time that's happened since we moved to London. Usually we only see light snow falling during the day, anything heavier is usually while we're sleeping, so to be wandering around the city with snow falling around us like rain was exciting!

We could barely see up the Thames at all, even looking from Westminster Bridge towards the London Eye which is just down the river, was really foggy. I wouldn't have liked to have been on the river as it looked really choppy.

The next stop on our London tourist trail was Hyde Park, we have spent a lot of time in Hyde Park and Kensington gardens, but usually only in Summer, when we take a book and a picnic and spend the entire day in the occasional sunshine we get. 

We were hoping the snow would have settled properly, but we still got a huge shock when we came out of the tube station to find the entire park covered in a thick snow blanket as far as we could see.

As soon as we stepped through the gates it didn't feel like we were still in London, but rather in the middle of the British countryside.

Rather than having any specific destination or plan, we just started wandering, only realising later how different Hyde Park looked in the snow. With the fog obscuring any surrounding buildings it was hard to get our bearings of even what side of the park we were on!

Luckily we weren't in any hurry, so we continued our stroll though the park, stopping to admire the snowmen people had made, watching dogs playing in the snow, and lots of people sledding.

Testing to see how deep the snow is

Leaving message made with my umbrella as we walked along.. 

We saw this written on a yellow road sign. It's not yellow snow!

We eventually ended up in Kensington Gardens, not too far from Notting Hill. The birds in The Serpentine were loving the weather and following anyone walking along the water hoping for food.

There were lots of fat squirrels throughout the park, hiding in trees waiting for treats. A lot of people had come prepared with nuts to feed them, I though squirrels hibernated in the winter, so wasn't expecting to see any!

Bird tracks!

Not really sure why Bradley finds it so hilarious to stand under trees shaking snow on himself. He does it all the time.

More squirrels!

We came across the Italian Gardens, one of the loveliest spots in the park in the Summer to stop and have an ice cream. Obviously we could have made our own ice cream, though not a nice one, so we contented ourselves with watching people trying to sled down the hills and all failing!

Snow bear!

The last stop on our tour was Notting Hill. Portobello Road, while famous for its amazing market, is also surrounded by houses painted in lots of lovely bright colours. With all the white photos we had just taken, I needed some colour!

The bright houses looked so cheerful amongst all the white surroundings, and it was a nice chance to be able to wander down Portobello Road without the crowds of tourists it usually attracts.

After stopping for some lunch, we headed home to warm up with some soup and hot chocolate.

I'm not sure we'll get another day when London is so immersed in Snow before we go home to New Zealand, so I'm glad I could tick one thing off my list!