We’ve been in London for 4 days, and are heading later this morning for Italy, but then will be back for several more days in December. A few notes:
It’s been absolutely bone-chilling here. Rained one morning, but otherwise it’s been 75% humidity and windy, mostly cloudy, and so even mid-40s temperatures feel Arctic. Coming from ski country, where it gets cold and some resorts are open with manmade snow (although no real snow accumulation is happening yet), London’s much colder than Colorado. I’ve got tons of ski long underwear tops and bottoms at home, but didn’t bring any, and got a cheap-ish set at a Uniqlo store this afternoon. My kind-of warmish clothes (half the trip is southern Italy, after all), including thermal vest and raincoat, weren’t working adequately. Bring warmer clothes than you might otherwise expect!
We booked LOTS of performances, including music concerts, plays, and Pantos, months ago. Seats for November and December were rapidly selling out for many things back in June. Things might be hard to get at this point for Christmastime 2025.
Having said that, we discovered the Royal College of Music, a short (but very cold) walk from the Victoria & Albert, Science, and Natural History museums. For £5 apiece, we attended a stunning concert by soon-to-be-professional musicians Wednesday night. It’s the best deal in London! Small venue, great seats and acoustics, and you can’t beat the price!
Well, the London Symphony Orchestra has some free Friday lunchtime concerts at the former St. Luke’s church, which is now a concert venue. And we attended a phenomenal Viola/Violin/Cello concert yesterday … for £14 pp (senior rate). Be careful of extremely slippery leaves in the entrance yard, and hidden branches amongst those leaves. The grounds crew need to address those.
Sunset is essentially 4:00 PM right now, and it’s actually dark by about 4:20. Plan accordingly.
The Uniqlo store yesterday, and the Harrod’s Food Hall a couple days earlier, were very busy. I imagine they will be insanely crowded as Christmas approaches. Plan that accordingly, too!
Haven’t been there yet, but apparently Fleet Street holiday lights were tuned on this week, with a first-time dozen decorated Snoopys (each atop his doghouse) included in the decorations.
Also a first time, and I was there, Leister Square now has an ice rink, ringing the Shakespeare statue. In late morning, nobody was skating, but the ice looked great (freshly Zamboni’d, and did I mention it was cold outside?), and a crowd was wandering through the kind-of cheesy Christmas market stalls and huts surrounding the rink. Think lots ofmulled wine vendors and cheap knock-off souvenirs.
Nigel mentioned light-viewing from a bus (ideally in the front seats, on-top). I hadn’t seen this thread until now, but he’s right, and we’ve already ridden the Number 14 Bus from Piccadilly Circus to/from the Victoria & Albert Museum, passing Fortnum & Mason, The Ritz, Harrod’s, and countless other displays on buildings and streets. Warmer than being on foot, and traffic slowdowns just give you a better opportunity to view the lights!
Then, the Number 88 bus was the way to see Regent Street angel lights ahead and overhead.
A recent e-mail from The Londonist suggested that the Number 139 bus was the best one for maximum views in London, but not every street would be viewable, including Regent Street. I’m planning on a ride on the 139 when we return next month, while clad in that new long underwear.
Hyde Park has a “Winter Wonderland,” which sounds like an amusement park in the cold, but while passing the southern exit just past 10:00 PM two nights ago, there were literally a million people (yep, I counted while the bus was stopped at the red light). I learned that it shuts down at 10:00, and it clearly attracts a lot of folks, cold or not.
