The week after Christmas when tourists do roam

Having spent an earlier afternoon brainstorming two years worth of things to do in Britain and Europe, no doubt fuelled by the grape and the grain, we combed the list for less fanciful activities to keep us busy until fortune got the memo that we had a new address.

We should remind you that the average London temperature is now 0 degrees, but the Germans had taught us that freezing weather should not stop you standing around in the snow drinking hot wine! So off we went to see a bit of London…

Friday, 26th December 08 - Picnic fun at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace is an interesting and odd little gem. It was originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.

After the exhibition, the building was moved Sydenham Hill. There, Crystal Palace was enlarged and stood from 1854 until 1936, when it was destroyed by fire.

The remnants remain in a park-like setting that includes miscellaneous sphinx and lion scattered around the place, as well as a pond area containing prehistoric cement creatures created in the image of what they believed such creatures looked like in the 1800s, the expression that comes to mind is ‘good effort, but no cigar old chaps’.

Then:





Now:

A small sphinx


Sir Joseph Paxton - creator of Crystal Palace


Cool car


Beasts


More beasts


Dinosaurs 1800's Style


The ducks don't seem worried!


Night falls