Elephants, Dickens, Many Markets and More. 

We started the morning off with a Full English Breakfast here at the IBIS. We gathered ourselves together for the day and our first stop was the Marble Arch to see the Elephant Statutes.

Today, December 4th, these statues were unveiled. The sculpture is the largest such depiction of an elephant herd in the world and is intended to draw attention to the plight of this species. Each elephant in the sculpture is modeled after a real orphaned animal currently in the care of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  

Next, we where off to Hyde Park for what we thought would be a recon of Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.  Here we had learned about Magical Ice Kingdom Presents A Christmas Carol. A display of ice sculptures telling Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol.

This is in an enclosed building where it is kept a toasty -10C. I must say, I was rather taken in by the sculptures and the way the Christmas Carol was presented.

We next walked about the Winter Wonderland looking at the various items for sale and various food offerings. This whole venue is somewhat like the Christmas Markets in Germany and Vienna. There were so many (for lack of a better term) kiddie rides and an ice skating rink. The area is very large and I would imagine it gets very busy on the weekends and at night. 

We next went to Piccadilly Circus to find a Waterstone Bookstore, as I was looking for a copy of “Walking Dickens’ London”. 

At Waterstone, we went to the cafe and had a great bowl of tomato soup as we looked over the book we just purchased. This book should be a great resource for future trips and the remainder of this trip.

We walked from Piccadilly to the Christmas Market at Leicester Square, making a short stop at the entrance to China Town. The Christmas Market at Leicester Square was very similar to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, having mostly the same offerings of drink and food. 

Then we continued walking to Covent Gardens and the Market there. Covent Gardens was originally a fruit and vegetable market and today is a market of several shops and stalls. A good many of the stalls here sell unique hand  crafted items.

While the light of day was fading, it was not yet dark. We then walked to The Strand and walked east to find the Old Bank of England Pub. Here we planned to retrace our steps back to Covent Gardens Market and to The Seven Dials are for more Christmas lights. 

While walking along the Strand, we passed several places of interest. These included Somerset House, Temple Bar Memorial, The Royal Courts of Justice and more.

After having a bite to eat, darkness had fallen. We retraced our steps taking some photos along the way. We ended our walk at the Seven Dials.

We then made our way back to our hotel via public transport.  We did make a stop at Greenwich Market as on this night it was open late. 

We logged 21000 steps on this day.