A New Year, A New Adventure!

New Years Eve in London was wicked. It was 7 degrees outside and was perfect for taking a trip to see the fireworks. Syd and I started the evening with a lovely dinner of cheese fondue and salad before we met up with another couple, Rob and Laura, for drinks at the local pub - The Railway Pub. It had balloons everywhere and had music videos playing on big screens - a good party to start the evening. I grabbed a set of helium-filled balloons on the way out of the pub that I quickly tied to my wrist before getting on the tube (aka sardine can) to the fireworks (or nearabouts). I have never felt so much like human cattle! It was insane the amount of bobbies (cops) needed just to direct traffic and keep everyone moving. But it totally makes sense as we learned that there were 700,000 people in the area that night! There were times when I was afraid to lose my friends in the crowd among us, but Syd said I was easy to find with my balloons bobbing along. See, that ended up being a smart move! Below is the view we had of the eye and the screen.

We tried finding a way to get closer to the embankment of the Thames (near the wheel), but the roads were blocked off and you would have had to get there at 8 pm to get close (as it was 11:15 when we got down there!) So we settled on staying in St. James Park in the horses guard area where we had a good view of the top half of the wheel and there was also a big screen to watch that which we could not see.
We brought along our own red wine, beer and champagne, which of course I managed to spill on my pretty blue wool coat! The fireworks were absolutely amazing! Puts anything I have seen in Toronto or Ottawa to shame. Syd taped the whole thing – 11 minutes long. A very brilliant and colourful display and a great way to start our new year in this amazing city.