A Boxing Day of Sale & Sales!

In London, thousand of shoppers braved the cold winter morning to queue in the dark at the pre-opening of the Boxing Day sale. The main area for the Boxing day bargain hunt is Oxford Street, the heart of shopping in London and home to major designer labels.

Like every year, Harrods kicks off its winter sale on the early hours of 26th December. This year, Harrods provided hot chocolate drinks, smoked salmon canapes and blankets to keep their customers in the queue warm in this cold, cold winter morning

The winter sales will intensive till January 2014, for those who missed the Boxing day sale there is hope still for bargain hunting so mark these dates in your shopping calendar!

London Winter Sale - December 2013 - January 2014

Most of London's department stores will start their 2014 winter sales on either 26 or 27 December, some of them having sales include:

Harrods - Starts 26 December

The iconic Knightsbridge store's winter sale are famous for big savings on luxury goods

Harvey Nichols - Starts 26 December

The chic department store offers shoppers impressive reductions

John Lewis - Starts 2 January 2014

The popular department store boasts it's "never knowingly undersold"

Liberty - Starts 26 December

Treat yourself to some Liberty luxury at discount prices

London Designer Outlets - Start 26 December

This brand new shopping destination offers up to 70% off all year round

Peter Jones - Start 27 December

Shop in comfort and style at the much-loved department store

Selfridges - TBC

Six floors of sale-packed shopping.

Westfield London - Start 26 December

Shepheard's Bush to snap up clothes, shoes, electronics at low prices

Westfirled Stratford City - Start 26 December

More than 200 stores under one roof

Fortnum & Mason - Starts 27 December

London's most luxurious food emporium offers up a hearty sale

Happy Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is a major festival celebrated in the West and East. The solstice marks the beginning of winter and has been celebrated for thousands of years.

  

In the UK, the winter solstice is a major pagan festival, with rituals of rebirth as revelers gather at Stonehenge to watch the sunrise.   In ancient times, the winter solstice celebration is to mark the last day of the Mayan calendar, signaling the end of the world.

However, the world did not end so today is a celebration to mark the rebirth of a new year!

The question of whether the Stonehenge was built to celebrate the winter solstice remains a mystery till today.  That is one expert’s theory, but there are several theories as to why the stone structure was built, include that it was a temple of worship to the Sun; an ancient royal burial ground; or as an astronomical observatory. But none of these theories has been proven true so the Stonehenge remains a mystery.

While in China, the winter solstice is celebrated in the Dongzhi Festival (the arrival of winter). This year the festival falls on Sunday, 22^nd December 2013.

Traditionally, the Chinese family will get together and one of the fun activities is the making and eating of tangyuan or glutinous rice balls, which symbolize reunion.

In Malaysia, the winter solstice festival is better known as the Tang Yuan festival.  Tang Yuan are made of glutinous rice flour and mostly in bright colors of red, pink or yellow.  They are served in an aromatic soup made of brown sugar, water and seasoned with pandan leaves and ginger. 

A Walk on the Jubilee Promenade

Enjoy a walk from the Millenium Bridge to the London Eye that takes you along the South Bank of the Thames River on the stretch of the Jubilee Promenade.

The walkway provides a pleasant walk with its many benches for resting and enjoying the serenity of the river view. Autumn trees lining the walkway with its golden leaves scattered along the walkway. Further downriver, the view of St Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge. 

The walk will usually end at the Westminster's bridge as you approach the amazing London Eye.

Draw My Life

"Draw My Life"

A special birthday dedication to her sister who's in London with a simple message of love!

Enjoy!

St Paul's Cathedral, London

In London on a sunny day, one of the best things to do is to stroll along the Embankment, Since I have not visited St Paul's Cathedral, my journey will begin from there.

St Paul's Cathedral was where late Princess Diana had her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981 and watched by millions of audience all over the world, me included!.

For anyone visiting London for the first time, St Paul's Cathedral is a must to see! The nearest tube is St Paul's station.

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and mother church of the Diocese of London. It sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London.

Harry Potter at King's Cross Station

Harry Potter's popularity have a huge impact for Kings Cross Station because some parts of the movie
were supposedly filmed there.

Exactly where, we would not know for sure. But there's a Harry Potter shop and a fake platform 9 3/4 where Harry enters to Hogwarts Station for train to Hogwarts - school for wizards!

Kids and adults were seen queing up for a photo opportunity at this platform with a fake trolley stuck halfway through the wall. They even offer a scarf for Griffindolf. A photographer offers to take a photo and if you want to buy it, the A4 size prints cost eight GBPounds at the shop.

All Harry Potter fans must visit this shop because everything on displays are exactly what you see in the movies. Harry's magic wand, scarf, sweater, magic typewriter & many more.

King's Cross Station is connected to St Pancreas Station that offer cross country train services to most Europe countries. The architecture of both buildings is stunningly overwhelming.

It's Halloween in London, many came dressed up as witches and vampires for a photo at the Harry Potter's platform. The pubs at King's Cross were packed with all the unearthly creatures of the night.

By morning the streets were quiet  with another cold and gloomy day in London.

Road Trip South to North Wales

Our road trip to Wales start with arrival to Cardiff Central Station. It's a two hours train ride from London's Paddington Station.

We drove from Cardiff heading north on the motorway M4 towards Swansea for a quick stop to check out the lighthouse at the cove and continue onwards to Carreg Castle at Carmenthenshire.

As its autum, it's was dark when we arrive at the castle ground so unable to gain entry.

We continue our journey towards Caernafon, the roads were in complete darkness in this cold and wet autumn night.  It's gets narrow and winding in certain stretches as we drove through several towns or villages that looks totally deserted.  There were also many road works along the road which slowed down our journey.

Finally, in about three hours we were relieved to have  reached our destination at Caernafon.  The B&B owners were kind enough to wait up for us as they retired early for the night. 

A quick walk around town in our search for food, we stumbles on the only place that's still open at such odd hours. The Bengal Spices, Indian delicacies. The food were amazingly tasty and good.
Exhausted, we slept like log for the night.

Next morning after an amazing traditional English breakfast at the B&B that is located within the Castle wall, we explored the famous castle ground.

Caernafon was also known as The Royal Town in North Wales. Due to its strategic location at a river mount, the port flourish as the main transport hub for North Wales. The Caernafon Castle was built by England's King Edward 1 after his successful conquest of the town from the Wales ruler. This castle symbolises England's initial invasion on Wales.

The castle falls to a state of ruins after a few decade of neglect. 

Today the castle and the surrounding town is in the UNESCO World Heritage list.