And so this is the festival we have all been waiting for every year – Christmas! In Singapore, my family used to visit Orchard every year for the Christmas lights but as we grew older, we stopped doing that. Christmas became just another ordinary day and I really wondered how Christmas will be like in Europe. Hence December is one of my most look-forward-to month!
In the UK, Christmas is easily felt everywhere. I first felt it when the history museum beside Imperial is being turned into an ice rink and then friends are visiting Winter Wonderland one by one. Now, Imperial and student societies are having Christmas parties almost everyday and my flatmates are inviting friends over for xmas dinner! The festive season is really strong here and cosy too:)
Xinyi and I had the common childhood dream of experiencing the European Christmas and also taking a steam train (like polar express) and thus we decided to take the Santa Express in Bolton Station, Bury!
Arrived 30 mins before the train arrived and wow, we saw so many families around! Best of all, they are all locals and the families dressed up in christmas accessories and the children are excitedly jumping around. The whole wait was so lively that we dont feel cold despite waiting outdoors for the train!
Choo choo, the train arrived 10 minutes before the stated time. Despite looking old, the staffs are all dressed in christmas themes as well, and they are all really friendly! I them realised that most of them are volunteers doing a service to the community:) Guess Christmas is also a season of giving back to the society too!
As we are allowed up the train, we found our seats and was seated beside a Manchester mother and her daughter. This was their first time taking the Christmas train as well because the tickets were sold out last year. We also realised that we were surrounded by children as well😂
As the train departs, the staff began to bring drinks and mince pies to us, adding to the festiveness. Shortly after, Father Christmas and the elves appeared and started cracking cold Christmas jokes. Father Christmas then starts to hand out a present to the children. The thing is the parents would buy the presents and pass to the staffs as they check in, so the gifts would be magically what the children wanted (or what the parents want the children to have). Sorry to spoil your magical moment HAHAHA!
After that, a live band came into the cabin and asked us what Christmas song we wanna sing along to. To my surprise, it isn’t Jingle Bells or Santa Claus is coming to Town, but rather Frosty the Snowman. Omg, Xinyi and I were agreeing that that song was our favourite carol! And so, there we go, singing Frosty the Snowman with the locals! The innocent children and even the grandparents singing along made the whole experience so much livelier:) while the children are rowdy and noisy, we really enjoyed ourselves on the Santa Express! One more checked on our bucket list 🚂
After the train ride, we headed down to Manchester to walk around the world Famous Christmas Market at Albert Square. Manchester was so crowded on the Sunday, even more so than Southbank of London! And most of the people are locals, showing that Manchester is a highly populated city!
And our experience with the Christmas Market? It was really big and the deco was super ups but the crowds are horrendous as well. The walkway between stalls are narrow and with people squeezing around in all directions, we took awhile to get from one shop to another! We couldnt even find a place to enjoy our food properly 😦 I guess for that, I would say that the Manchester Christmas Market is too overrated? But on the side note, a lot of Brits from around the countries visit that market for the festival!
And we headed back to Birmingham when night came (essentially night has fallen by 4pm).
Facetimed Dingwei and Marcus the next day morning! Its great hearing from them once again:) And really appreciate them calling over because they are having finals this week and we miscalculsted the time (thinking Finland is only one hour ahead of London but it was 2 hours). Really excited for their post finals trips:))
After the call, Xinyi and I headed out to the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham New Street (it’s German theme) . The market is not bigger than the Manchester one but it is definitely nothing short of festive! They have street artists performing Christmas carols along the streets and even a stand up skit at the main square! A lot of parents brought their children along for the market as well and thus it was really fun to watch them as they joked around and took care of their grumpy kids haha!
What I really love in UK for Christmas is the families coming together and celebrating it as one (just like CNY). I am very blessed to be here experiencing the festival firsthand and I would reccomend UK as a place to celebrate Christmas in😎
CinqeMinte 