snow in ol' London town

I'd seen it snowing when my bags arrived at my new temporary residence in London. (See post below about moving.) I'd got a bit excited and took some photos and then went back up to my room to unpack and settle in. At 10pm I was feeling weary and started moving toward bed when a friend messaged me to ask if I'd seen the snow. "It's still snowing?" I text back and excitement began again. She was on a bus making her slow way home. That means it'd been snowing all evening. I peeked out the window. Yep. Ground covered in white. I delayed going to bed and put on my jacket and boots and headed outside with my camera.

I walked around in delight. There was already about 10cm on all surfaces where the snow stopped falling. I've been in the snow before but I haven't actually seen a good snow fall for quite some time. Back in my hometown in Australia I like to say we get snow maybe once a year. It falls softly--for 10min if we're lucky--and then it's over. Occasionally it settles; maybe a few millimetres. Enough to make things look white-ish. This was a real snow fall! And it snowed the whole time I was outside. And it was decorating all the trees and plants. And I played. And, of course, I had to build a mini snowman. (Also discovered rolling a ball of snow in the snow DOES make it bigger; rather quickly in fact.) It was after 11:30pm before I came back in.

Today when I woke, I looked out my bedroom window. I smiled. There's something a little bit magical about seeing everything blanketed in white in the early daylight.

After a lazy morning in bed reading, I got up and dressed and pulled out my snowboots I recently purchased for my Iceland trip this week. May as well test them in the snow. So off I went trapsing the neighbourhood. The only proper snow fall we get in Australia is in the mountains so to experience it in the city was another first for me; one I wasn't sure I'd get this winter. Today, being a Sunday, was a lovely day for it. We'll see what I think once the regular week begins and public transport is used. With no road use needed and no time pressures I was able to appreciate this experience and delight in it.

I wandered over to Kensington Gardens (west end of Hyde Park) to experience a London iconic place in the snow. (I'd like to see the city centre in snow but I couldn't be bothered going that far today.) Here's Kensington Palace in the snow with Queen Victoria out in the cold.

There were lots of families out and lots of snow activities going on. You could scan the horizon line of the park and spot numerous snowmen. The snow here was closer to 15cm thick I reckon. A good layer to play with.

The lake was partly frozen too. It amused me to see some birds swimming in the water and some walking on it.

It sure gave the place a whole different feel. It really feels like winter this last week with cold temperatures and snow on the weekend. It's been lovely to experience.