The rest of Christmas Eve was spent grocery shopping, cooking our own dinner in the apartment, and watching multiple episodes of Big Bang Theory on television. A quiet Christmas Eve, no doubt, but as long as you're with family it's fine.
On Christmas Day itself, seeing as all the shops were closed, we decided to go for a walk around the Chelsea/ South Kensington area, where we were staying. You know a city is photogenic when at any and every corner you turn, there is a snapworthy photograph waiting to be taken. After awhile, I thought I'd figured out the charm of the city that lay in its symmetry of architecture. Whitewashed buildings in perfect alignment, perfectly-mirrored across evenly-spaced streets. In the day, clean colour palettes of whites, greys, and blacks interspersed with bursts of vivid greenery also made for a pleasing aesthetic. And with a blue sky above, anything's picturesque!
We walked all the way to town's shopping districts where all the shops were closed. Harrod's store displays were gorgeous and there were plenty of tourists (us included) milling about snapping photos of them. We then took a turn to Hyde Park which was surprisingly busy! I think it's where people go when they have no Christmas plans :p The sprawling garden was abound in squirrels as well who weren't shy about taking food from your hand and then making an escape with no gratitude whatsoever. They did pose for photos though, so thank you squirrels!
It was such a nice walk in the park. I'm the type of person who experiences strong impulses to run flapping towards a giant congregation of pigeons if there ever are any so... I did a lot of running that day.
After that, we went for Christmas Lunch at a pub and oh, it was hearty. I FREAKIN LOVE RIBS. With round tummies we then decided to walk somemore (it's ok that we ate so much because we walked a lot, right? Right..?) and explored the area. Nice to see some houses putting up decorations that were free for all to view, and they accepted tiny donations that would go to children's charities.
Christmas dinner consisted of REALLY good (surprisingly so) pre-packed meals from Sainsbury's, and guess what, even MORE episodes of BBT and HIMYM or whatever else was on telly. A very quiet festive season this year for me- no presents, no major celebrations or gatherings, but still nice to be surrounded by family. Hope you all had wonderful Christmases! :-)