Taking up about a quarter of massive Hyde Park, Winter Wonderland comes once a year and stays for about a month. It offers loads of Christmasy things to its visitors, including a Christmas market, food, mulled wine, rides, fun houses, carnival games, ice skating, and more! It's a huge deal so we left early on Thursday to try to beat the crowds.
We donned Santa hats, took some pictures in front of the huge entrance, and then dove in. First up, german potato pancakes. YUM! Then Philipp and I got swindled into trying to climb one of those rope ladders that are impossible to climb. Alright, so it's not impossible. The carny did it right in front of us. But £5 and 2 tries each later, Philipp and I had to walk away with our heads down in shame. We got some funny videos of it, though.
After the ladder failure, the boys played another carnival game. This time Philipp was victorious! Landing a softball in a slanted bucket won him a tiny santa. Well done! Then we went on to the Christmas fun house! Fun mirrors, rolling barrels, and all of the usual fun-house suff lead up to the maze of mirrors and glass leading to the exit. It took our 4 intelligent, adult brains, about 5 minutes to get through the maze. The little kids who entered behind us finished it faster than we did. Pathetic. After the fun house, we raced in sacks down a huge wavy slide. Philipp got off the starting line last and still beat us all. I didn't even make it down the whole slide. Again, pathetic. What's better after a really long wavy slide race? Tea cup spinning, that's what! The boys declined this invitation, so Jess and I took our own tea cups and went for a spin. It was not nearly as much fun as I remembered it. It was fun for about 30 seconds, then I just felt ill.
Having had about as much fun as anyone could want, we decided to wander around the market and get some food. I had a chocolate covered apple before having a delicious German sausage with Jessica for lunch. We watched the ice skaters skate, and there was live music! Bonus!! Patrick had poffertjes, but I was too full of sausage to join him. Sadness, because those things are seriously the epitome of delicious.
