Wednesday Wanderings

Lanterns and people at Chinese New Year Celebrations, 

Trafalgar Square, London

Fun travels!

Year of the Horse 2014

Unless you currently live under a rock, then you are aware that it is the Chinese New Year which started on Friday, January 31 with the first new moon of the calendar year and continues for 15 days. According to Chinese zodiac tradition each year in a 12 year cycle is named after the animal it is associated with. This year is the year of the horse; people born in the year of the horse are said to be;

"animated, active and energetic – they love being in a crowd. They are quick to learn independence...and they have a straightforward and positive attitude towards life. They are known for their communication skills and are exceedingly witty." the guardian 

Good for you, horse people. FYI if you are looking for love this year avoid Mr. Ed, rats, oxen, and rabbits instead search for potential mates in tigers, goats, or dogs (OHMY!) you will like them.

The year of the horse is a year of decision and adventure. This is not a time to procrastinate and over think things. The horse is an action animal, so stop with the pep-talks and do already! Feel the energy of the horse and get your hands dirty, speak your mind and trust your instincts. 

Also:

Here are 8 lucky things to do for this New Year.

Bright and early *ahem* at 11:30 am I headed down to Trafalgar Square to check out the festivities happening in and around China Town with a few thousand of my closest friends. The parade had finished by this point and we were all waiting to be entertained by leaping lions, dancing dragons and twirling humans.

Oh look! It's Selena

As you can imagine, there was lots of tat for sale, including this cute horse mask, drums, and dragon puppets to name a few things.

I received some "lucky money", 50 P off soy sauce! Every little bit helps. Amiright?

I know you can tell, these are too good to be from me. You're right. They're from Selena, check out her post about the day.

Some people had dressed up as the zodiac animals and lots of people wanted to take photos with them. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, it was still cold and I was a bit jealous of their faux fur.

Fun travels!

Canada Day Recap

If you can't be in Canada on it's Dominion Day then the next best place to be is London. Specifically Trafalgar Square (Canada House is conveniently located beside the square). Seriously.

There is such a huge expat group in London and so many Canadian appreciators that, you can't help but have a great time. Festivities start at 10:30 with booths set up and more importantly pancake breakfast. If you aren't one of the lucky ones to get an invite to Canada House for their own pancake breakfast, you can buy your own for a small fee from the French Canadian Pop-up Kitchen. They had real maple syrup and real bacon.

Totally meant for the blur.

While enjoying your breakfast you can watch round robin series of hockey games. 

They even had real poutine there, truly they did, I saw with my own peepers, but they sold out of the dairy gold (cheese curd) and had to resort to shredded cheese. 

The Maple Leaf aka. the Canadian bar, is not too far from the square and they were set up all day with their own activities and fun. I stopped in here to have a Caesar and sing "O' Canada" several times (5, we sang it 5 times.)

And this happened.

via

I wore my most Canadian attire and sported some great headgear sent to me by my mum. They were a big hit all around (albeit a bit dangerous).

The day's festivities end with a concert, one that had been talked about for weeks prior. The line up was; The Arkells, Jan Arden, The Sheepdogs, and The Tragically Hip. If you don't know who some or any of these people/groups are, that's alright, but go educate yourself. Now. Here's a link to Spotify. 

Go.

Fun travels!