Chinese New Year & other

Chinese New Year
Today London is celebrating Chinese New Year, which are, apparently, the biggest celebrations outside of China.

I started in Trafalgar Square where they were finalising the stage for the performances and entertainment from 12pm. This is also where the parade started at 10am. Beginning at Trafalgar, the parade wove amongst the inner streets of London before ending in China Town.

My favourite bits where the dragon and the musicians, banging on their drums. I followed the parade for a little while before heading to China town to sample the food. I wandered around making sure I could see all options before deciding on dumplings at my favourite place in china town.

It was considerably less busy then when mum and I visited in December, however I suspect as the parade was still going the majority of the crowds hadn't reached it yet. My delicious dumplings where not the only food you could try. Aside from the many restaurants bursting open today, many had stalls on in the street, there were pork buns, noodles, Chinese waffles (these looked so cool!) and many other drinks and food.

After my dumplings I sampled these fish shaped sweet cook dough items, that had some kind of custard (I suspected uncooked dough, but this may have been on purpose as it tasted like custard) on the inside. They were very yummy.

Many of the surrounding streets were closed down for the day, and there is nothing better then wandering the usually very busy streets of London, now empty of cars and at times people. Bringing a global city to a stand still, is very quiet. So it was lovely to take a walk through.

Sherlock
From here I made my way to North Gower street, near work. Thanks to my new found guide it listed that here is where they film 'Baker Street' for BBC's Sherlock. Here I found Speedy's Cafe and what is used as the front of 221B Baker Street.

What I loved the most was the quiet coming and goings of the other Sherlock fans. When I arrived there was girl taking a selfie in the Sherlock hat. As I was leaving two girls were slow walking up laughing and poking each other that they had found Sherlock's house haha. Fans for life!

Sunday Music
Clearly being exhausted from my day out I had a nap when I got home. Always a sign of contentment with life I think. I woke to find my Facebook stream filled with a post from Kiwis in London talking about a free gig that a young Kiwi guy, Jesse Will, would be performing at. Earlier this year Jesse had posted a clip on Youtube of him covering Taylor Swift's Shake It, from which Taylor her self posted on Facebook that it was the best cover she had heard yet!

The gig was held in the Finsbury Pub in Finsbury Park, my old stomping ground for 5 weeks last year. It was free entry and they had free music all night. It was a range of musical styles, so much like a open mic night in a way. It was a perfect ending to a Sunday night and a weekend full of adventure.

15 Unique things to do in London
http://whatculture.com/offbeat/15-unique-things…

Kiwi's in London
https://www.facebook.com/LondonKiwis?fref=ts

Finsbury Pub
http://www.thefinsbury.co.uk/

Jesse Will's Shake It Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrWQ5x2VHQRead more