Christmas lightings followed by Beauty and the Beast at the Grand Theater

By now, the festive atmosphere of Yuletide has permeated to every corner of London. To mark the approach of Christmas, London is lit up (most notably at Victoria Park) by thousands of light bulbs and other decorations. Without any ostensible plans in mind, we decided to catch the much acclaimed musical, Beauty and the Beast at the Grand theater. Taking advantage of the spare time we had before the show begins, we took a stroll along the streets to capture some pictures of the extravagantly illuminated city.




Breathe taking view of Victoria Park. This photo was taken at the top of the city hall's building (see entry: Victoria Park), it was freezing when we went up due to the strong wind. With the presence of a snow capped feature, the picture would have been perfect, protraying the impending arrival of Christmas eptly. Unfortunately, due to our wanton leisure in plundering nature's resource, the climate has been knocked off its balance. In short, we f**ked the balance of Nature big time by consuming its fruits excessively. Talk about ruining the Christmas spirit...


Even the building that runs the insurance business in Canada is elegantly lit up in all due sense of the Christmas spirit.


The entrance of Victoria Park.




It is sights like these that makes you wish that the night can last forever.


Guess who Santa has for companions this year?



Jiahao and Sarah (Denmark) managed to tame themselves a reindeer each.


This has got to be my favourite picture taken that night. Why? Because it was taken together with close friends I met before and during this exchange.

After an hour of photo taking and immersing in the beauty of the night, we rushed to the Grand theater to catch our musical and barely managed to make it on time. Winning rave reviews on the local entertainment news, we were about to witness a broadway worthy performance staged by an all Canadian cast. Indeed, I enjoyed the musical thoroughly. It was in my opinion, watching a 'live' movie.


The stage at the Grand theater, fabulously decorated and rich in flavour.


We paid about 30 Canadian dollars (40 plus Singapore dollars) for seats that were almost all the way to the back of the theater. But the view was not too bad, and again, enjoying the bliss of a small frame, the seat was fairly comfortable. The same could not be said for the caucasians seated behind us. Notice that they were tucked uncomfortably in seats that are at least 2 sizes smaller than them. The perks of being an Asian? This is 1 prime example. *Sniggers*


We were unable to take any videos and pictures of the musical. Some how, the intrepid French who watched this musical a week before us managed to capture a clip of this two-thumbs-up production (I snitched this video from Nelly's blog, desole!), and I just feel the urge to share this wonderful theatrical experience with the equally wonderful readers of this blog.

After the musical, we head to Xing's place for supper. Cooking a simple but utterly delicious meal of instant porridge and noodle (I guess we were too famished to hold these simple fares in low regard). Alas, the beauty of that night will soon be marred by the onslaught of our examination in a few week's time...

Royal Canadian Regimental Museum and the Christmas Parade at downtown (Part 3)

After spending the entire afternoon in the museum, we headed to White Oaks Mall (located at the southern end of London) for some shopping. Actually, only Jiahao wanted to get something. In an epic show of filial piety and generosity, he bought a sweater for his mum, and a jacket (with fur lining on the collar, we called it 毛毛 for short) for his cousin. In an attempt to rush to downtown London to catch the Christmas parade, the shopping and our dinner (or perhaps snack) was completed in just under 2 hours. Much to our despair, the entire Dundas Street (downtown) was already thronged with crowds of families, who gathered for the town's biggest event of the year. But blessed with a thin frame and tremendous dexterity, the three of us managed to slip through the almost inexistent gaps between the crowds to hog a reasonably good picture taking-spot. Below are some pictures captured in the thick of the crowd's excitement, and I was thoroughly reminded of the Chingay procession back home.


毛毛 bought at White Oaks Mall. I seriously don't understand women's fascination with furs...


The throng of crowds at downtown. This cross road is the intersection of Dundas and Richmond Street, a place that will forever be of lasting memory to me.


What would any parade be without Western's band? Go Western!


Hansel & Gretel? Nope, it's just a simple ginger bread house on wheels. Wait a minute, that's not simple at all!


Budget cut at the local police department manifests itself in the police's patrol vehicle.






The various trucks lavishly decorated with the theme of Christmas in mind made its way to downtown.


At last, Santa arrives in London about 1 and a half month early to spread the Christmas spirit in this small but beautiful city in Ontario.

Royal Canadian Regimental Museum and the Christmas Parade at downtown (Part 2)

More pictures taken at the museum. For the more perceptive readers, you would have noticed that we have taken the most pictures at this museum. A casual mention by the way, the entry to the museum cost us $4 Canadian dollars (S$6.4), hence, taking our money's worth of picture was a priority in this visit.











Small arms used by the regiment, I'm pretty darn sure that gamers from 'Call of Duty' will be able to recognize most of them. Most conspicious of them all, the Stan submachine gun used by paratroopers and commandos.



Medals of honour.


The regiment's signal equipments.



Dioramas depicting trench warfare, brutal and often senseless attempts to advance into 'No man's land' to seize the enemies' trench almost always resulted in heavy casualties until the invention of tanks.



At one point of time, the idea of taking pictures with the mannequins and striking silly pose was simply too hard to resist.

Royal Canadian Regimental Museum and the Christmas Parade at downtown

In the final leg of our museum visit, we arrived at the Royal Canadian Regimental Museum. With a history spanning for nearly two centuries, the regiment had embarked in numerous campaigns around the globe. From fighting the colonial wars in Africa, to getting into the thick of action at the Korean peninsula, the regiment has seen actions in nearly every part of the world. I was particularly excited about this visit as I have a strong interest for military history and warfare, hence, the museum was almost like a Disneyland to me.





The museum is situated next to an active military barrack. Its site was founded in the early 1800s when Canada was still a crown colony of the British empire.


Pictures of the empire's monarch, a reminder of the Canadian's colonial past.


Uniforms of the officers in the regiment.


The equipments and uniform of the regiment's trooper.


Cigarettes and cigars are part of the ration in the regiment, it's amusing that a stick of dead leaves could have a significant impact on the troop's morale.


Badges and insignias that distinguish the different service arms in the regiment.




Paintings by war veterans.


Pure coincidence? This portrait was painted on my birthday (the 5th of July)!


The museum has a library that holds plenty of books on *no surprise* military history. Needless to say, I spent quite some time in this dimly lit room.


A chapel at the basement of the museum. Spiritual comfort meant a great deal to the soldiers, providing much needed relief from the carnage they had to face.


The colours of the regiment.



Uniforms worn by the regiment's brass band.