White Christmas? Lights & Sleigh Rides? Novelty Christmas Street Lights In Singapore and Xmas Lights Around The World

Orchard Road Xmas lights by Tanglin Mall (right) in December 2019. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

This photo was taken from a moving bus through the closed window. This year's novelty Christmas lights idea is to show piled up parcels forming a triangular tree shape topped by a star.

To the right of the picture is Tanglin Mall.

Where have I seen the best lights?


Flag of Singapore

SINGAPORE
1 Orchard Road, Singapore, especially the corner of Orchard Road where it meets Scotts Road.
Also see all the
Shopping malls,
Hotels,especially the big hotels. The high atriums are in the hotels around the Suntec fountain.
Community Clubs


Flag of the United Kingdom. Yes, still united in December 2019.

UK
First stop is right in the centre of London.

Regent Street Light. London, England, especially both ends of Regent Street. At one end is Piccadilly Circus. At the other end is Hamleys Department store and Oxford Street at Oxford Circus.

More lights adorn Selfridges department store windows and columns in Oxford Street.

Another must see is the grand Harrods in Knightsbridge.

The out of London shopping malls near London include the famous big malls and the one at Watford.

Previous year's lights in Watford, London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Watford mall interior lights. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Coprytight.

London
Trafalgar Square
See the big tree donated to the UK from Norway every year in gratitude for help in WWII.

USA
New York
In New York and other big cities sometimes an upright oblong skyscraper is decorated like a giant parcel with strings of lights up the centre suggesting ribbon and a bow.New York and Washington DC can be cold in winter (and sweltering in summer).

Xmas tree in front of Rockefeller Centre, New York. From Wikipedia.

Outside the cities in a countryside hotel we took a Xmas sleigh ride on Xmas Day or the day before or after, at the Snowed Inn, Utah.

Florida
Many malls compete to provide selfie spaces. Santa grottoes in the USA and UK malls with photo opportunities and usually for a fee a chance of a photo with Santa and a toy

One year the powers that be in a city in the USA offered a prize for the best prepared Xmas lights. Apparently this is done in many places in the USA. This is a bit like Britain in Bloom, offers prizes for the best summer flowers in gardens in the UK. Local papers take pictures in the lead up.


Finland
Finally, Finland has Santa villages and Elves and you can book a holiday featuring Santa Claus and reindeer, models and real reindeer.



Useful Websites
https://www.snowedinnsleigh.com/
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g57097-d11710338-Reviews-Park_City_Sleigh_Rides-Park_City_Utah.html

britishairways.com

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/partners-and-alliances/oneworld/frequent-flyer-benefits

https://www.finnair.com/gb/gb/plus

laplandsafaris.com

http://www.levi.fi/en/enjoy-levi/services/clothing-store-shopporo.html

(Pictures on Tripadvisor and Instagram.)

For comparisons see

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Search?geo=189896&q=santa#&ssrc=a&o=0

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/finland/articles/Visiting-Father-Christmas-in-Lapland/

I saw an ad for this comparison website:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. If you wish to share any posts or photo or be a guest blogger or to have me as a guest blogger please contact me on annalondon8@gmail.com

Top Ten places to spend Christmas? Santas, Elves, Mangers, Trees or BBQ on the Beach?

Christmas street Lights in London, England. 2106. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Problem
Where do I go for Christmas?
Nazareth? Maybe save a trip to the Middle East for Easter. 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.'

Answers
Christmas themes and traditions

1 Assissi in Italy
- 'away in a manger',  birthplace and burial place of St Francis of Assisi. Midnight mass in a Cathedral.
Assissi and the Vatican too busy? Come to Perugia, and Umbria, says the tourist board.

2 London, England -
 Carol singing under the Norway spruce and stars at Trafalgar Square. Pantomimes in theatres in the warm. Lights in Regent Street and Oxford Street. Window displays at Selfridges, Harrods and Hamleys.

London, England. Trafalgar Square with tree and illuminated fountain. Wikipedia.

London Street lights. 2017. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

3 America -
For giant scenes of Santas galloping in neon lights across rooftops; and skyscrapers lit like candles and parcels. Go north towards Canada, New York, Washington DC, for springtime snow. Go south to Florida for warmth.

Ohio, USA. Photo from Wikipedia.

4 Santas' grotto in Finland.
5 Singapore -
Every shopping mall is lit from floor to ceiling. So are the atriums of skyscraper hotels.
6 Elves Hideaway
in Finland.

Elves Hideaway, Finland. Photo courtesy of the company.

Get Away From It All Christmas

7 Spain,
Europe for a quieter Christmas in December - celebrating Jan 6
8 Russia -
celebrating Grandfather Frost.
9 Scotland -
More fuss over New Year in Edinburgh.
10 Australia -
For guaranteed warm weather on the opposite side of the globe, BBQ by pool or beach.

Finally, home sweet home, in your own home or a holiday hotel suite. Celebrate and watch the Queen's speech; or celebrate not having to work and write your memoirs or great novel, fast instead of feast and ignore the frenzy.

Those who are not Christian, such as Orthodox Jews, often offer to take over in hospitals so that Christian hospital staff can spend Christmas Day with their own families. It was a source of surprise and amusement to me to learn that the Santa in costume visiting sick children in hospital in London's East End on Christmas Day is often an Orthodox Jew performing a mitzvah (good deed). Now the Moslems and Hindus, agnostics and atheists can offer their services.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other travel blog:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Update on Elves Hideaway and Other Fun in Finland

Problem
Where is the Elves Hideaway - Finland -  and what to do with the family? I heard about this place at the World Travel Market in London where I saw model elves and a book about an elf in a yellow dress and was instantly intrigued.

Answer
I'm beginning to get it sorted.

Gingerbread House
At the centre of the complex is a theme area containing a cute Gingerbread House where you can learn to cook, I presume, gingerbread biscuits.

Whilst I could sit indoors all day eating gingerbread biscuits and reading about elves, I know most people would want to start by seeing :

The Great Outdoors
There's the Ski Levi area.

A hot sauna outdoors.

Skiing.

Or what looks from the poles in the picture like cross-country skiing, but no skiis. It's actually snowshoeing.

Snow landscape.

Reindeer and Reindeer Sleigh Rides

Husky dogs

(Alternatively canoeing in summer.)

Theme Park Area
A trail leads you through a theme park area, with an entry fee of 15 Euros.

Elves Workshop
Elves Workshop this looks great. The children wear red or green triangular hats like honorary elves. Instructed by Santa, the children make handicrafts such as little dressed model elves.

See my previous posts on elves. This story will run and run or rein and rein, dear.

Souvenirs
They suggest warm socks in seasonal colours.

Accommodation

Accommodation is varied styles and colours, all very modern and attractive.  The picture above shows a neat modern double room. Finnish hotels specialise in having at least one room with minimal carpets and drapes for the benefit of allergy sufferers. Cuts down on dust.

I go for rustic rather than modern, but it depends on your budget, how many of you, whether you want a double room, a family room or a suite in a villa, and the availability. I also like colour, a touch of red.

They offer various discounts.

Your contact details:

Elves Hideaway
Finland

They say:

Our hotel website is located at http://www.hulluporo.fi

Our experience village is located at http://www.elveshideaway.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Finland's Elves' Holiday resort

I just learned about the elves in Finland, a new attraction for families.

Doesn't this gorgeous blue-eyed guy look like what you expect in a Northern country, pale skin in order to absorb more sunlight. If he isn't from Finland, I can only say that he is well suited to the job of PR for the elves and the resort.

Who are the elves? Are they native, homegrown elves, like trolls/ (You get those, or something like them, supposedly, in other northern and Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.) No, they are the well-known elves which find employment at Christmas time helping Santa. So you could to atwo-centree holiday, in Santa's home and the elves' home.

Silly, isn't it! But so cute.

What do you get? A guided tour by a guide dressed as an elf. Presumably there's a height qualification for this job.

I wonder if I would qualify. I have blue eyes and pale skin. Also I am not tall, unlike the PR guy.

On the other hand, the elves, to judge by the model held here, have black faces, white snowball noses like a snowman, buttoned up mouths, and a red hat which covers their eyes, so they can't see anything, no peeking at the presents, and long grey hair reaching down to their feet.

I am going off the idea of apply to be an honorary elf or elf guide. (I think I shall have to dress as Mrs Santa for a Christmas party. I noticed there's also a store in London advertising on London's Euston station with a poster about Uncle Christmas. It pays to be creative.)

Did you know that the original Santa Claus costume was green? Coca-Cola's advertising department came up with the idea of a red costume, brightening up the dark short days, contrasting with the white snow.

Meanwhile, the latest on the Santa scene, is the Elves, with conical red hats. You could stop traffic with those red cones.

The resort, in addition to the guided tour of the elves, has at least one luxury hotel.

 I have tracked down the elves for you.  A hotel too.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g930790-d480806-r50800250-Lapland_Hotel_Akashotelli-Akaslompolo_Lapland.html

The website is easy to remember. Elves and the abbreviation for Finland, fi.

www.elves.fi

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

See Elves in Finland

I just learned about the elves in Finland a new attraction for families.

More tomorrow.
Doesn't this gorgeous blue-eyed guy look like what you expect in Northern country.

 You might be able to track them down yourself. A hotel too.

www.elves.fi

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.