Christmas lights!

Nicola and I decided to get into the festive spirit and what better way to do so than to head into the city centre and see the Christmas lights? Also, we’d be making use of our weekly train pass so even better! We caught a train from Burwood at 20:00 which was at sunset and which would allow us to get into the city when the light shows started. I believe the light shows are daily, starting from 15 December (today) until 25 December and run from 20:00 until 01:00 at the Town Hall and St. Mary’s Cathedral. We caught the train to the Town Hall Station which was convenient as the first light show we wanted to see was projected onto the front of the Town Hall. The pictures below show the images projected onto the building, which we thought were pretty cool and a nice touch.

After watching the entire light show (it’s on a continual loop) we walked through Sydney CBD, through Hyde Park and towards St Mary’s Cathedral. What was really surprising was that there were NO Christmas lights at all, other than those at the Town Hall. There was the odd tree inside a hotel lobby but no lights in the street. Surprising and shocking, well for us anyway. We imagined something akin to London or New York but what we saw was something put to shame by the light show in Killay Square! I have a feeling the Mayor of Sydney must be called Scrooge as the lack of Christmas decorations was a real let down and in no way fostering the festive spirit.

Nevertheless, we continued through Hyde Park and the single Christmas tree there (bigger ones can be found in most living rooms across the UK) and towards St Mary’s Cathedral. We were treated to an absolute visual banquet of a light show! It was amazing. The best way to fill you in on the details is to show you the pictures (we took one of each section of the light show). It was wonderful, so Christmassy, and the area outside the Cathedral was full of people admiring the show. It made us feel Christmassy, and we were glad that at least somewhere in Sydney was doing its bit for Christmas. The detail of the light shows and the contrast against the night sky was brilliant, it was a great way to spend our evening and it was an evening that reminded us that Christmas is just around the corner!