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Festival of angels

The Festival of Angels was running in York this weekend and we went to have a look today. There were sculptures made of ice, outdoor entertainment and some fake snow. I’m still waiting for some real snow but the fake stuff was enough to get three Australians very excited.

The city centre seems to be packed all the time. I’ve no idea where all the people come from but I’m certain they don’t all live in York.
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The ice sculptures were impressive.

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This next one’s got smoke coming out of it. It’s a canon.

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It was a challenge trying to keep Elizabeth from licking them all.
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Here’s the ice bar with Baileys on tap.
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Here’s the artist at work.
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Afterwards we visited Barley Hall, a medieval oak-framed home, for a children’s Christmas dinner. It was fabulous. There was singing, dancing, acting, crafts, eating and then Santa.

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Comments

15 responses to “Festival of angels”

  1. northernbike Avatar
    northernbike

    that looks great fun. York is always busy. It’s amazing how far people travel for a day out even to a small town like my own with no station and York has the advantage of train connections on the mainline between London and Edinburgh and also to Leeds and across the pennines so it’s easy to get to for an awful lot of people

    I share your disapointment about the snow – we don’t usually get snow until the new year at low levels but there should have been some on the fells by now but even they remain stubbornly green.

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      I do hope the snow arrives before we leave at the end of January otherwise I’ll be very disappointed.

      I hear lots of different accents when I walk around the city centre and quite a few foreign languages so I’m guessing that York is a popular tourist destination around Christmas. I’m sure there are more tourists here now than there were over summer.

      Reply
  2. Max Avatar
    Max

    Fantastic ice sculptures Rachel.

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      They were very good and there were plenty more that I didn’t photograph.

      Reply
  3. Denise Avatar
    Denise

    Great sculptures and is that last ice sculpture picture taken outside Betty’s?

    Reply
  4. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    It is! How do you know and what is it about Betty’s that people stand in the longest queue outside for ages and ages to get in?

    Reply
  5. Forest So Green Avatar
    Forest So Green

    I really like the ice sculptures. We also have ice statues in January, Annie

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      They’re very clever and interesting to look at. The kids thought they were great too.

      Reply
  6. Bronwyn Avatar
    Bronwyn

    As usual, York looks like a lovely place to be. Trust Elizabeth to lick the sculpture! 🙂 After Denise’s and your comments about Betty’s, I’m dying to know why the queues. Perhaps your blog will reveal in the comments soon.

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      She wants to lick everything and has a particular fascination with shiny metal things. She even licked a metal plate on the ground yesterday! It was very embarrassing.

      Reply
      1. Bronwyn Avatar
        Bronwyn

        My God! That’s incredible and funny. Have you thought of getting her something metallic for Christmas? Maybe a metal pipe would do it.

      2. Rachel Avatar
        Rachel

        I hadn’t thought of that. Good idea!

  7. Sherri Avatar
    Sherri

    What a delightful day out, I love ice sculptures and love your pics, especially the one of your daughter licking the ice! Don’t kids just love to do those kind of things?! My eldest son did that once on a frozen juice box when he was little and his tongue got stuck!!

    Oh I do hope we get some snow and that you do Rachel before you leave. This time two years ago we were covered in it. You know how it is here, it could change overnight so keep hoping… 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rachel Avatar
      Rachel

      I am hoping as hard as I possibly can Sherri but I have bad luck when it comes to snow. In all the years I lived in Christchurch, which was 6 in total, it never snowed enough to settle. But then the year I left and the subsequent one they had truckloads of the stuff and it stayed on the ground for weeks.

      Reply
      1. Sherri Avatar
        Sherri

        Aaaaaaargh, that is so typical isn’t it? Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope…. and you stand a better chance than we do down here in Somerset since you are in York, so the odds are a little better at least…

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