Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 27, 2011

If you’re a resident of or traveler to London, you’re well aware that the British city is never silent, never emptied, never peaceful. It’s always bustling and noisy with people and traffic at all hours.

Much like this:

London's famous clock tower, surrounded by traffic, workers, and tourists

One of many crowded London streets

Except on Christmas Day morning.

And then, the noise and crowds and vehicles miraculously vanish, and London is transformed briefly for one day. It’s beyond magical, almost like a movie, the streets of the city are nearly deserted. Wondrous…

Talented photographer Ian Mansfield at IanVisits wrote this about the experience of getting up early on Christmas morning to photograph the city — Photos of an Empty London on Christmas Morning:

Apart from the emptiness of the city, it is the silence that makes the experience such an addictive one for me.

London is never silent, not even at 3am, but on Xmas morning, it is almost silent. The background drone of aircraft approaching Heathrow has gone, and away from main roads, the streets lack the sound of car tyres rolling over tarmac.

Heading home, also a sound you never really hear now – the pealing of church bells. Not just coming from a single church you are nearby, but from all over the city as the sound carries far further than usual and surrounds you from all sides. Magical.

Here are a few of Ian’s brilliant, creative Christmas morning London photos — be sure to visit the photo blog to see many more. These are amazing and captivating:

Christmas morning in London: Waterloo Bridge, one of the busiest bridges across the Thames

Christmas morning in London: Well, you just have to try and recreate that famous scene from '28 Days Later'

Christmas morning in London: You don’t need to know anything about where this street is for it to work – as you see four lanes on the road and wide pavements and instinctively know it should be busy, but isn’t

Christmas morning in London: I rather like the combination of old and new buildings, and taking it in B&W seems to work better than in colour, especially for the older buildings.

To view the entire set of fabulous photos, visit IanVisits’ Flickr site here. His blog is filled with other inspiring photographs.

Categories: Holidays and Family, Inspiration, Social and Political Climate
Tags: bridge, Britain, British, Christmas, Christmas 2011, Christmas Day, Christmas season, city, clock tower, England, Ian Mansfield, London, Merry Christmas, photographs, photos, street, UK, United Kingdom, Xmas, Yuletide