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Published: March 13th 2014
The Canary Wharf
area is impressive with its modern buildings set off by the various waterway canals.On the day before Janice was to fly to the US we went down to Canary Wharf for the day to visit the London Ice Sculpting Festival. It actually ran for 2 days, but we decided to go down on the last day to be able to see the near completed sculptures. Teams from 10 different countries were competing for prizes. We were surprised to learn that the US team was from Texas – who would have thought of ice sculpture being done in Texas!
It was fun walking around and seeing the teams working diligently on their sculptures. Fortunately for us each of the teams had a drawing posted so you could see what the finished sculpture was to look like. Many stuck close to the design, while others had to modify some as the ice either melted or broke due to the warm temperatures. The theme this year for the multi-block competition was “Fabulous Fashion” while the theme for the single block competition was “River Life”.
This also gave us a chance to walk around Canary Wharf. It is a major business district now, one of London’s two main financial centers, the other being the City of
Canary Wharf with its many tall buildings
housing banks and businesses helping to revitalize this area. London itself. Canary Wharf has been one of the busiest docks in the world starting in 1802. The name of this wharf was requested by the Fruit Lines Ltd. which imported fruit from the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. The docks closed in 1980 and the British Government worked on stimulating the redevelopment of this area which eventually resulted in the financial centre that is here today. None of the old buildings remain and what has replaced them is a very modern development with large green spaces, high rise office buildings, residential space and underground shopping.
One thing we thoroughly enjoy about being in London is that no matter what day it is, if you look you will find something to see and do. This turned out to be a pleasant day activity that was close to “home” and got us to a new area of the city. Seeing all that ice also was a way to “prepare” Janice for the winter weather ahead of her as she returns to the US the next day.
We found out later that the judges decided that the entry from Togo won the multi-block competition, a team from Spain won the
Just Liked the Clever Name
of this restaurant - the Cat and Canary located in Canary Wharf. single block competition, the UK entry won the public choice award and the US won the free-style competition.
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