Ice Skating at Somerset House

Ready to skate, or at least to cling to the railing

I'm definitely running behind with my blog posts, I'm going to have to try and catch up to my more recent exploits. But before that there are still things from winter which need to be recorded.

Something else I did over the winter was partake in one of the many outdoor ice skating rinks which are set up around the city.  There are a whole stack around the place, and you are inundated with the advertising on the tube.

I ended up going to Somerset House, which is an art gallery/exhibition space along the Thames.  The tickets I got were for a "Club Night" so I'm not sure how the session I went to would compare to other nights.  It was pretty good, they had a DJ on, which was what made it a club night.  It was definitely a bit of a date night for a lot of people, but being so focused on not breaking my bones I wasn't really noticing.

Each session only goes for an hour, but to be honest, because I was so bad it felt a lot longer.  The ice marshals were good, they take pity on you after a while and try to give you some pointers.  In fact I think the most dangerous feature were the other beginners around you, as they were liable to fall over with no warning and drag down the nearest people with them.  It was a good idea to give them as wide a berth as you can.

They had these penguins though, which you could sort of lean on and push around in front of you.  They really made you feel a lot more stable on the ice, but apparently those were only for children, and after awhile the marshals made everyone return them.  I should put in a plead for all those people who grew up in the tropics, to make adult-sized penguins for next year!

Ice penguins - only for children unfortunately

The ice was pretty wet, which you can see in the below photo, I guess another side effect of the incredibly mild winter we had.  I also spent most of my time hanging off the railings and staring at anyone who dared to loiter on the railings until they moved so I could continue my weird grasping around the rink.  The lights were wonderful though, and it's definitely an experience, to skate around the courtyard of this beautiful old building in the middle of London.  This is the second time I've been to Somerset House, the first was when we went to see the Lord Mayor's fireworks and I used their bathrooms.  But I still haven't actually gone to see any of their temporary exhibitions, I really should try to rectify this.

Somerset House - beautifully illuminated