What’s on?
Happy Hogmanay BRING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH A BANG IN SCOTLAND’S PARTY CAPITAL CELEBRATE NEW YEAR in style with the Scots’ famous Hogmanay festivities in Edinburgh, when the capital city comes alive with processions, street theatre, live pop and classical concerts. Events kick off on 29 December with a torchlight procession, followed by street [...]
Happy Hogmanay
BRING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH A BANG IN SCOTLAND’S PARTY CAPITAL
CELEBRATE NEW YEAR in style with the Scots’ famous Hogmanay festivities in Edinburgh, when the capital city comes alive with processions, street theatre, live pop and classical concerts. Events kick off on 29 December with a torchlight procession, followed by street theatre throughout the city.
If you just want to celebrate New Year’s Eve, the evening starts with a quiet candlelit concert in St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile, then the true spirit of Hogmanay kicks in from 10pm, when people gather on Princes Street to hear a wide variety of live music. At midnight the sky becomes a sea of colour with the Seven Hills Fireworks.
Burn off your excesses the next morning with the 1pm run down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Park. www.edinburghshogmanay.org
SPORTING BARBADOS
READY, SET, GO. This is a month of sporting madness in Barbados. For the first time ever a World Golf Championships-World Cup event will be held on the island, from 4-10 December at the Sandy Lane Resort (www.worldgolfchampionships.com). The US has won a record 23 World Cups, but with 24 nations competing this year, competition is fierce. So expect plenty of on-course action.
If you want to join in something a bit faster paced, sign up for Run Barbados, 1-3 December (www.runbarbados.org). The beautiful Caribbean coastline is the setting for what must be one of the most exotic marathon routes in the world. There are shorter courses for those who don’t want to compete with the elite athletes and with plenty of family events laid on, expect a real carnival atmosphere as you stagger over the finishing line.
DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN ENJOY the luck of the Irish on 26 December – also St Stephen’s Day. As he’s the patron saint of horses, have a flutter at the Leopardstown races Christmas festival, Dublin, 26-29 December (www.leopardstown.com ). However, if you prefer show jumping and beautiful Arabian horses, then the Salon Du Cheval in Paris may be more your thing, 2-10 December (www.salon-cheval.com).ART IN AMSTERDAM TO MARK THE 400th anniversary of the birth of celebrated Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn, galleries throughout Amsterdam are displaying an extensive collection of his work (www..amsterdamtourist.nl).
French fancies
DISCOVER THE GENIUS of French artist Auguste Rodin in two exhibitions dedicated to his work. The Royal Academy of Arts in London (www.royalacademy.org.uk) has an extraordinary selection of work, from his renowned sculptures, such as The Kiss, 1900-04 (below), to his less well known graphic drawings, including Leaning Nude Woman from Behind, Arms Folded, 1910 (above). These acrobatic nudes are the theme of the latest exhibition at the Musée Rodin in Paris (www.musee-rodin.fr), which reveals his move away from literary and mythological themes to representations of living models.
Winter waters
FANCY A DIP on Christmas morning? In Hyde Park’s Serpentine Lake, London, swimmers compete for the Peter Pan Cup, founded by JM Barrie in 1864. If the sea is more your thing – the Irish Sea, that is – the intrepid head to a suburb of Dublin, Sandycove, and swim 20m to the rocks and back. Or, to get your New Year’s resolutions off to a good start, join the Venetians on 1 January as they take a dip in the icy waters off Venice’s Lido Beach.
