Photo gallery: Lumiere London 2016

January's always a dull time of year - no money, dark nights, chilly days - so I was beyond excited when I saw the preview pictures of Lumiere London, and delighted when the festival arrived in town this week.

The four-day light festival sees light installations popping up all over London's West End and King's Cross; giant illuminated fish float down Piccadilly, Shakespeare finds himself in a neon garden in Leicester Square, and fish swim in a phone box in Grosvenor Square.

"It'll be like Blackpool '95 all over again," I thought. "Minus the terrifying 10ft Postman Pat."

I rallied the work troops and got a (probably reluctant) group together to do the first night of the festival. Our route began in Grosvenor Square, before heading to Oxford Circus, Regent Street, Carnaby, Piccadilly, Leicester Square and finally Trafalgar Square.

If you ever want to see an adult's face - or a whole city of adults' faces - light up like a kid at Christmas, organise a light festival. The atmosphere on the first night was incredible. The streets weren't as crowded as we had expected, and people were talking to complete strangers about the lights. The only slight downer was the militant attitudes of a small proportion of the volunteers/stewards, but you can't have it all.

I returned on the third night of the festival to take a look at the King's Cross section. Being a Saturday, it was a lot busier, with lots of children and families. Some time later, some of the installations were switched off, and King's Cross station was evacuated due to overcrowding caused by the festival. By this time, I was safely installed in a nearby pub, cheeks glowing and memory card full. Here are a few of the snaps I managed to take:

My lovely Londonist colleague Kyra wrote this excellent guide to the festival and our video wizard Geoff put together this spectacular video of the first night.