Happenings In London

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Despite my head cold the past couple of days, I have been having the time of my life. Each day has brought a new adventure with new people, new sites, and new memories.

Thursday evening I had the privilege of riding the London Eye (a famous sightseeing wheel-type thing) and seeing all the sites of the city. It is situated along the river Themes and offers great views of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the buildings within London. Big Ben was lit up with green lights at the top...absolutely stunning.

Friday was a typical British day--Harry Potter Studio Tour and afternoon tea. Getting to Harry Potter, however, was an adventure itself. A bus strike started on Friday and we, of course, needed the buses to get to Harry Potter. After asking about five different people what to do, we finally took the London Overground train out to Watford where the studio is located. Coincidentially, we met a family from DC and shared stories about London so far. The tour itself was truly magical. You are first greeted by the cupboard under the stairs and then make your way to the great hall, which is decorated with garb from all four houses. Next, you travel through all the sets--there's everything from the boys' dormitory to Umbridge's office to Hagrid's hut. At this point we also took a turn riding the broomsticks and riding in the Weasley's car! It reminded me of when I read the books and pictured actually flying a broom. Of course, we bought the pictures of this. The tour continues outside with the Dursley's house, the Hogwarts bridge, and the bus! At this point I also sampled butterbeer, which is similar to rootbeer, but made with butterscotch...I was in heaven. The rest of the tour showcases how the creatures are made, Diagon Alley, wands, and a replica of the Hogwarts castle. We spent about three hours there, but I could have lasted the whole day!

After Harry Potter we headed back to King's Cross to change for afternoon tea. There ended up being four of us who enjoyed tea at a very nice, yet quaint hotel just a few tube stops away. Each person gets their own teapot (I had lemon ginger). They also had a vegetarian afternoon tea menu for me, which included mini finger sandwiches, scones, and pastries. I felt like a true Brit, but I was not as neat as a Brit. There ended up being a lot of crumbs and messiness from my plate, but it was all in good fun!

To finish off Friday we decided to see some of the sights around London, but up close! We went to Buckingham Palace, which is beautiful in the evening, saw Big Ben, the London Eye, and took some "tourist-y" pictures. It felt like three days, but it was spectacular. With work taking by four days the week I've been trying to do as much as possible on the weekends!

Saturday gave me an incredible amount of deja vu. Dream Careers took us to Stonehenge and Bath, which I have already seen, but how many times does one get to see these places? It's also been over three years. Stonehenge itself is kind of boring to look at, but I find the history behind it fascinating--why was it built? How long did it take to build? Who built it and how did they build it? So interesting to ponder! Bath is a wonderful city filled with upscale shops, lots of dessert shops, and the Roman Baths. We found many fudge shops and had a few samples, saw the beautiful Roman Baths, and took a lot of pictures of the scenery around the city. I'd have to say my favorite part of Bath was going in to all the dessert shops and bakeries. They have everything from cookie shops to fudge shops to bakeries. I sampled some banana and toffee and fudge and got some vanilla chocolate chip to go! I could not resist. I kept telling myself: "when in Bath!"

The last day I have to update my readers on is today, Sunday. I ventured off on my own today and did my own thing. It was the first day I could sleep in for a week, which was great, but once I got going I did lots! I stopped at Costa Coffee on my way to the British Museum (two things on my London list). The British Musuem is stunning; it is filled with history from all over the world. There's artifacts from Egypt to Greece to Assyria to Britain. My favorite area of the museum was the room with clocks and watches surprisingly. It is amazing how the watches and clocks were made by hand and still look so beautiful. After the British Museum I walked around until it started raining again and made my way back to King's Cross where I tried a different cafe for lunch. There are so many places that I want to eat at, so each time I go out for a meal I attempt to try a new place. Following lunch my two friends and I ventured over to M & M World. It is seriously the cutest place ever...probably cuter than the Disney store. There are four stories with everything from mugs to chopsticks to a slew of M & Ms. Of course I had to get a sampling of all the colors and themed chocolates!

Now I am off to watch England play Italy in the Euro Cup. Let's hope they pull out the win so everyone is super happy tomorrow! Also, I am sorry for the long post, but I had so many great experiences these past couple of days. I hope you are enjoying my stories from London! Stay tuned for more posts--this coming weekend I am off to Frankfurt for some good old German fun!

~Kayleigh

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