On August 30th, my family flew from Utah, to the London airport.
We have a flat in Kensington, which is very cozy.
(This is the view from my bedroom window.)
Since the day we arrived, we've seen and done loads of fun things. Such as...
Taken a train to Paddington station.
Been to King's Cross station and taken pictures with the trolley.
(This building actually isn't King's Cross Station, but it's the building that was used in the filming of Harry Potter as the exterior of King's Cross Station)
Ridden bikes in Hyde Park.
Been to the Tate Modern museum to see a modern art exhibit which commemorated the Great Fire of London.
Gone to Harrod's and seen the Food Halls and the Toy section.
Walked around Kensington Gardens, seen Kensington Palace, Listened to a pre-recorded message from "Queen Victoria", and walked around Princess Diana's playground.
Been to see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. (And the london eye)
Taken a foggy bus from Cambridge, to Duxford Air Museum.
(This was my lunch)
Walked around Cambridge and ate at an Italian restaurant.
Visited Westminster Abby.
Taken a tour of the replica Golden Hinde (The Ship of Sir Francis Drake)
Toured Chiswick House and Gardens.
Taken a Waterbus to the London Zoo.
(This reptile house was the same one that "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was filmed in)
Toured Buckingham Palace.
And been to a big toy store called Hamley's, which had loads of cool Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring's merchandise.
That's most of what we've done so far (as far as I can remember).
But yesterday we took a rental car to Oxford, parked in a Park-and-Ride, and took a
double-decker bus into town.
We stopped at a tiny, cramped bakery for a breakfast snack. I got a ham and cheese croissant. Then we walked across the street to Christ Church.
(This hall was the inspiration for The Great Hall in Hogwarts)
(These two stairway shots were used in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".)
(This cross and table are in the Christ Church chapel. The cross was cut from the underside of the table)
After we left Christ Church, we went to an epic candy store which seriously reminded me of Fred and George Weasley's Joke shop. We bought some cherry fudge.
For lunch, we went to "The Eagle and Child" pub. JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to meet there with other writers. They nicknamed it "The Bird and Baby"
(This was written on a chalkboard on the wall)
(My lunch was macaroni and cheese and garlic bread)
We, then, went to the Ashmolean, and then to an ice cream shop.
(Raspberry sorbet)
We visited the burial site of JRR Tolkien and his wife. It was very lovely, and a little sad. There were lots of little notes and tokens left on his grave, and it had a rose growing out of it.
After that, we drove down some tiny roads that can really only fit one car, to the B&B where we are staying,
It's a converted barn, which means that some of the walls are stone, and that there are wooden beams sticking out everywhere, and there is at least one spider in every room. That's one thing I like about living in the center of a busy city. There are practically no bugs!
After getting settled into our new, two-day home, we went down more one-car roads to a crowded pub. We had to wait outside, in the cold, for a little while, but then they beckoned us inside to a table. Inside the pub it smelled like a mix between honey-cooked ham, and pine trees. Randy compared it to Hagrid's hut. There was even a giant black dog! (but his name was Harvey. Not Fang.)
(My dinner was ham and eggs and a roasted tomato.)
There was a girl sitting at the next table who was wearing the same exact thing as me! We both had oversized, grey sweatshirts, jeans, and tall, black shoes. It was really interesting.
This morning, I woke up, then sat down in a big, comfortable chair in the next room, and took a long nap. When I woke up, breakfast was ready for me. It was homemade toast and scrambled eggs. We were in a bit of a rush to get ready, because our plans for the day were to go to Warwick castle and Stratford Upon Avon, but we got a rather late start, and most of us wanted a shower, so we left an hour later than planned. We went to Warwick Castle and walked around the Castle, saw a bird show, ate at the conservatory tea shop, and watched a catapult demonstration.
We started to go through the maze, but due to "technical difficulties" they had to close it for the day, so we didn't get to finish. We decided not to go to Stratford Upon Avon today. For dinner, we ordered a pizza, and took it to a park to eat.
Overall, I'm having an amazing time.
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