London Day 6: August 7, 2014

Today was our last full day in London! First, we went to Kensington Palace, the historic homes of the royal family and we learned about the monarchs of the 1600s-1800s but there was also an interesting modern display of recent royal gowns (Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana). Laura is sad to report that no wedding dresses were on display. The Palace grounds also contains current homes of extended members of the Royal family (including Laura's favourite Kate Middleton).

 Historic Kensington Palace

Then, we had a sushi takeaway lunch at "Wasabi" which was not bad for a fast food sushi place. We visited Westminster Abbey after lunch, which was really cool. We saw tombs and markers for tons of interesting people like Issac Newton, various Kings and Queens, and Chaucer. Edmond Halley also had a marker that was shaped like a comet! Laura's favourite was Mary, Queen of Scots, who was on the opposite side of her rival, Queen Elizabeth I.

We then visited the outside of the re-creation of Globe Theatre as well as the site of the original theatre (they found some foundations a couple of decades ago), which was a few blocks away. This began the second half of our day, which turned out to be dedicated to round objects.

 The New Globe Theatre

 Markers for the original Globe Theatre

Then, we took a break and had dinner. Continuing our round object theme, we also visited Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. Then, we took a ride on the London Eye just around sunset and got very nice views of London. This was a good way to end our trip!

Tomorrow, we fly home!

London Day 5: August 6, 2014

Today, we got up early to get to "Platform 9 3/4" at King's Cross. We arrived around 8:30am so there was only a very short line and we got our pictures taken :) You can choose the scarf for your house affiliation and we were the first two Hufflepuffs of the day! It sounds like very few people wear the Hufflepuff or Slytherin scarves :P Everyone is a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw! The staff at the nearby Platform 9 3/4 will help make it appear as if your scarf is flowing and they will take a picture for you to purchase as well as help you take your own for free.

Then we met up with James again, who traveled from Burnham-on-Crouch to spend a day in London with us. We first went to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich which was really cool. We took a picture on a labeled part of the Prime Meridian, which was cool, even though we crossed it several times just to get to the Observatory!

 Thanks to James for the photo!

Next, we had lunch at a fake French cafe and visited the Tower of London. It was extremely crowded so it was hard to see very many things. I learned some things about British money and we saw the legendary ravens! The legend is that if the ravens leave, the Tower would fall and London with it. The ravens' wings are clipped and they are sometimes caged though :( We also thought the Tower of London was just a tower! But it turns out to be a whole fort, silly us. 

We then walked across the Tower Bridge before heading to the British Museum just before it closed to see the Rosetta Stone and other cool things like a bunch of mummies and a statute from Easter Island.

It was very fun to adventure around London with James! Thank you James. We parted ways before dinner so James could get back to Burnham-on-Crouch. Laura and I tried a Northern Indian place closer to where we were staying and it was very good. 

London Day 4: August 5, 2014

Henry is feeling better and can contribute to the blog today!

We took it easy today and visited our friend James (who was at Queen's the same time as us) in his hometown of Burnham-on-Crouch, which is about an hour east of London by train. We arrived around noon and had some tea and biscuits at his parents' shop. Then we walked along the river and saw lots of boats. It's near the sea so we were happy to feel the sea air again. Also, it was nice to get out of the busyness of London and to the cleaner air. We happened to visit on market day so we passed a lot of stalls selling fruits, vegetables, fish and other stuff too.

We had fish and chips for lunch and at James' suggestion, we tried some curry sauce on fries, which was very good. It was really fun to catch up with James and to see where he was living now. We took the train back to London and had a pizza for dinner. Then, we went to a Tesco store to buy some candy to take home. We also got some "shrimp cocktail" chips. We thought it would be like the Asian prawn crackers but they were cocktail sauce flavoured instead of shrimp flavoured!

Tomorrow, we are going to meet with James in London and visit Greenwich Observatory / Prime Meridian and the Tower of London! We also already arranged tickets to see Kensington Palace and the London Eye on Thursday.

London Day 3: August 4, 2014

Henry is still feeling sick so Laura recounts our adventure to Harry Potter today.

This morning we woke up and ventured into the King Cross Harry Potter Store. We wanted to buy everything in the store, but we settled for a Hogwarts fridge magnet to add to our vast collection. We also walked by the area where you can take pictures of platform 9 and ¾, but we didn't stop because it had a very long line up. We will go back another day to get the picture, as our hotel is across the street.

King's Cross Harry Potter Store

We headed to another Tube station to catch a train to Leavesden. We picked up some sandwiches and fruits from Marks and Spencers on the way. We got to take a special Harry Potter themed double decker bus from the train station to the studio.

The Harry Potter exhibit was really really good, we probably spent three hours looking through everything. We saw behind the scenes videos, the actual costumes and wigs, and actual set and prop pieces. We also learned about a lot of small details the average person would never know about the movies. For example, did you know that the paintings inside of the Gryffindor common room are of all the old heads of the house, and the there is a painting of a young Professor McGonagall? Now we do!

 The door to the Chamber of Secrets - Harry Potter Studio Tour

(The snakes can really move!)

After the Harry Potter exhibit we took the train back to London and headed to a well known scifi store to look around. Our British friend James (who we will visit with tomorrow), said this was the one I wanted to see, but I don't think it is. Either way it was really interesting to see a large scale sci fi/comic retail store. It was even two stories!

Finally we took the tube to Abbey Road, where the Beatles shot their famous Abbey Road photo. The famous cross walk is right outside the studio where they recorded the album. Henry was extremely surprised by the fact that the crosswalk was so small. I was surprised that no one was killed taking any pictures, as the road is very busy. We had to be super careful not to get hit by any cars.

Abbey Road

Not getting hit by cars seems to be a theme in London. The traffic is very confusing in London and no one stop for pedestrians. I also really dislike that everyone smokes, everywhere! Secondhand smoke makes both of us sick. I find it very strange that there are just garbage bags left in the streets. No trash cans or anything. I think it makes the city look more dirty than it really is.

I do however, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the British life style. There is no real drinking ages, and alcohol is free flowing. The tube network is also very vast and impressive.

We had dinner at a pub near Kings Cross. It was really good!

Tomorrow we are going to Burnham on Crouch to meet our good friend James in his home town. We are going to get the “real” British experience there.

We are having some camera connection and internet issues, so we can't post too many pictures. Maybe we can get some more up tomorrow.

London Day 2: August 3, 2014

Laura continues to report on our adventure in London:

I think I am mostly adjusted to the new time zone now, except for a little confusion at 1am. Leaving LA at night and arriving in the evening (so I can sleep almost right away) made it a lot easier to switch. We started the day by going to a small cafe to grab “takeaway” pastries for breakfast. Then we made our way to a nearby shopping plaza to get Henry some cough medicine. We went into a Marks and Spencer and a Sainsbury. We took the tube to Buckingham Palace. It was shortly before the changing of the guards and it was extremely crowded. My personal bubble will never be the same again. We didn't get to see much over all the people, except for the guards marching in and out of the palace grounds.

We then went to get some lunch. I had the best croque monsieur ever! We walked backed to Buckingham and got tickets to go inside, but the next admission was not for another 2 hours. We walked over to Westminster Abbey. We didn't go inside yet, but we might later. Then we saw Elizabeth Tower/Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster (The Parliament). By the end of that we were both pretty tired and cranky. But we pushed though and walked back to Buckingham Palace. The tour was really neat, and so opulent. Probably not 19 pounds/34 American dollars per ticket neat. But I would do it again. I was in the freaking Queen's house today. We couldn't take pictures though.

After the tour Henry wanted to see Trafalgar Square. I didn't because I was so tired, but we went anyways. We headed back to the Kings Cross area for dinner and had some great curry.

Tomorrow it will be the Harry Potter day! Yay! So excited.  

London Day 1: August 2, 2014

Laura is restarting our blog as we adventure through London!

I flew out of LAX at 10pm on Friday and arrived in London at 4:30pm local time. The flight was really interesting, as it was my first time flying with Virgin Atlantic. I didn't like the flight attendants' uniforms though. There was not a lot of leg room in an Airbus A340. The window seats were also a bit weird, since there is a giant gap between the window and the seat. It makes it hard for a short person like me to lean against the wall! There were screens for each seat but they were controlled a little remote instead of being touch screen.

I like that Virgin gives away a lot of free stuff. They gave me little care packages with toothpaste, toothbrushes, socks, eye covers, and ear plugs. They also gave us thank you candy at the end of the flight. Dinner was a three course meal. I had curry, bread, salad, and pudding for desert. They also served yoghurt (which I didn't like) and a muffin for breakfast. The flight was really good, and had very little turbulence. Best of all, no one was seated next to me, so I got two seats! Yay!

When I got off the plane it was a 20 min walk through the terminal to passport control. The staff was efficient, but there were a lot of people so it took awhile. Henry met me on the other side with a bottle of water and a hug. Henry is a little sick with a cold. We made our way to the train, which takes you into London. The train was very nice, but hard to find and very confusing (luckily Henry already made all the mistakes last week). Then we took the Underground to Kings Cross. I have not seen anything Harry Potter yet lol.

We put our stuff in the hotel room, and ate fish and chips at a pub across from the hotel. When we got back to the hotel we showered and unpacked. Now to bed! I am so tired!

Tomorrow is probably going to be the super touristy day where we will see Buckingham Palace, etc.

Pictures will be included in future posts.