London Called - I Answered

Well, people, the inevitable has happened...after 3 of my flatmates and 4 of my fellow students in my program getting sick, it was only a matter of time before I, too, succumbed to illness.  Today I have been sneezing, blowing my nose and scratchy-throating my way through classes and am now, thankfully, back home and relaxing.

The probable cause - aside from all the germ spreaders - is my whirlwind trip to London over this past weekend.  If that's the case, then it was well worth the cold for all the kick-ass stuff I got to see!  My journey started with an absolutely  miserable 8-hour bus ride through the night.  I left Edinburgh at 11 pm and arrived in London at 6:30 am.  The bus was completely full and I was squished into a window seat with no leg room. Plus, it was the night of the referendum and wifi was spotty at best! (Though, to be fair, I DID get the results earlier than a lot of people due to the fact that I wasn't able to sleep much on the bus and so I was up at 4:45 in the morning when the deciding votes came through in the NO camp).  When I arrived at Victoria station in London, I got a crash course in the train system (they insist on calling it the "tube" or "underground" but what the heck, I'll give you terms you're used to you Americans, you!) as I tried to make my way out to Watford Junction and the WB Harry Potter Studio Tour.  After much confusion and both an underground and overground train, I arrived and met up with Megan Carty and her mom, Penny Thatcher to get a shuttle from Watford Junction to the tour.  Penny was my kindergarten teacher back in Mount Carroll so Megan and I have known each other and been friends for many years.  It was wonderful (and a little odd) to be meeting up with people from home in such a foreign place!

Once we got there, we were beyond excited about the tour!  The first thing we saw when waiting in line to enter the exhibit area was the original set from the first movie with Harry's cupboard under the stairs.   Then we went in and entered straight into the Great Hall in Hogwarts with the house tables, teachers area and great fireplace.  A little background for those of you who aren't big into Harry Potter (also, how sad for YOU), the London WB studio is where all 8 of the Harry Potter movies were made, so they had all of the original materials, sets, costumes, props, etc on this tour.  The London location is also one of only 3 places in the entire world that sells Butterbeer, a drink enjoyed by witches and wizards throughout the 7 books.  It tasted like butterscotch cream soda with whip creme on top and was completely delicious!

The tour included interior and exterior sets including the Burrow, Diagon Alley, Snape's Potions Class, Dumbledore's Office, Hagrid's Hut, Privet Drive and the Knight Bus and flying Ford Anglia, too!

They had costumes from almost every character and props as well like the Triwizard Cup, the stone door that serves as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the timeturner, golden snitches and even the Sorcerer's Stone!  Full-scale models of creatures like Aragog (the giant spider) and Buckbeack were also on display.  The most exciting thing came at the end of the tour, though, where they had an entire-room-size model of Hogwarts Castle.  It's what they used to show all of the exterior shots that you see in each of the movies.

For those who are more interested in my London-specific activities, Saturday is your day!  I woke up early and met Penny and Megan at Westminster Station downtown.  As soon as we emerged from the underground, we looked up and realized we were in the shadow of Big Ben!

Upon walking around, you could see Westminster Abbey off to the right, while on the left was the Eye (aka the giant ferris wheel that will seem all too familiar to Chicagoans) laying across the Thames!  After ogling that for about half an hour, we headed over to get a closer look at Westminster Abbey.

While Megan and Penny went in for the tour, I decided to do a bit of exploring on my own!  I walked through St. James' Park and over to Buckingham Palace where I arrived, totally unplanned, right as they were doing the Changing of the Guards Ceremony!

 I walked back to Westminster area in order to meet back up with Megan and to meet for the first time Lauren Sandovic who is a dear friend of the sisters Milliken (thanks Jordan and Bronwyn for facilitating that meeting!).  We all headed to a place called The Laughing Halibut, where we had our first Fish and Chips.  (Funny story: while we were in there, a bird flew in - a pigeon, of course - and started to terrorize the patrons, but one of the cooks caught it BAREHANDED and threw it from the restaurant. Very exciting lunch.).  After lunch, we parted ways with Lauren and walked toward Trafalgar Square, which set us on course to pass the Prime Minsters house. Yes, we did wave to David Cameron.  Then we arrived at the National Gallery, which is free to enter and had works of art from oodles of famous painters, including Van Gogh, Monet, Renoit, and Degas!  After that, my feet fell off and I had to call it a day.

After the ordeal that the trip up was, I wasn't looking forward to the 10 hour bus ride back (the one I got on the way to London was actually an express if you can believe it!).  However, I was pleasantly surprised!  I had much more room and since it was daytime, I got to see the drop dead gorgeous scenery that the English and Scottish countrysides have to offer.  Not to mention the fact that we drove by Nottingham and Sherwood Forest!  Robin Hood country!  And, for the last 2 or 3 hours of the drive, we were traveling up the coast, so there were stunning views of the cliffs and sea to watch, as well.

Hope you all are enjoying the blog - don't be afraid to comment below. I'll respond to answer any questions or take any requests.  Although I mostly prefer adoration and praise. haha. Now I'm off to go sneeze my way through the evening, enjoy some English tea and work my way back to good health by sheer force of will.









I also saw this...yes, folks...that's a medieval ass grab.