London Round Two: Museums and Shopping!!!

September 25-28, 2014

London, England

Saturday September 27, 2014
The Saturday of the trip, I got to go to museums, I was so excited! I didn't get to go to as many as I wanted, but I liked a majority of the ones I did see. I started out with the Photographer's Gallery. The gallery was showing a collection of Early Color Photography in Russia, which was very interesting to me. It featured a lot of methods that I was unfamiliar with. Hopefully I will have time to research those and learn a little bit more about them soon.

After leaving the Photographer's Gallery I got to go to the Tate Britain, which was my favorite museum of the day. It's not quite up to par with the National Gallery, but it was well worth a visit. There weren't really any artists there (that I got to see, I was semi-rushed) that were hugely popular. They did have a Late Turner exhibition, but I didn't make it to see that.

We had a small break for lunch at an "Americanized" pub called Maxwell's in Covent Garden before finishing our day at Museums. Tori wanted to see what we called the "gross museum." It was a museum of medical things- body parts and animals in jars. David and I sat on a couch and attempted to block everything around us out as we waited for Tori. When games on our phone weren't working to distract us well enough, we contemplated things like meditation until Tori was finally done and we were able to escape. Not surprising, I don't recommend this museum to anyone. 

The Tate Modern was next on our list, and surprisingly, I also don't recommend the Tate Modern. I much preferred the Tate Britain. You have to be really in to the abstract to enjoy Tate Modern. I'd say the best thing about Tate Modern was actually the walk there. We got to pass by St. Paul's museum and then walk over the Millennium bridge.

View from Millennium Bridge

View of St.Paul's Cathedral and Millennium 

Bridge from the Tate Modern

Another view of the Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern

Unfortunately the Tate Modern was the last museum we got to see since most museums close at 6 on Saturdays. But that just means we have a valid reason for a London Trip number 3 sometime in the future. :)

Sunday September 28, 2014

Sunday competes with Friday in awesomeness, but doesn't quite catch up. We started out the day exploring Hyde Park. Every inch of Hyde park is beautiful, and there are a LOT of inches in Hyde Park. The park covers 350 acres, or 625 acres if you're including Kensington Gardens. 







We began by walking to Kensington Palace, which really isn't that impressive. Maybe if we'd gone in we would've been more impressed.

 

Next we passed the Royal Albert Hall. I'm sure the concerts and other events put on here are incredible. The building sure is! 

Everywhere we went in Hyde Park was beautiful, we walked for a couple of hours and I still could have walked around, admiring the beauty for a couple hours more.

Peter Pan Statue

Can you tell I busted my butt right before this picture?

It was pretty embarrassing...

After enjoying the sights in Hyde Park, we headed into town for some shopping. H&M, Primark, and Forever 21 were my favorites. But it was crazy busy everywhere we went! Oxford Street is very very popular on the weekends.

Brittany, Megan and I may need to take another suitcase back to America with us to make up for all the clothes and presents we bought at Primark. 

London Round Two: Day One

September 25-28, 2014

London, England

Thursday was a very busy day for me! Not only did I have class all morning, but then I had to revise my Honors Research Proposal BEFORE leaving for London. Luckily I got done quickly and had plenty of time to pack before we had to leave.

We took a train to London and basically I slept the whole time. I have no problem falling asleep, basically anywhere, and that has come in handy during our travels. I thoroughly enjoyed my nap, maybe a little too much. I laid my hands down on the table in front of my seat then laid my head on my hands. When I woke up there was a lovely imprint of my ring on my forehead.

When we got off the train at King's Cross we had a short tube ride to our hostel. We're going to pretend we didn't completely walk past the hostel and have to turn because that's embarrassing. But we did eventually find the correct hostel and for the price we paid, it was pretty nice! We were supposed to have a roommate Thursday night but we never saw her. Except for like 10 seconds in the middle of the night. My dear buddies however, I heard from a lot. They stayed up talking, way later than I did and teased me for it in the morning. All I can say is I like my sleep, a whole lot.

After breakfast at the hostel (toast & cereal) we headed to the tube to ride as close to Buckingham Palace as we could get and walked the rest of the way there. In a twist of events Brittany and I made it on the first tube and the doors shut on everyone else. It was slightly comical since we were only going one stop and it didn't actually affect us that much. We found each other eventually and made our way to the Palace. 

Buckingham Palace was beyond comical. We got there about two hours early to claim our spots near the gate. Megan and I were stationed perpendicular to the gate so we could see the guards when they exited. David, Tori, and Brittany were parallel to the gate so they could see the Changing of Guard in action. Each group got pictures, so basically we got the best of both worlds.

David wasn't very excited about

how crowded it was.

 It was a really good thing we got there so early because it got really crowded really quick. The cops had their hands full with keeping people from pushing their way into the crowds of people.

Honestly, Megan and I were kind of bored at first because we couldn't see much. So instead we started people watching. This is where the comedy comes in.

This cop was very helpful to everyone. Which is why someone tried to distract him while her friend tried to get to the gate to take a picture. It was funny watching them try so hard only for him to figure it out and shoo them away.

She was adorable and feisty. She liked to yell at people for trying to stop beside the "lovely people that had been waiting for ages." We were some of those lovely people so we appreciated her yelling at people to keep moving greatly.

Finally the guards came out of the gate and we had a great view! The guy playing the trumpet on the far right in the picture is Megan's best friend. They exchanged winks but she refused to blow him a kiss, which I thought would've been hilarious. Instead we resorted to just making goofy faces at all of them.

Get ready for the best part of the trip:

I was a bit hesitant to do the studio tour at first because it was so expensive (by my standards at least) but I am so glad I did it! The tour started with a short video and opened to the doors of Hogwarts, literally. The screen came up and that was the first thing you could see, it was spectacular. Through the doors you enter into the Great Hall. Although it's missing the famous ceiling, it was still incredible!

You continue on through the tour and look at different parts of the set, too numerous to name here. There were rooms and rooms full of props and costumes, you really have to see it to believe it. If you even slightly admire Harry Potter you would LOVE this tour. After going through the first half of the tour you have the opportunity to try butterbeer. At first I was like yea, this is good. Then it had a weird after taste. But the cream on top was always delicious. You could also see the Knight Bus, Privet Drive, and the Potter's home at this point.

The second half of the tour was the most impressive for me. There was a walk through of Diagon Alley and then a model of Hogwarts Castle. It was beyond amazing!

Let's be honest, I would totally

be Gryffindor.

I'm also a descendant of the

Potter family.

For anyone going to London I definitely recommend these two experiences. They were a great beginning to our second trip to London! Stay tuned for more to come about our last two days there.

Don't Let Anything Rain on Your Parade.

Saturday September 20, 2014

Cambridge, England

Cambridge was well worth a visit. It is a very short and affordable train ride away from Grantham and I enjoyed every minute of it... well almost. 
We started the day walking towards the colleges. Just like everywhere else I have been, there are so many beautiful buildings in Cambridge. They biggest issue I have is remembering what they are. haha. For example, most of these buildings, I have no idea what they are for, just that they are beautiful.

Cambridge is interesting because it's unlike most universities. It is made up of separate colleges that act as separate entities. It's funny to me how some things in England are just barely different but it's enough to make a noticeable difference. Unlike America, schools here do not have "general education" requirements, the students study solely in their area of interest. So unlike WKU, where we are made of colleges and students make take classes from each college, students at Cambridge will only attend one of the colleges for their entire education.

King's Chapel

I gave up trying to make sure Brittany

wasn't in my pictures...

Clare College

We walked past a couple of the colleges before we were asked if we wanted to go on a punt tour. We were already planning on doing one, so when we were offered a great deal on a tour, we had to do it! Michael was our tour guide (Megan seemed excited about this...) he told us fun facts about the colleges that we never would have known if we didn't go on the tour. Plus as an added bonus, he was funny, so we weren't bored or drowned by too many facts.

King's College Lawn from the Backs

The Mathematical Bridge

Clare Bridge

St. John's College

The Great Gate of Trinity College

St. John's College New Court

I'm not going to lie and say that I remember all the fun facts, but I do remember the one about gardens. Haha, my friends won't be surprised. They make fun of me for my love of flowers. One thing Michael told us was that if you attended Queen's College you could get married in the chapel and use the garden for your wedding for free. David thinks that I would choose to go somewhere solely for that reason. I think he's mean. I love flowers, but not that much, haha. The punting tour was my favorite part of the day. 

After punting we only had a couple hours which we used to look around the market and other shops in town. When it was time to head back to the train station it started to rain, which was no big deal. Then it kept raining. And kept raining, and before we knew it, it was pouring. Poor David though, he didn't have a rain coat or umbrella or anything. Even those of us who did were still pretty wet. My raincoat kept my upper body dry but my legs were soaked from splashing through puddles in our hurry to get to the train on time. 

Aside from getting soaked, I loved the time we had in Cambridge, like every other place I've ever been, I definitely could have spent more time there. Cambridge was so fascinating with its history and numerous beautiful buildings.