Week 11: Harry Potter and Finals

Sunday-Satruday

01-07 December 2013

The beginning of December marked the beginning of finals. Before anyone got serious about that though we fit in some fun things (minus the art museum trips, because those aren't really what I would call "fun." Educational, yes. Fun, sometimes.), and tried to make the most of our last full week in London.

We went to the Tate Modern and saw some trippy modern art pieces, and then my friend Heidi and I went to a Christmas Market. It was kind of a tourist trap, but we got some really yummy food!

I forgot what this is called, but it's delicious!

On Wednesday our group took our final bus ride to Warner Brothers Studios, where they filmed Harry Potter. I know I went a week earlier with my brother, but he really wanted to go and I didn't think it would be too boring to go twice. I really loved the tour because I love seeing how movies are made. Even if it takes away some of the magic, there are other things that make the movie seem even more cool when you get to view them up close. I can't believe how many people actually work on movies and how much detail goes into everything. I took a lot of pictures, but won't post too many. I was one of the first people out and I thought I took a good while to read everything and look at all the sets, but I ended up having to wait over an hour for other people from our group to get out! That's one of the drawbacks of doing thing with a group of 50+.

Real London buses aren't this purple, or this big. This is the Night Bus from Harry Potter.

I went to Hogwarts! This stage is actually what they used to film the exterior shots of the castle in HP, but with movie editing it looks much bigger than it really is. It was one of the cooler things in studios, and is so neat to be next to in person. I can't believe how creative and imaginative people in the movie industry are.

A group like this is quite a sight to see.

Thursday was such a cool day because my friend Megan and I went to the grand opening of one of our favorite stores, Cath Kidston, on Picadilly street. Cath Kidston is really popular in England, and sells tons of pretty things ranging from bags to, home-ware, to clothing. We went a little early, but only about 8am, and waited in line where we were treated to tea in Cath Kidston mugs, yummy croissants, and caroling! Then we saw taxis that had been all decked out in Cath Kidston prints, and got interviewed for a TV segment about the store. We did horribly on camera, but that was okay because they never used the footage. We met Cath Kidston herself, and got free gift cards to the store for being some of the first people in line. My gift card was a pretty hefty amount, and I went a little crazy. It was a really fun experience and a lot less crazy than going to a movie premiere.

Hard to get a picture of all the taxis but they were so cute! The store even power washed floral designs on the concrete in front of the store to make it cute and fun.

Thank you, Cath Kidston!

Week 10: Thankful for Family Time

Saturday-Saturday

23-30 November 2013

After the soccer game I got to see my family and show them all around! We saw a lot of things, took a lot of pictures, walked a ton, and had an all around great time! I'm so glad they were able to come visit me, and that I for once was the best navigator of the group.

We went to Covent Garden for a delicious Shake Shack dinner, went to my ward in Clapham on Sunday for church...

Tube Novices.

My brother and I have similar taste in footwear.

My Tube stop for church. Too bad it's another 15 minutes walk from the station until I actually get to the building.

...saw Tower Bridge, went to St. Paul's for an organ recital, saw Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, took pictures in a red photo booth...

In love with London.

Sibling picture, minus Sam :(

Big love at Big Ben.

Double Decker, Double Fun.

Everything about this picture says tourist. Especially the tilted camera angle.

…walked through St. James Park and took pictures in front of Her Majesty's house, toured the Sherlock Holmes museum…

Britain knows how to do parks right!

Rejected by the Queen.

This guy is the leader of the Ginger Head society.

Noah did not get the memo about this picture.

…visited the Harry Potter Studios (just Noah and I did that and I was responsible for figuring out how to get us there as it was very far away, but I did a pretty excellent job especially considering all the technical difficulties we had to overcome)…

Caught for not being a wizard.

Just looking at all the cool sets and props!

Drinking that delicious (non-alcoholic) Butterbeer!

Giant Chess Piece #1

Giant Chess Piece #2

He found Hogwarts and he loved it!

…saw Les Miserables with my Mom (really good drama on stage, really good drama trying to get to theater on time), had Thanksgiving dinner in my apartment, went to the coolest department store (Harrods), saw my school building and some 80s ice skaters…

Beautiful Harrods!

...took pictures at Abbey Road, went shopping on Oxford Circus, saw another cool department store (Liberty), toured through Charles Dickens house, went to the British Library, saw Kings Cross Station, and had more shakes at Shake Shack, amongst other less pleasant things (like leaving people behind on the Tube, or being harassed by toothless beggars). It was a party.

Much better attempt on my part. The others? Still not sure.

I'm so glad I got to experience London with my family!

Week 8 & 9: Catching Up

Friday-Saturday

15-23 November 2013

After a lovely trip to Cambridge I did some quintessential London-y type things. I went to the British Museum and saw mummies, the Rosetta Stone, and Greek Statues that made me feel like I was back in Rome.

Pretty creepy stuff on display at the ol' British Museum.

This is a pretty big tomb, but on average the rest were SO SMALL. I don't know how the Pyramids got built if all Egyptians were that tiny.

These statues are great examples of what the "wet drapery" technique looks like. That's probably the only thing I'll remember from my art history class.

The blurriest picture in existence of the Rosetta Stone. It is really, really cool to look at in person.

Then I took a Saturday with some friends to do a whirlwind sightseeing trip of some of the most touristy things London has to offer. We went to Abbey Road and took a Beatles picture, went to 221B Baker Street to see Sherlock Holmes's house and take a Sherlock picture, then across town to tour the home of the founder of the Methodist church (that was for school, not for fun), and ended our day taking pictures of one of the most famous bridges in the world.

Literally only one Tube stop away from where I lived!

Absolutely terrible attempt at recreating the picture, but the street is so busy that there was no time to retake it. But the bad pictures are always funnier than the good ones!

The nicest fake cop in the world! I'm Watson, and my friend Amanda was Sherlock.

The crew for the day! All friends and roommates of mine.

Inside of John Wesley's chapel.

Standing on London Bridge and taking pictures of Tower Bridge, AKA the most photographed bridge in the world.

Me at Tower Bridge.

Beautiful London from the view of Tower Bridge.

St. Paul's Dome at night.

This is the Millennial Bridge, which gets destroyed in the opening sequence of the 6th Harry Potter movie. The best part about it is the view you get of St. Paul's.

Millennial Bridge is kind of cool, but hard to see the details of it at night. 

The next week I saw Lion King (great seats, not a great performance), went to several more museums, took a picture on a million pound (as in pound the currency) staircase, and went to my first Football match. Never in my life have I been surrounded by so many men and the overpowering stench of beer. It was really fun to watch though! Shout out to my dad and little brother for all the soccer watching they do at home. Without that I would've had no idea or appreciation for what was going on. 

Christmas Decorations in my favorite place, Covent Garden!

Lego Snow Globe of London.

Lego Big Ben, Lego Gherkin.

Covent Garden Christmas is the best kind of Christmas. 

Lion King for cheap seats at the Lyceum Theater.

Cool trees on the way to the Tate Britain.

This is us on the newly unveiled staircase at the Tate Britain. Apparently it cost millions of pounds to build, but it was severely average as far as staircases go. I'm the very pale face with a pink sweater near the back.

Even though London is known for being dreary, I saw a lot of  beautiful sunny days like this one. This is at Trafalgar Square, which is right next to my least favorite museum of all time, The National Gallery.

My view walking to the soccer game. I was hopelessly lost and alone, but at least it was pretty out!

Don't know who I was cheering for, but I think they won!

That night I made the trek back from the pitch to the hotel one block from my apartment to see my family for the first time in three months!