The Best of London

To start off our whirlwind adventure, Emily and I spent 5 days in London where we did our best to  hit everything on our wish list and pack in all of the stereotypical sites. Jet lag hit us hard on day one, so it was a pretty slow day with our biggest excursion being Piccadilly Circus. This is essentially London's own Time Square, with neon signs, shops and street performers. (It's also where Harry, Ron and Hermione hide out during the 7th book when death eaters crash Bill and Fleur's wedding.)

Inside the M&M store, dressed as a Queen's Guard

China Town

M&M's at Abbey Road

Day 2 consisted of a full day of site seeing. We started with a visit to Buckingham Palace where we imagined the royal family was inside doing really sophisticated things. We then followed the River Thames towards Big Ben and The London Eye. This walk is known as "The Birdcage Walk" named after a march composed in 1951, but I like to believe it's given that title because there were a multitude of birds everywhere. It got overwhelming despite the quick one mile walk.
We popped out behind Big Ben (formally known as Elizabeth Tower) and made our way south towards The London Eye. Riding this ferris wheel provides a 30 minute rotation with stunning and vast views of London. For more info on the best way to buy tickets, read here.

Buckingham Palace

Classic phone booth shot ft. Big Ben

View from the top of The London Eye

We then followed the river east and got to see the majority of the things on our list. Next was The Millennium Bridge. Originally built in 2000 as a footbridge, it was later destroyed by dementors during the sixth Harry Potter (and then was miraculously fixed the same day because magic is the best.)

Millennium Bridge

Emily is a Shakespeare fanatic, so we stopped off at The Globe, which was originally built in 1599 and was the old stomping grounds of William Shakespeare himself. Once inside you can pay to visit the museum, but it was about to close when we arrived so instead we just spent our time in the gift shop, which had plenty of souvenirs for every Shakespeare lover.
Our last stop was the classic Tower Bridge. Built in the 1890's, this bridge is a functioning passage for both pedestrians and cars, and still opens for ships passing through the River Thames.

The sun was setting and the night was getting chilly as we set out on our last quest for the evening: Platform 9 3/4. I previously visited the platform at King's Cross Station five years ago with my cousin and we spent at least 15 minutes running around the train station just trying to track down the platform, and then once we were there we had the whole thing to ourselves. A lot has changed in the last five years. They've now devoted an entire corner to Platform 9 3/4 that's complete with a queue, a photographer and an employee who gives you the scarf of your choice and a wand to hold during pictures. It will basically make all of your dreams come true, so you should go.











The next day we joined the masses at Camden Markets. In Camden Town there is an area set up overflowing with both indoor and outdoor markets, filled to the brim with clothes, jewelry, souvenirs and food. Even if you're not there to buy anything it's a great place to wander around to check out all of the amazing things on display. Just make sure you bring cash, plastic is not widely accepted. 

Dumbledore's office and costume 

Lastly, the most magical experience ever: The Making of Harry Potter. All eight Harry Potter movies were filmed just outside the city of London, and the makers probably realized that Harry Potter will go down in history for eternity, and they should profit even more off of it! or they just wanted to share the love. Either way, they left behind majority of the sets, props and costumes that were used throughout the various movies and it's all there for paying costumers to gawk over throughout a studio tour. You enter in clumps and then go at your own pace, so it can be as long or short of an experience that you want. If you're interested, here's an entire post dedicated to the beauty of this tour.

The Mirror of Erised and the Fat Lady

Hogwarts model used for overhead and distance shots

London was once again a joy to visit but of course, some weird things happened as they always do when abroad. Following are some random observations.

- Traffic lights turn yellow before turning green, and apparently the Brits take a yellow light to mean go, and they immediately start honking at the cars in front of them. I know this well, because I slept next to a window that looked out onto an intersection. Through all hours of the night as soon as the light turned yellow there was a herd of honking cars ready to drive. 

- There is no pattern to walking in London. It could be the mass amounts of tourists doing their own thing, it could be because Brits drive/walk on the left side whereas most others walk on the right, or it could be a clustered mix of both. Regardless, I have never gotten so frustrated trying to walk down a sidewalk. I walked in zigzags trying to dodge the people coming at me from all angles but still got bumped every few seconds in crowded areas. 

- In a moment of ignorance I used a random ATM at the Camden Markets, which resulted in a $26 fee for taking out money. Lesson learned. 

- They call a bachelorette party a 'hen do'

- We went to a concert at a large indoor arena and upon entering they take off all lids to drink bottles. Supposedly there have been past issues of people throwing full bottles and harming others, so they take the lids to allow liquids to spill before hitting it's target. Makes sense, but it was still rather annoying to have to hold my water bottle all evening.