This past weekend was one of the trips was looking the most forward to from way back over the summer when we started planning out travel. After a month of (attempting to) speaking Italian, we were all looking forward to getting to speak English again. We departed Italy from Pisa International Airport late Thursday night and checked into our hostel in London around 2:00 AM. To our surprise, we were staying in a room with 17 other people, but for $20 a night, we'll take it.
My friend Nikki and I started off Friday bright and early to go to the Warner Brother's Studio Tour London featuring The Making of Harry Potter. Growing up, Harry Potter was my favorite series of books and I'm still a huge fan today and now have the biggest urge to watch all of the movies again. The studio tour featured the real sets, costumes, props, and animatronics used while filming the movies. We walked through the Great Hall, Gryffindor common room, Hagrid's Hut, and stopped in front of Number 4 Private Drive. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look of the movies.
My friend Nikki and I started off Friday bright and early to go to the Warner Brother's Studio Tour London featuring The Making of Harry Potter. Growing up, Harry Potter was my favorite series of books and I'm still a huge fan today and now have the biggest urge to watch all of the movies again. The studio tour featured the real sets, costumes, props, and animatronics used while filming the movies. We walked through the Great Hall, Gryffindor common room, Hagrid's Hut, and stopped in front of Number 4 Private Drive. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look of the movies.
| We said goodbye to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and took off to the Natural History Museum in London where we learned a lot about, you guessed it, natural history. Friday night we went on a ghost tour of the so-called most haunted city in the world. The tour guide was very entertaining although most of his stories turned out to be "fake" ghosts. Exhausted, we went back to the hostel to plan out our next day and very happily went to bed early. Saturday started off with buying tickets to see a play called "Our Boys" for later that night, then off for the Tower of London, or more formally called Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress. The tower has nearly 1,000 years of history; in 1080 William the Conqueror began to build the massive tower in the middle of his fortress. During the 12th and 13th centuries Kings and Queens expanded the site to its current footprint. The Tower of London is home to Her Majesty's Crown Jewels, an armory, and lots of medieval weapons. We took a tour with a Yeoman Warder who have been the Royal Bodyguard since 1509. Very funny guy who loved to scream with his Sean Connery Scottish accent. We took a few pictures with the Tower Bridge made famous over the summer with its hanging Olympic rings, a quick stop at the giant department store Harrod's (for the girls, of course), and then we were off to the show. |  Simon the Yeoman warder/tour guide |
Yours truly with the Tower Bridge
| After a dinner of fish and chips, we got to the show. It was one of the more inexpensive shows that was still playing and fit our schedule, so we took a chance on it. The characters were slowly introduced one by one and when one actor came out and said a few lines, we all recognized his voice. Turned out he was Matthew Lewis, the actor who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. We were all amazed to see him and waited outside the theater after the show to get pictures with him. Good thing we chose Our Boys and not Legally Blonde! Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you how the play ended, as I might have fallen asleep... Sunday started off with a few pictures at the famous Beatles' Crossing at Abbey Road. Luckily we weren't the only tourists there that morning holding up traffic. From there we went to see Big Ben, the Parliament building, and Westminster Abbey (closed Sunday's for services). After looking real touristy, we were off to see the changing of the guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The guards come in with marching bands through the crowds of people. I didn't have a great place to watch from, but it was still pretty interesting to see the ceremony and the palace. No, the Queen wasn't in that day for tea... |  Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) |
Beatles Crossing at Abbey Road
 Big Ben |  Westminster Abbey |
 Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace | After the ceremony, the girls went off for afternoon English tea and I went to the British Museum. I saw the Rosetta Stone, lots of Egyptian mummies, and artifacts from throughout ancient history. We met up and took the London Duck Tour and quacked our way around the city and into the River Thames. At least our tour guide credited Boston with the original Duck Tour. We dried off then went up in the London Eye, a 443 foot tall Ferris wheel that provided great views of London. The London Eye was also featured on the Olympics many times over the summer. |
Myself, Jeana, Becky, and Nikki at the top of the London Eye
We grabbed dinner, stopped off at Platform 9 3/4 (also from Harry Potter) at King's Cross Station, and went back to the hostel for an early flight back to Italy. This weekend were off to the Almafi Coast in southern Italy. Looking forward to a little rest and relaxation. All this traveling (and school work) is exhausting! Cheers!
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