London With Jackson

Hello again blog readers! Last week one of my American friends, Jackson, was asking people if anyone would be interested in taking a day trip with him to London. A few of us said we might and we agreed to talk about it later. When later came around, it was just me and Jackson that were still planning on going. He had still not been to London yet and was so excited, so I decided to go. Turns out we had a lot of fun!

 

We started from London Waterloo Station and walked along the Thames. There were men building the most intricate sand sculptures so I took a picture of my favorite! The first stop we made after getting of the train at London Waterloo was to walk by the Millennium Bridge on our way to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. For those of you Harry Potter fans, that was the bridge that was destroyed in the most recent Harry Potter film! Obviously it was just good special effects because the bridge is in perfect condition!

The Globe Theatre

After seeing the bridge we made our way along the Thames river to the monument dedicated to The Globe Theater. No, this is not the original one and no, this is not even built on the same sight. When the Globe was torn down, places of residence were built on the sight. For some reason, they refused to let those homes be torn down in the building of this theatre. Wonder why…

The Stage

When inside this real, live, working theatre (that puts on Shakespearean plays every season) we got to tour the museum and read a bunch of history and also see clothing and instruments and other items that might have been popular back in those times. We also got to take a tour of the actual theatre and learn how it was built and why and how it functions the way that it does. The company tries to keep it as close to what they believe Shakespeare’s Globe as they can, which makes it an extremely unique experience. I would love to see an actual play there some day!

Monument to those killed on the
private green of the tower, including
Queen Anne Boleyn!

After the Globe we headed to what I was most excited about: THE TOWER OF LONDON!! I have read so many books in which prisoners get sent to or executed at the Tower. One of the most interesting figures (I think) in British history was Queen Anne Boleyn, who was executed at the Tower on the order of her husband, King Henry VIII. The most exciting part of our tour was that the tower was not at all what I expected it to be.

The Tower of London!

 I envisioned one giant tower with a lot of rooms and cells; however, the Tower of London is actually a fortress and was once a palace that royal families have lived in. There are 20 towers total, one of which houses England’s Crown Jewels. We got to go in and see them, but there were no pictures allowed! The jewels and stones and metals are so brightly polished and utterly flawless that it is hard to believe they were real! But the armed guards definitely convinced me that they were.

We left the Tower in search of King’s Cross Station, the famous train station from which characters in Harry Potter go to in order to get to Platform 9 ¾, the platform which houses the Hogwarts Express. While there is no actual Platform 9 ¾ there is a small exhibit in honor of the movies where you can take a picture and say you’ve been to. Consider it crossed off my list! When I got to the other side of the wall they wouldn’t let us take pictures of the Hogwarts Express… something about Muggles and publicity. Beats me!

Since all of the magic business was done, we took a cab from Kings Cross Station to Abbey Road. I had my first experience hailing a cab! It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either. We thought we were just being silly and lazy by taking a cab, but it actually turned out to be over a 10-pound cab ride. We wouldn’t have made it to Abbey road before dark if we would have walked! Jackson tried his best to take a good picture of me in the famous street crossing, but as you can see from the background the cars HATE the tourists.

I got to see the studio where the Beatles recorded and there is bunch of graffiti in their honor all over the street. How thoughtful, right?

Bringing the day to a close, it doesn’t sound like Jackson and I did very much, but we did! Both tours were amazing and over an hour long. We spent around 2 ½ hours in the Tower at least. Not to mention Kings Cross was on the complete opposite side of the city from the Tower and we walked the whole way! If anything, we got a good work out and had a ton of time to talk.

Thanks for tuning in. I know this blog wasn’t as exciting as some, but I’m just trying to get you prepared for the next one: Magi and Emily take over SCOTLAND!! Thanks for reading!

<3 M

PS I did this one really fast, so please forgive all editing mishaps. Work with me people!