I Think I Might Be a Muggle

I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week in London. It was so fun! I saw Kensington Gardens/Palace, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Victoria and Albert Museum, Kings Cross Station, Sherlock Holmes Museum, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and a whole lot of things in between. It was so much fun, and so exhausting. And really freaking expensive. But most of all, I realized my worst nightmare: I think I might be a muggle. I spent three whole days in London, visited numerous magical sites, and... nothing. No Harry, no Dumbledore, no Dobby... Nada. Oh, well. It's best that I know the truth, now, instead of spending all my days wondering...

In no particular order, here are some photos of my adventure in London!

Westminster Abbey. I couldn't actually go in, because I went the last day of my trip, and they were having a memorial service for the British soldiers, and weren't open for tourists.

St. James Park. By far the prettiest area of London.

The Banqueting House. The roof was painted by Rubens, and is amazing. It is the last standing building of Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace (which burned down.) This is where I went instead of Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben! It's kind of hard to get a good picture of ol' Ben. The Houses of Parliament are really impressive on their own, too.

Fun sculptures outside of St. Paul's Cathedral. (It's the dome in the background.)

Tower of London. So cool! There was graffiti on the walls from the prisoners. Amazing. I spent a good three hours wandering around this place. Definitely a must-see.

I hopped off the tube at Baker street on a whim, because I had heard that there was a Sherlock Holmes museum there. And... the rumors were true. There was a man dressed as Holmes inside the shop, and a woman at the door dressed as Mrs. Hudson. I didn't actually go into the museum, because it was pretty expensive, but the shop alone was amazing.

Kings Cross station. They moved platform 9 3/4! Outrageous. It is no longer between platforms 9 and 10. It is on a wall outside the station. I searched for it, but the darkness plus exhausted led to me being unable to find it. And I didn't really care that much, because I had already determined that I would not be getting on the Hogwarts Express, anyway. :( But I did get a picture of the REAL platform 9 3/4.

Harrods on Knightsbridge. If you don't know what Harrods is, check it out. It was HUGE. And no, I absolutely did NOT buy anything, but it was cool to see. And beautifully decorated for Christmas already.

My first real-sized cup of coffee in almost three months! (Excluding the one I got in Scotland with mom.) Yum!

Kensington Gardens. Absolutely beautiful.

All in all, it was a really good trip. I'd go back.

Next on the list: Amsterdam! I leave on Wednesday after class, and get to wander around the canals for three days, before heading back to Madrid on Saturday. (Bring on the chocolate!)

P.S. I come home in just over a month. Ummm, what??