I can’t believe how fast time flies. I also can’t believe how tired I have been lately!
It could be from working three jobs…
Anyway.
I did get a chance to take a completely work-free vacation a couple of weeks ago. I had a lovely father-daughter trip to LONDON, with a one day stop over in PARIS!
Say what!?
Yeah! London! As in, across the pond and bangers and mash (which I ate a lot of).
I haven’t been on a true, no-work vacation since…2010! True story. Even during my trip to Oregon I had to work a little. This time, I used my “being out the country” as an excuse to not check my email…however, don’t tell anyone, I did have some data and cell phone coverage over there – thanks T-mobile!
I could sit here and type out a day by day recap of what we did, but frankly, that would take me even longer to get posted and I don’t think anyone would want to read that. Let’s just say, we DID A LOT and we WALKED ALL OVER THOSE CITIES! I’ll just show you the highlights!
Day 1: I had worked a race and was up earlier than 4am, powered to stay awake throughout the day so that I could sleep through the nine hour flight to London. It worked and I woke up right as we were landing in London at about noon, their time, the next day. Time travel is a bizarre thing.
Riding a Subway for the FIRST TIME! Fun and creepy at the same time.
The British Library – Saw the Magna Carta, lots of other literature, including some old Beattle’s song doodles! Plus the King’s library was on display!
Navigated public transportation and rode some Double Decker Buses!
Saw lot’s of cool buildings and climbed some statutes.
And lastly, on Day one, we saw and rode the London Eye! So fun with fantastic views!
Day 2: I’m telling you, we walked ALL over the city of London….
Walked through a lot of parks, including this one, St. George’s Garden, which is a two old cemeteries whose headstones were so worn you couldn’t read them. So, they moved them all to the sides and created a park. Yes, people are still buried under there.
THE BRITISH MUSEUM! So COOL! Saw the Rosetta Stone and I’m a huge fan of Egyptian stuff. Plus, haven’t you seen Night at the Museum 3?!
Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker St.
Got to experience true London weather!
Walked along the canal and stopped at the Camden Markets…including this really cool Horse Tunnel Market
Last stop of the night..we HAD to go see Platform 9 and 3/4, as any TRUE Harry Potter fan would!
Day 3: “Rest Day”…. sort of…
Saw the Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be.
Took a walk across Abbey Road!
Walked around, took the busses and saw lots of weird statues and art.
Ended the day with a play! Saw Wicked in one of the London Theaters! It was EXCELLENT!
Day 4: Paris… I think this day deserves its own post!
Sneak peak at Paris
Day 5: I accidentally slept in a little bit this day. We wanted to go down to the London Tower, but ran out of time before our Muggle Tour! We decided to save the Tower for the next day, and met our Tour guide for a walkabout to see some Harry Potter film sites and book inspiration points! It was PERFECT for Harry Potter nerds like my Dad and I, but it also brought us to parts of the city we wouldn’t have ventured to on our own!
Saw the Tower Bridge. (London bridge is actually a really boring-looking bridge, much to my surprise. Maybe the cool one fell down.)
Our Muggle Tour Guide, Grettle Granger, she called herself.
Yes! This is that actual corner where the movie was filmed! Sweet, huh?!
Playing Harry Potter in Nocturn Alley. So, yes, this is Nocturn alley, but in reality it is SUPER skinny. So they rebuilt this ENTIRE alley, only wider, on set.
Then ended the night with a meet up! Two of my friends had JUST moved to London for school a week before I was already planning on visiting!
Day 6: Getting up on time, we ventured down to the London Town and old castle…
Tower of London
Clink Prison Museum! It was awesome!
Millennium Bridge (ya know, the one that gets destroyed in the last Harry Potter…do you see how much of a Harry Potter nerd I am???)
London is beautiful at night!
My favorite thing…Big Ben! So beautiful!
Day 7: We enjoyed on last view of the beautiful building across the street from our hotel and breakfast in the cafe we ate at everyone morning and then it was time to get back on the plane : (
Hotel across the street and the colorful building on the left is where we had breakfast every morning.
Back to life…back to reality.
Racing & Wandering 
I’ll have to do the muggle tour if I ever get the chance.
You should! It was so much fun!
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