england & france vacation, part four

At this point in the trip we needed a bit of a break, especially since the following day we were getting up early (4am, to be exact), to take the Eurostar to France. We decided to have a bit of a low-key day, and hit up Abbey Road in the morning before heading to Piccadilly Circus for some shopping.

Abbey Road is not the quiet crosswalk that it seems on the Beatles album. It is a very busy street, which makes it all the more hilarious when tourists are trying to recreate the album cover. I don’t think we ever managed to get a good shot of all of us walking across the street, but it was fun to visit.

After that, we stopped at a two-story (!) Lush Cosmetics in Piccadilly Circus. Having worked at Lush a few years ago, I loved stopping by a store in England. It would have been cool to see the first store ever, but maybe on my next trip!

We ate lunch at Speedy’s, which has been made famous by BBC’s TV show Sherlock. On the show, 22B Baker Street is next store to the deli, but in reality it’s a private residence, nowhere near Baker Street. I’m sure that the people who live there are just thrilled at the amount of tourists taking pictures of their front door! #sarcasm

During lunch, we learned that we weren’t far from The British Museum, which is home to the Rosetta Stone, so we did the quickest museum visit ever to catch a glimpse and take some pictures.

Since it was our last day in England, we decided to take a double-decker bus to dinner at The Sherlock Holmes Restaurant for a last meal of fish and chips and a cold beer. We sat in the front on the second floor, and it was quite an experience to see our driver navigate the tiny streets of London during rush hour.

We went to bed soon after dinner to prepare for our early wake-up and France in the morning.

Missed a post from my England & France vacation? Here’s part one, part two, and part three.

england & france vacation, part three

I like to call this day our literary day – you’ll see why shortly.

While we were planning out everything that we wanted to see and do, we decided that we would be remiss if we didn’t go to Stonehenge, which is only a few hours outside of London. However, we would need to rent a car. Which means we would have to drive on the opposite side of the road.

Seeing people drive on the other side of the road had been spooking us for the first couple days of our trip. But it seems like England knows this throws people off – when you walk up to a crosswalk, there are signs telling you which way to look for incoming traffic!

After getting the car and a very nerve wracking drive through the city, we were off to Stonehenge.

During our research for the trip, we discovered that Jane Austen’s house was on the way to Stonehenge – literally right off an exit from the highway. The house in Chawton is where she spent the last eight years of her life and revised three novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey), wrote three more (Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion), and started another. (It also dawned on us to visit Highclere Castle, which is the house in Downton Abbey and not far from Hampton Gardens, but it was closed to tours while we were in England.)

Matt insisted that we stop there, and I’m so glad that we did. It was such an experience to see where Jane Austen wrote her novels, including the very desk and room that she sat while writing! Seeing my favorite author’s home was something that I’ll remember for a long time.

After that it was on to Stonehenge, which was incredible. You’re driving along a stretch of highway, and then – BAM! – there are these ancient rocks standing in a circle just on the side of the road. It’s a little unsettling!

Stonehenge is one of those places where you should get the audio tour guide. I learned so much about the history of the surrounding area, the rock formations themselves, and other interesting facts than I would have if I just stood there staring at a bunch of rocks for several minutes. It is such an incredible place, and a must-see for those traveling to England!

After that it was off to Oxford, where we explored the town, marveled at the architecture of Oxford University, and ate dinner at The Eagle and Child, a local pub famous for its frequent diners – J. R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis.

I loved this place. It was the quintessential British pub, with Pimm’s cups, fish and chips, and mashed peas on the menu. Coupled with its rich history, this was a great place to spend a meal.

We then walked around the town, and Matt’s brother Cooper pointed out C.S. Lewis’ apartment door, which now has matching Mr. Tumnus busts in the corners.

For the running fans in our group, we also stopped at the track where Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile.

Missed a post from my England & France vacation? Here’s part one and part two.

england & france vacation, part two

The third day was pretty much a Harry Potter day. We had tickets for the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter, which was so magical. If you ever get the chance to go to London, you have to go on the Harry Potter tour. It’s about an hour train ride outside the city, then a 10 minute bus ride, but it is very worth it.

The sets, props, everything there were actually used in the film by the actors, and many of the scenes were filmed there as well.

When you watch the movies, you don’t think about how much actually goes into making all the props, but almost everything was originally made (including Hogwarts and the Great Hall). There is so much to see, too – we pretty much spent the entire day there.

My favorite was seeing all the paper goods, including the ticket to Hogwarts, the Marauder’s Map, the Quibbler, and Harry’s letters from Hogwarts.

I’ve been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (yes, major Harry Potter nerd right here), and so most of the things in the gift shop I had already seen or purchased, but I knew that I wanted to get Luna’s wand. I already have Hermione’s, but Luna is a fellow Ravenclaw, so it only seemed right.

After that we went to King’s Cross, and Platform 9 ¾. Matt said the first time he came to London, they just had a sign hidden in the train station for fans to photograph, but they’ve really amped it up since then.

They still have the Platform 9 ¾ sign, but now they have a trolley, complete with trunks and an owl in a cage, halfway through the wall, to make it seem like you are about to go onto the platform. They also have attendants who oversee the line and take your photo. They ask you what House you would like to be in, give you a scarf with the corresponding colors, and then one person flings the scarf in the air while the other takes a picture of you in midair.

I think I really nailed it.

Needless to say, this was one of my favorite days.

Look for part three next week! And in case you missed it, here’s part one.

england & france vacation, part one

I meant to write about this trip a while ago. It was going to be one of the first posts written, but life got in the way, and I just never got around to it. Until now!

In May, I traveled with Matt and his family to England and France for a week. The excuse of the trip was to see Matt’s younger brother Cooper, who was studying abroad in London for the semester. It was the first time I had ever been overseas to Europe and the UK, and I was so excited. The trip did not disappoint! We packed in quite a bit into our eight days over there, which was exhausting, but the only way to do everything that we wanted to do.

On the first day we visited Hampton Court Palace, King Henry VIII’s favorite castle. We didn't go into the palace, just the gardens. They were so beautiful, and I understand now why English roses have the distinction they do. After that we were pretty much sleeping on our feet, so we called it a day.

Yes, I was that American girl going around taking pictures of phone booths, taxicabs, mailboxes, Underground signs and the Queen's Guard…

Hey Harry Potter fans, do you recognize that train platform? The opening scene with Harry and Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was filmed there. I didn't notice it was the same until Matt's brother Cooper pointed it out to me. The magic of the movies, huh?

The next day was non-stop of all of the most touristy things you can imagine to do in London. We visited Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, Kensington Palace (where Will, Kate, baby George, and Baby #2 live!), Prince Albert Music Hall, and the Albert Memorial. We rode a double-decker bus. We took a boat ride town the River Thames. It was an awesome and very tiring day.

One of the craziest things about London was how early the sunrise was. One morning I woke up, thinking that it was maybe around 6am judging by the light, and looked at the clock to see that it was only 4:30am! Since it’s so far north, London’s spring and summer days are super long. The sun didn't set until around 9:30pm or so – in France, which is an hour ahead, it didn't set until after 10pm!

Also, since we were traveling in the middle of May, I was expecting the weather in London to be chilly, rainy, and a bit dreary. I purchased some packable tour Hunter boots that I was expecting to wear almost every day, and in fact I only wore them once! The weather was amazing – sunny, mid to upper 70’s, not a cloud in the sky. The weather in France was the complete opposite, ha.

Stay tuned for part two next Monday!