London Adventure Pt 4 - Touristing

Now comes the part of my wanderings around London that are more the nerdy aspect of being a tourist.  As many of you know, I am slightly obsessed with Harry Potter.  What can I say?  I love it! There was no way I could be in London and not head to Kings Cross station to see the infamous Platform 9 3/4.  (For those who don't know, Harry got to this platform by running through a wall between platform 9 and platform 10 so he could catch the Hogwarts Express, to take him to the magical school of witchcraft and wizardry)  Even though I didn't make it as far as Hogwarts, I still enjoyed taking a few fun pictures :)  It was also at this point that my coworker saw the 20 minute line and decided this was the opportunity to leave me to my own devices.

The Tube station

Kings Cross!

The atrium

I don't give up so easily so I waited in the line and ended up chatting with some American girls who were standing behind me in line.  They were studying in London and were super excited when they found out where I worked.  It made me feel like a rockstar!  Oh, and they agreed to take my picture for me which was nice and kind of the reason I started talking to them in the first place.  The platform is really funny in that they have a couple of people (presumably they work at the Harry Potter shop around the corner) and they give you a scarf to wear and then hold it out for you so that when you take the picture it can look like you're running really fast into the wall.  It was cute and it was sweet that they didn't hurry people along and seemed to genuinely enjoy what they were doing.

Then of course I had to pop into the Harry Potter shop and spend more money than I care to admit :)  But I did buy the awesome sweatshirt that I love and is pictured below (and that I'm wearing while writing this post)!

Clearly after this experience my touristing can only go downhill, so I spent the rest of the evening walking around Leicester square and Trafalgar square.  I saw a lot of fun things and also wandered around the National Gallery before heading to see Jeeves and Wooster.

This is the street that was the inspiration for
Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies!

On the right is the National Gallery and the guy in silver was a cool
street performer that looked like he was floating!

Trafalgar Square

Of course I had to take a picture of this

London has a half price ticket booth just like New York City!

Inside the M&M Store

The other day of my touristy wanderings was Saturday morning before I headed to the airport.  I thought it would be fun to check out Buckingham Palace and I ended up getting there right at the changing of the guard.  It was especially fun because it was a complete accident that I even did so!  I then walked around a bit and headed north to go to Baker street to see the infamous address where Sherlock lived before heading to the airport for home!  I also stopped into the Disney store because they had an adorable Frozen display.

Fun mailbox!

Animated characters are my friends!

I love the Disney store

Hyde Park, next to Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

The tail end of the changing of the guards

I had lunch sitting on the steps of this statue and
listed to the bagpiper

The subway stop at Baker street

The line to get into the museum (it was an hour wait so I did not go)

I did go into the shop though!

The infamous address

This sign just amused me

And that just about wraps up the telling of my adventures.  But first, a few random pictures that I took over the trip that are just fun.

This is where they film all the radio shows and the news
and where I had a couple of days of meetings

This building is actually empty but still cool!

Media Centre - where the BBC is

This is the second TARDIS I've posed with!

The view from the top floor of Media Centre - so pretty!

The subway was full of amusing signs like this

He's driving on the other side!

This was at the airport in the duty free shop.
I almost brought him home with me but then thought better

And that's all folks!

London Adventure Pt 3 - Sightseeing

This is probably going to be the longest post about my fabulous adventures, so let's strap in for the long haul!

Monday morning, which was the longest time I was able to be a tourist, was when I walked till I dropped!  I met up with my coworker and started off with breakfast.  I had a delicious chocolate twist thing and lemonade.

The first plan of the day was to head to the Globe Theatre for a tour!  As a lover of the theatre I really wanted to see the inside and hear about the history.  On the way, we walked across Blackfriar bridge, which was so beautiful!  The weather the whole trip was pretty nice.  It was overcast, but it wasn't super cold, and it really didn't rain as much as I was expecting.

A lifesaver - just in case anybody falls in!

The tour of the globe itself was so much fun.  First, there is a little museum where it kind of takes you through the process of the show.  I particularly liked the set ups where it went through the costuming parts.  They had a couple of gorgeous victorian costumes on display as well. There were also people doing a presentation on victorian garb and on the other side of the room they were doing swordplay, so there was a lot to see!

The globe in all its grandeur

Proof I was actually there!

This just amused me

Costuming is an important part of putting on a show

A real working printing press!

After touring the museum portion, a tour guide took us into the actual theatre and told us some of the history. I think the most interesting thing I learned is that I didn't realize there were absolutely no pictures of the theatre, so any of the decorations were completely made up by the people who built the new globe.  Of course they used history as a guide, but it's still pretty crazy to think about someone completely making up what history looked like!  They still do shows there, but the season hadn't started yet so I wasn't able to see one.

The entrance

The stage

The fancy boxes

The tour guide

Right next to the Globe is the Tate Modern art museum, but before heading that direction we took in the beautiful sights of the Thames and having lunch at The Mad Hatter, which I have to say is one of the coolest names of a pub that I've seen.

Now, the Tate Modern is, as you may have guessed, modern art.  So I wanted to share some of the pieces that amused me the most.

How does this make you feel?

This amused me because the caption about the painting expressed how
the painter "started with his brush at the top, brushed until he was out of
paint, and then started again at the top".  Can anyone else say, "well duh!"

The artist self described this as the "anti-painting"
Suuuure dude, whatever lets you sleep at night

If this is art, then the back of my closet is also art

Also mirrory

but was just panes of glass stacked together

Ok, so maybe I'm a tad cynical when it comes to modern art, but it was definitely a fun adventure.  Taking the ramp back to the outside, we walked back across the river on what is known as the Millennium Bridge.

There is much more to come, but this post feels long enough.  To be continued!