This cupcake has magic in it (Day Eight)

    Today was one of the best days of my entire life. I went in the Making of Harry Potter on Warner Bro Studios. Even though we had some odd manoeuvrings of time and transportation to get there, it was so worth it. I could totally do the tour again.
    I had the best lemon cupcake from Starbucks while I waited for the tour to start and let me just say that every guy working at the Warner Bros. Starbucks was attractive. Every single one of them. But seriously that cupcake had magic in it.
    Literally the only thing I did all day was my Harry Potter tour, but it was beyond amazing.
    When I get home, I'm buying a wand...

Cheers,
Cis

The Past is the Present

Today was a pretty laid back day for me here in London. Trying to find our way to the Kensington Gardens proved way more difficult than it should have been. Each time we had to make a choice of which way to go we chose the wrong way. Through all of our lost fumbling through the streets of London, we actually managed to find something that we wanted to see. Down one of the random, winding streets there was a building with a plaque saying it was a once a home of T.S. Elliot. As in where he lived and died. So for our random walking I give us an A for effort and outcome.
We did finally manage to find the Kensington Palace in the park and it was a beautiful day to just lay out on the grass and read a book and eat an ice cream cone. Which I did for a while.
Probably the best part of my day was taking a picture with the Parent Trap phone booth. I was very excited to discover them as I love that movie.
For dinner we had about an hour to eat, and as we look for places near the theatre a guy approaches us with this great sounding deal. So we went to the restaurant and it looked pretty legitimate and the food smelled good, but they didn't let us down their long narrow staircase for a bit and they wasted enough time that we finally had to leave. It was a bit awkward and we did feel bad about it. We finally just ate in Chinatown. It worked.
Our play tonight was a Long Day's Journey into Night. I have never read it before, but I have read The Hairy Ape, also by Eugene O'Neill. I was actually looking forward to it even though everyone said that productions of it are usually bad. I wasn't too keen on all of the actors, but I am glad that I got to see the story unfold.
I loved how, unlike usual portrayals of real family that make everyone seem as if they are keeping secrets that one day come out, this family is consistently brutally honest with each other and you can tell how many times they've had to keep going past that. The best line of the play was "The past is the present, isn't it? It's the future too." I don't necessarily believe that, but it's so poignant in that that is how much their world seems so inevitable. The basic message I'm trying to get across is that I have to read more by O'Neill.

Hope you like my pictures below!

Cheers,
Cis

There is no Darkness but Ignorance

Okay, since I did not manage to get my post up last night I will try to post anything I do today, tonight, but who knows if I will succeed.
Yesterday was a magical day. I went to Windsor Castle and...I saw the queen. Sure it was from kind of far away and she was in the back of a car, but I saw the queen.
Windsor Castle was breathtaking. The views from their windows were just beyond description. It's like a bubble that you can see your whole world from that no one else can see into. I guess that is kind of the point.
After we finished our Castle tour, we walked around the area. There were so many cute little shops, but that seems to be a recurring theme every place I visit. We went to a chain type shop called Cath Kidston. I literally wanted everything in that store. I held back and only bought a coin purse, which is something that I actually did need. Just not one that expensive.
That evening we went to Leicester Square to the cinema, but I just could not give up £15/$30 for a movie I knew nothing about, so I will just wait for Snow White and the Huntsman.
If you look really closely at the statue in my pictures below, you can see where my title post comes from.

Cheers,
Cis

Platform Nine and Three Quarters (Day Five)

Today was one of those truly lovely days. We set out with a plan for our free day and accomplished every goal set.
The day got started before my alarm ever went off. Because a fire alarm went off first. True to our sheep-like, college kid nature, everyone just went outside. When the foreign student from upstairs asked if we new what set the alarm off we were all dumb faces and blank stares. I couldn't even tell where he was from because he had zero accent.
The biggest activity today was a visit to the Columbia Road Flower Market. Even with the fact that the closest Tube stop to it was a twenty minute walk away, it was so worth it. The flowers there were incredible and the tiny street was jam-packed with people. None of us could identify this one amazing white flower.
Behind all of the flower stalls were little unique shops. Entering each different shop was like looking someones pin boards on Pinterest. I loved it.
Today we finally made it to King's Cross Station and I got my picture taken at platform 9 & 3/4. Be jealous.
One thing about London that is starting to drive me bonkers is that you will rarely find a public "rubbish bin" (trash can.) It has something to do with bombs, but since I refuse to litter I end up carrying water bottles and things around.
Dinner tonight was legitimately the best meal I've had so far. My main dish was called some kind of mixed vegetable tart and it was amazing. We love, love, loved the guy who helped serve us, so we're going to go back for dessert some other night.

I have pictures of just about everything I did today below. Enjoy

Cheerio,
Cis

The Front Row Girls (Day Four)

This morning after having class at nine, we took a tour of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Westminster is my favorite landmark/ touristy place so far. I was looking forward to the tour a lot, but our guide was a bit of a letdown. It was interesting to get a better idea of how their monarchy fits in with the government. I already knew that they had no real political power anymore but this totally cleared up a lot of things.

In the afternoon we saw The Duchess of Malfi. The play was at The Old Vic Theatre and it was amazing. We had front row seats and I could literally see everything. Every facial expression, every drop of spit. It was crazy incredible. We all loved it so much that even though no one else stood up to applaud, we did. Afterwords we waited a bit at the stage door for the actors. When they came out, one of the guys recognized us as "the front row girls." Apparently we had been very involved with watching the play. I actually did get a picture with Harry Lloyd. I look like a dweeb in it, but I don't care.

Cis

Hold my Thumb ( Day Two and Three)

From now on this will just be a quick rundown of events with longer posts for things that are really great experiences, but basically for day two and three here we go...
On day two, the Tower of London was great with all of its gory history and the Crown Jewels were mind-blowing. London itself is awesome.
One thing. Not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, they also walk on the wrong side of pathways and stairs and they wear their wedding rings on the opposite hand! As for my living situation, the flat is great (even with tiny, tiny bathrooms and closets) and I absolutely adore my roommates Catherine, Mandy, and Megan.

For day three I loved the Tate. My favorite was The Lady of Shalott, which I have a picture of below. The one man play Misterman was just unbelievable, the actor was superb and the storyline for me was like watching a strangely beautiful train-wreck. I also payed a slightly exorbitant price to ride the London Eye ferris wheel, but the views made it way worth it.

Sorry the post is so short and unformed, I'll try to do better.

Cis

Let's just call this Day One...