So many memories and adventures to tell about and remember. The best of the best and the worst of the worst! Traveling is no picnic in the park, I'll tell you that. I learned a lot about the world and myself in the past few weeks and I am very excited to share all of my stories with you all!
I still cannot believe I saw and did all of the things I did. I am beyond blessed to have been able to see so much of the world! Its hard to really grasp everything that I've been able to do.
Anyways, I will start with my mom and I's trip to England! First of all, mom, thank you so much for this trip. I will always have such great memories of England from driving through the English countryside to having high tea with you, the list goes on! I had so much fun and I would not have wanted to share it with anyone else :)
So. My mom and I flew out of Cork into Birmingham which is northwest of London by a few hours. We wanted to spend a few days in the countryside before heading to the city. The Cotswolds is an area of villages and towns that make up part of the west of England. Stratford upon avon is the most well known part of the Cotswalds, just to give a reference. We stayed in a town called Chipping Campden and it was the cutest little town. All of the buildings in the Cotswolds look like they could be on a movie set. They are just so old and have a lot of character with the tan color and the really pretty trim and flowers all around. Its hard to describe!
We really enjoyed exploring Chipping Campden and having our first English tea. On our only full day there we toured some of the other villages around the area. It was fun to drive through and see these tiny villages that have maybe some houses and one pub and thats it. So secluded but very peaceful and not to mention beautiful! The man giving us the tour was a sheep farmer in Chipping Campden so it was really fun to hear about the Cotswolds from a local who had lived there his whole life. We thoroughly enjoyed our bed and breakfast that we stayed at as well. The host was again, so kind and we had delicious breakfasts!
Chipping Campden
Stratford upon Avon
Enjoying the villages :)
We made our way to London on the train and started the adventures right away. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and began to get ready for our evening. We headed over to Parliament square which has a lot of the main sights, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye not too far away. My phrase of the whole trip is that "Its not real". Seeing all of these major attractions just didn't feel real. And this feeling continued throughout the whole month! Anyways, we took some pictures then headed over to where our show was going to be. We are some really good Thai food and then went to the live performance of Les Mis. Oh my. These people are probably the most talented that I will ever hear in my life! They do not get the recognition that they deserve thats for sure. My mom and I both loved it. I think that performing music in the past helped both of us appreciate how difficult it is to sing and act at the same time. Les Mis was definitely one of the highlights of London for me.
The next day we had a city tour of London. Our guide was great and it was good to have someone to tell us a but more history and tell us what we were looking at some of the time. He brought us all over to the Globe theater, Tower bridge, Buckingham Palace, the church where Princess Diana was married to Prince Charles, and the Australian Embassy where the doors on the entrance were used in the Harry potter films for the goblin bank, Gringotts. After the tour, we had high tea which was another highlight. We got english tea with finger sandwiches, scones, and a lot of cute little cakes. Such good food! It was so fancy too, I felt a bit out of place but its fun to pretend that we were fancy!
After our stomachs could not hold anything more, we went and did some shopping at Harrods and then wandered through Hyde Park a bit to get to our hotel which was near the Marble Arch tube stop (for those of you familiar with London). That evening we wanted to see some of the attractions at night so we went over to Parliament square again to see Big Ben and the London Eye all lit up. We ended up going on the London Eye and I think it was another highlight for me. Too many highlights! I am glad we went at night because seeing the city all lit up was really fun.
The next morning we headed off to a tour of the Warner bros studio for the Harry Potter films. I'll have to say, thanks to my mom for bearing with my Harry Potter nerd status because I know this was more something I wanted to do. Anyways, again in typical Mork style we got lost trying to find the place where we needed to catch our bus to the tour. In the rain.. We ran for a little bit around the city like beheaded chickens not having a clue where we were going but eventually caught a cab to get us to the tour on time. Anyways, the tour was really cool. We got to go inside the great hall (for those of you who know Harry potter, everyone else just bear with me), and we saw a lot of the other sets like the Gryffindor Common room, the potions classroom, Dumbledores office, the Weasleys kitchen, and parts of the ministry of magic. We also saw a ton of the props and learned about some of the animations that took place and the artists that were involved with designing buildings or magical creatures. We also saw the knight bus, Privet drive, and the bridge that crosses over the river. I think those last three were my favorites. I of course got a cup of butter beer while exploring some of the sets. Its tastes a lot like cream soda! I also had a lot of fun nerding out in the giftshop and finding a few things to remember my day with Harry!
After the tour we were able to pack in a few more things before it got dark. We went into the National gallery in Trafalgar Square and perused some of the famous artists paintings. I wish I knew more about art so I knew what I was looking at but I enjoyed it anyways. Then we rushed off to catch an organ concert in Westminster Abbey. We got there just in time and oh my goodness! It was incredible. Hard to believe that we were sitting in Westminster Abbey listening to an extremely talented organist. We thought of my grandma Mork the whole time, you would have loved it Grandma! It was also fun to be in there because that is where William and Kate were married!
We ended the evening with a walk over to the river to have one last look at the London Eye and Big Ben. Our last meal was fish and chips, which was fitting and reeeaalllly good :)
My mom left the next morning and I left a few hours later to begin the rest of my travels around Europe.
Big Ben
Les Mis!
High tea :)
Butterbeer and two of the sets from Harry Potter
One of my favorite pictures of my trip, if I do say so myself :)
Mom, thank you for this trip! I had so much fun and I hope you did too. Even after seeing everything else, London may still be one of my favorites!
Next post will be about Prague, Germany and Switzerland. Can't even believe that I've been to those places..
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