This will be my last London post. I broke the blog postings up so as not to overwhelm.
Tuesday and Wednesday turned into two days of wandering. I guess when you are visiting infamous cities there are certain iconic landmarks you "have" to visit. So, I set out to see Selfridges and Harrods, which are within walking distance of each other. I expected shopping but I did not expect what type of shopping. Both stores are massive. They both have high quality goods for sale. Both stores feature brand names that I could never afford. Needless to say, I did not do any shopping and really high tailed it out of both places as soon as. Really not my scence, but there you go. I can say I have visited both places. *Harrods was especially recognizable as the scene of the imfamous Mr. Bean Christmas, which our family MUST watch every year on the insistence of my mom.
The walk to get from one store to the next was through Hyde Park. Once again, it was a beautiful, sunny day out in London and many people were taking advantage of the day by strolling through the park, running, biking, picnicing, and hiring boats. Hyde Park is a massive park in the middle of the city and is a wonderful retreat from the business of London.
Later on Tuesday afternoon I went to The British Museum. This museum started off with a meger 30 artifacts in 1753. It now has over 8 million works. It is a beautiful building inside and out. It is massive now. I think that I could visit there everyday for a year and still visit and learn new things. I enjoyed a bowl of salad and a cup of tea at the Museum Cafe and then headed up to Room 40 for a guided tour of the room which house Medieval English artifacts. The women who was the guide was really informative and added to my visit of the museum. The room was not too large, but she took us to a number of different aritfacts within the room and explained the historical significance.
Famously, The British Museum is home to the Rosetta Stone. So, just like when I visited the Lourve and HAD to visit The Mona Lisa, I visited the Rosetta Stone. It is truly fascinating to see something first hand that dates back to 196BC. The stone is covered with three writings: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script,and Ancient Greek.
On Wednesday, my main goal was to head to King's Cross Station to visit Platform 9 3/4. It was a rainy day in London but where I was heading I really could get to indoors all the way. King's Cross Station is a beautiful and huge train station. It was not too difficult to find Platform 9 3/4 as there was a line up of excited people (of all ages) roped off. At the front of the line, there was a cart with luggage and a caged owl that had halfway crossed from London to Platform 9 3/4 to journey on the train to Hogwarts. Everyone was welcome to take pictures. There were also two employees working, offering a House scarf to wear and taking an official picture. I had a couple of gals in line take a picture with my cameras but I ended up buying my official photo also. I collected the photo from the Harry Potter shop located just beside Platform 9 3/4. That was a fun morning.
I was able to purchase a London City Mug from Starbucks and decided to mail it home with a few other items that I have purchased for some really special kiddos. I think The Post Office and The Royal Mail is like a religion to the Brits. The Post Office was so busy that I had to pull a ticket. There were 22 customers in front of me. I am truly not saying this as a complaint merely as a surprising comparison to home where, when I visit the post office, it is rarely busy at all. After my visit to The Post Office, I walked to St. Paul's Cathedral to walk the grounds and have a look at the church. When I was on the original bus tour of London, I can remember the guide pointing out a building near St. Paul's with a damaged wall. I was trying to find this wall again in order to photograph it. The wall had been damaged from mortar shells during the Blitz in World War II. The damage had not been repaired to act as a reminder of the war. Unfortunately, I was unable to find this elusive wall again.
My check out time was 10 am on Thursday morning and I wanted to get laundry done prior to leaving London. That is how I spent my Wednesday evening.
Next stop Totnes and Nell
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