The neighborhoods are interesting and diverse, the people were kind (even to tourists?! What kind of alternate universe--), the public transportation was easy to navigate, and the whole city was surprisingly cheaper than I thought it would be.
So here is London, Part 1.
We arrived late Saturday night to Waterloo Station, where a friend of one of the girls I was traveling with met us and got us onto the tube and out to our Airbnb.
Sunday we were up early for our first walking tour of the week! Can you guess what the theme was? Really, I'll give you a second to think. Have an idea?
It's a no-brainer really; we took a walking tour of Harry Potter landmarks in London. We met at King's Cross station - fun fact, in the movies they filmed the facade of St. Pancras station, which is right next door, and which is also where we went first by accident because, hey, we recognize that place!
Our Sunday morning tour was with a company called Get Your Guide, and to be honest it wasn't my cup of tea. The guide was enthusiastic but obviously not a Harry Potter fan, which was a huge disappointment.
Hey, maybe that's what I'll move to London to do...give Harry Potter tours. ;)
The tour ended right outside of Shakespeare's Globe theater, so we hopped inside to the gift shop (sadly, there were no cheap tickets for sale at this point in the season) and then headed to Starbucks to strategize the rest of the day. I have never been so happy to be in a Starbucks where they speak a language which includes the phrase "Skinny Vanilla Latte." #basic
We spent the rest of Sunday at Camden Market, which was eclectic and cool and had some amazing Chinese food. It was also the only place in London I got carded for a beer - so what's up, Camden Market?
Monday morning we took a walk around the neighborhood we were staying in (or should I say, neighbourhood?) and went shopping. Please contain your excitement - I bought socks, a travel pillow, and a jacket. Really exciting stuff.
Monday afternoon I had to race back to the Airbnb for a co-op Skype interview with a company in New York City - didn't end up getting offered the position, so that'll teach me to schedule an interview at 9:30am EST on a Monday. (Only kidding! Real co-op news coming soon...I hope!)
After that, we had a very important visit to make just North of London at Leavesden Studios.
Can you guess what film lot we were visiting? Really, I'll give you a moment to think. It's not hard if you know me at all.
We, by some stroke of luck, managed to get last minute tickets to see The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. All the tickets for our visit had been sold out weeks in advance - yes I cried real tears when I found out - but we hung in there, kept checking the website, and managed to snag three returned tickets for that Monday. What better way to spend Halloween night?
#byemuggles
I usually travel solo, so not a lot of people know my traveling quirks - but one of them is that I like to have an ice cream cone whenever I'm on vacation. I don't know why, and I don't know how I started that tradition, but it's something that I look for whenever I'm traveling. And luckily, we were able to have Butterbeer ice cream at the Studio Tour. It was amazing - I highly, highly recommend it.
Tuesday, we took our second of three walking tours. Can you guess what the theme of this tour was? (Are you sensing a pattern yet?)
I won't even make you guess this time - it was a Harry Potter walking tour. Why, you might ask, would you take two Harry Potter walking tours in the same city? Well, I will answer, because these tours were very different, and one was free. We all know what a sacred word that is for college students.
This tour, which was the free tour, I recommend 500%. I could not say enough good things about this tour. The guide was super nice, very knowledgeable about the subject matter, and very good at her job. So, shout out to Katie at Strawberry Tours - we had a great time!
You're all probably sick of reading about Harry Potter at this point, so here's where I'll finish (and we won't talk about it again, I solemnly swear).
Our tour guide stopped us in Trafalgar Square, where they held the premiere for the final Harry Potter film five and a half years ago. I remember watching the red carpet interviews and speeches given at the premiere, live, online on the film studio's website. I was 16, nearly 17, headed swiftly toward adulthood but still stuck in High school drafting essays for College applications.
JK Rowling ended her premiere speech with this quote, which is hung at the end of the Harry Potter Studio Tour:
And that is a very fitting sentiment, considering 5 and a half years later I've just been to the theater to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Okay, we're finished with Harry Potter! I promise. We crammed everything Potter-related into the first few days so we could get it out of our systems. And also so we could orient ourselves to the city by taking walking tours! It's amazing how easy it is to get around London.
When we got back from the studio tour we made our first trip to Wetherspoon's, a chain of pubs in London. There are something like 11 of them with various atmospheres all over the city, and (surprise) we ended up going to 3.
This one was called The Masque Haunt, and it was our first - but not our greatest- experience with fish and chips while we were there. .
For the rest, and some other food related adventures, you'll have to wait for Part 2.
Thanks for reading!
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