London: where songs from Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks ran through my head

I arrived in London and made our way to our hostel, where I was supposed to meet up with Kelly and Emily, two of my friends from DIS. Our hostel was super-sweet, it was a former Victorian mansion owned by Samuel Palmer, a biscuit king. We stayed in a 21 bed room, which actually was not bad. We got really lucky I guess, we didn't have anyone obnoxious in our room.

Palmer's Lodge Hostel

I had some time before Kelly and Emily were going to get there, so I walked around exploring the neighborhood a little bit. I found this beautiful park where I just sat listening to music and reading my book. I was so grateful for the sun!
After we were all reunited, we set off on our quest to find everything Harry Potter related. First stop, Platform 9 3/4!


Mission successful! Next stop was Tottingham Court Road, which Harry Potter devotees will know is where in the 7th book, Hermione takes Harry and Ron after the Burrow is attacked. We of course then had to get fish and chips at a pub, to start off London right!

On Sunday we started off our day by visiting the excellent London markets. We started off at Spittalfields, which was the best market. It had tons of really cool clothes, jewelry, and food. We then walked to two other markets, Brick Lane and Petticoat Lane. After a lunch from an indian street stand, we headed off to our third HP destination, the London Zoo. We of course recreated Harry discovering he was a parseltongue. Yes, we are huge nerds. We had a excellent thai dinner, then went to a pub to meet one of Kelly's friends.

Our next morning we started off with buying some cheap theater tickets, then headed off to our bike tour. This time, I rode the bike Big Red (couldn't resist the name!). We rode around Hyde Park, Kensington Park, and past Buckingham Palace.The President of Mexico was there recieving a official reception for G20, so we saw the royal artillary first and thought ourselves lucky. Then, the crowning moment, suddenly we couldn't go by. The Queen herself was going by in her carriage.

There she is! I don't have a great picture, but you can see her little pink outfit with her pink hat and everything. The rest of our tour was slightly anti-climatic after that, but we saw Trafalger Square, Wellington Arch, and Westminster Abbey. After our tour, we got a recommendation for a cupcake place in Notting Hill. Actually it was on Portobello Road! Kelly and Emily did not understand my excitement, but I can blame my wonderful sister for being obsessed with Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Portobello road was seriously stuck in my head the entire trip. After a quick stop back to the hostel, we quickly made our way to West End to see Chicago! It was great, very differnt than the movie. The movie is so full of costumes and intense production, while this version of the musical was very bare, with the band onstage. It was an interesting contrast.

On Tuesday we started our day with a quick trip to the British Museum, mainly just to see the highlights, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. We then had a delightful picnic lunch at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. Afterwards, we decided to rent a rowboat and row in Hyde Park. Important lesson learned, I will never be a professional rower. After our idyllic lake time adventure, we walked over to Kensington Palace for high tea. We felt very sophisticated and ladylike. We then split up for some alone time, I went to Primark. I am lucky I didn't study in London, because although Copenhagen is in general more expensive, the shopping in London was much more tempting! We met up again at the Tower of London, Had a beer, walked across Tower Bridge and had dinner.

Next stop, Edinburgh! All we had to do to get there was to take an overnight bus (slightly miserable).