World Tour Part 1 - Europe

It's our last week of the Ariel and Emily World Tour, Part 1 - Europe and Israel! Wow, that's a long title. Either way, we currently have about two days left to enjoy more of London before heading back to Vermont. So far, we've been packing our last week full! Since we've been doing so much, I'll try to just highlight the more interesting things.

So far, we visited three nice museums: the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of London, and the British Music Experience. My favorite of the three was the British Music Experience; it was really interactive and focused on British music from the 1940's onward, especially the British Invasion in the U.S. The museum was packed of band artifacts, including a drum head from the Yardbirds, a jumpsuit from Mick Jagger, handwritten lyrics by David Bowie, and so much more! It was amazing! We also went to a nice concert at the same place with a guitarist and violinist duo.

Of course, we've been getting in a little bit of London shopping, since it's known for huge department stores. We spent some time at Harrod's and Selfridge's, both of which were extremely expensive and had everything from a giant lime green plaster horse to imported caviar. It was so overwhelming; we didn't even really know where to start with it all. We did also visit more reasonable stores, including the Topshop flagship (so many cute clothes!).

Since Emily and I are both big Harry Potter fans, we decided to try and find some of where the story in London takes place. We visited a cafe on Tottenham Court Road, walked around the Charring Cross area, found where the Leaky Cauldron and entrance to Diagon Alley would be, and also saw where they filmed the visitors' entrance to the Ministry of Magic. In case you don't know what this means, I'll give a short explanation of each place.
When Harry, Ron and Hermione fled from the Death Eaters in the beginning of the seventh book, the ended up escaping at a cafe on Tottenham Court Road.
The Leaky Cauldron is a pub for wizards near Charring Cross. Through this pub, there is a brick wall area which provides the entrance to Diagon Alley, a wizard shopping street. We actually found a pub near Charring Cross with a brick wall behind it.
The scene in the movies where Harry Potter and Mr. Weasley enter to the Ministry of Magic (wizard government) building was filmed also near Charring Cross.

Well, that's basically what we've been up to, and we have a schedule for the rest of the week including the London Bridge, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, the Tower of London, and seeing Billy Elliot at the West End theater (London's version of Broadway). Such a fun and busy last two days!

See you soon!
Ariel