As a professed Tudor history fan, London excited me much more than Paris did (especially with the lack of lines!)
The first thing I saw in London was Westminster Abbey, and believe it or not, I did not know that Queen Elizabeth I OR Queen Mary of Scotland were buried there. So imagine my surprise when I literally stumbled upon Queen Elizabeth I’s tomb:
I had to sneak this picture because there was a strict no-photography rule in the church. But this, to me, was amazing!
Later on we also went to see the Tower of London, the place where Anne Boleyn (mother to Queen Elizabeth I) was held and then beheaded.
Tudor history aside, one of favorite artists has always been Monet–I have had a copy of the Japanese Footbridge hanging in my bedroom for years–and the National Gallery has the original Japanese Footbridge! (Which I also didn’t know until I was inside the gallery.) I also had to sneak a picture of it, but here it is in all its beauty:
As a language major, anything to do with languages excites me, so seeing the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum was also awesome! It is the tool that helped historians decode and decipher hieroglyphics.
And last but certainly not least, I went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour. There you can see a huge collection of items and sets used for filming, including but not limited to: the house at Privet Drive, the cupboard under the stairs, Voldemort’s tomb, Hagrid’s hut and motorcycle, the Gryffindor common room, the Burrow, tons of wigs and clothes and wands, broomsticks, and much, much more. It was amazing! You could also drink butterbeer and see a huge model of Hogwarts. The last room was full of wand boxes–4,000 of them, for each person who worked on the movies, from actors to directors to makeup artists, etc. A few choice pictures are below.
All in all, I loved London very much and plan to return someday, as there is much that I wasn’t able to see. It was full of my favorite things: Tudor history, language, Harry Potter, Monet, and, of course, Indian food (which I ate twice)!