London

My birthday in London!

… started in the airport. We arrived in London at 11:45 on October 7th. We made our way to the terminal train to collect our bags. Dad and I were counting down the minutes until October 8th, my 10th birthday. Dad made a joke that it wasn’t really my birthday yet, because in California it was still October 7th for 8 more hours. I turned 10 while we were on that train and we celebrated with cheers right on the crowded train. When we got off the train, I spent the first hour and a half of my birthday in the customs line just trying to enter the UK!

Arya planned my birthday, so in the morning I had no idea what we were doing, except that we were dressed in nice dresses, so it must be something fancy.

We started with lunch at Angus steakhouse which was exciting because I got ribs, which I hadn’t had in a while, one of my favorites!

Then we made our way to the mystery destination and on our way made a quick stop into a Pandora shop. Arya and I both got charms representing the UK and we decided it would be a fun idea to each have a bracelet from our trip where we collected charms from each country we visited.

After we finished shopping, we walked around a bit more and as we walked up the street I saw a sign for the musical Matilda. I was about to tell Mom and Dad that we should see it sometime, but then I realized that that could be what we were doing! And it was!

We went inside and there was a lady waiting for us who took us downstairs. As we walked, she asked whose birthday it was which surprised me. She then took us into a private room and told us it was ours to use for the whole show! Sitting on the table was a cake, programs for the show, and candy!

We also got to pick out snacks to have at intermission! I was so full of sweets! The show was so cool because Miss Trunchbull (who was played by a man!) was hilarious. My favorite song was Miracle which is a song where kids sing about how their parents think they’re miracles…believe me, it’s more interesting than it sounds.

When the show finished, Arya had planned to take me bowling, but it turned out that the bowling alley only had 4 lanes and they were booked for the night so we ended up just heading home where we watched James Bond on TV. Not a bad birthday!

The next day we headed off to do some sight-seeing. We saw Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye,

Buckingham Palace,

the Royal Mews (that’s where they keep the horses and carriages for the queen),

Westminster Abbey (the church where the kings and queens are coronated and most get married), and Picadilly Circus (which is like Times Square in New York). I really think everyone should go on the London Eye at least once in their lifetime. It was awesome and cool to see the sights from that high up…besides, you’re on a ferris wheel so it’s fun!

That evening when we were hungry for dinner, we remembered we had seen Chipotle the day before and wanted to find it again. We thought it would be a quick journey, but it ended up being more than an hour walking around asking people and getting lost. By the time we got there, it was the best Chipotle we’ve ever had!

The following day we went on a bus tour to Windsor Castle, the Roman Baths, and Stonehenge. Our first stop was Windsor Castle.  It was pretty much what you’d expect from a castle: made of stone and lots of fancy stuff inside.

My favorite part was Queen Mary’s dollhouse. Did you know that Queen Mary wasn’t even allowed to touch her own dollhouse? (Dad note: sorry no pictures from inside the castle, including the dollhouse. Cameras were not allowed.)

Then it was on to the Roman Baths. None of us knew much about them and weren’t sure what to expect. Turns out it was pretty cool! There were huge baths that were filled from a natural hot spring. It’s been there for almost 2,000 years!

Our last stop was Stonehenge. Did you know it’s been there for more than 5000 years!? The stones were carved out of a mountain far away and pulled by more than a hundred men each! I thought it was cool. (Dad note: what a great time of day to a picture!)

It was crazy to me that they had been around that long and they didn’t have any machines to get the stones there! It was all man-power.

For dinner that night, we stopped at an authentic English pub. We had some delicious pies (meat pies that is), a hamburger, and some beer (my parents did anyway. I wouldn’t dream of it.)

The day I was the most excited for was the next day: our trip to the Warner Brothers studio tour where they made the Harry Potter movies! When we got to the bus stop, there was a Harry potter bus waiting for us!

When we started the tour, the guide asked us if it was anyone’s birthday. My dad pushed me up there and she had us open the door that leads into the actual Great Hall!

So two other kids and I opened the door to reveal the Great Hall. We saw teachers’ costumes, the house tables, and the hourglasses that keep score for the houses.

The rest of the tour was pretty much a giant Harry Potter museum. We walked through Diagon Alley,

saw things from the Yule Ball, saw the Hogsmeade gate, and even rode on broomsticks and learned to use wands! One of my favorites was when we went outside and got to drink butterbeer!

It tasted like you might expect it to: butterscotch with a hint of vanilla. very good (and don’t worry, it’s not alcoholic). The last thing you see on the tour is a huge model of Hogwarts that used in filming whenever they did fly through shots.

It was an amazing model.

Our last day in London was a mix of a bunch of things. First we went to see Dolphin Tale 2. Arya had really wanted to see it before we left the United States, but it came out the day after we left so this especially exciting for her. We had lots of candy and I felt like I would explode. But guess what? Right after that we went to a nice hotel and had afternoon tea which included a bunch of sweets…and tea.

Even though I was stuffed, it was still delicious. We then went across town to visit the Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station! We took pictures of ourselves running through the wall like Hogwarts students do.

The next morning we had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight home. And that was one of the best birthday celebrations I’ve ever had!