the making of harry potter

I was going to write a ton about my day at the Harry Potter studio tour but honestly, I can't. We'd be here for a month. And I have homework to do.
So let me just say this: yesterday was one of the most magical days of my life. I don't care if that sounds cheesy. My nine-year-old self would have been in absolute heaven, seeing every detail of the books I fell instantly in love with right in front of my eyes. Everything was there, from the tiniest prop to the biggest house (or biggest spider).
The pictures cannot do the studio justice. If you love all things Harry Potter and ever get the chance to go, do it. Without hesitation. I promise you, it's worth it.

an afternoon in brighton

Yesterday my friend Riel and I went to Brighton for the afternoon. We took a train into London, then another train to Brighton. I think it was maybe an hour and a half or two hours to get there. We wandered out of the train station and onto the street that took us directly to the beach. The street was crowded, loads of people around going into all the shops and restaurants that were everywhere. We could see the ocean almost from the top.

Once we got down, we crossed under the road and came out onto the beach! It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Riel dipped her toes in the water and then we just sat on the beach for a bit. I'm pretty sure we said "this is amazing" about fifty times at least. After a quick trip to a store to buy Riel a sweater, we went back up the same main road and stopped in a little restaurant and ate falafel in a glassless window seat (prime people watching location). It was delicious.
We went back down to the beach and wandered along all the little shops and bars on the boardwalk. We took a bunch of pictures on a wharf and then decided to head back home. The sun was just starting to go down and the water was green and it was a really good day.

three places

1. Natural History Museum

On Tuesday, after Anthropology (in London!), we went to the Natural Museum of History. SO. COOL. I wish I could have gotten a full picture of that MASSIVE blue whale but I would have needed a panoramic camera for that because it was actually so gigantic. First we wandered into the dinosaur exhibit, where there was so much cool information and dinosaur models. There was a big t-rex who looked real and moved around and had the tiniest arms ever. After that we went into the mammals exhibit where the blue whale was, along with a bunch of elephants, giraffes, deer.. they were all so realistic. Especially the elephant. We had some serious eye contact going on for a bit.

Before we left we briefly went into the insect section.. yeah, I wasn't in there very long. There was a fake kitchen that showed you what creepy crawlies could potentially be living in your kitchen.. um, thanks but no thanks. The building itself was gorgeous, it was massive and had stone monkies built into it and gargoyles and just really intricate designs.

2. Stonehenge

Today, we got up bright and early and got the Flying Nun bus to Stonehenge. We were pretty rushed but had about forty-five minutes to wander around the circular edge of the field. There was an audio guide I semi-listened to on the way around. It basically said that they don't know how the stones got there but they're pretty sure it was aliens. That's just a brief summary, though. Probably should have listened a little better.

3. Bath

After Stonhenge we went to Bath. We drove through sprawling English countryside that eventually turned into narrow, windy roads that barely had room for our tour bus let alone another lane of cars coming in the opposite direction. There were stone walls and hedges and trees everywhere right along the side of the roads. We drove up a big hill and made a turn and there was Bath, which was quite a bit bigger than I imagined. I think I only imagined the town being the Baths, which obviously doesn't make any sense. But there was loads of houses and buildings all with clay rooftops all jumbled on top of one another.
Inside the Baths was beautiful; statues and arches and the bluey-browny-green of the main bath itself.
There was one section where you could look down on steps and a doorway that were from the original structure, and a screen showed what it would have looked like during it's prime. It was pretty amazing to see.