Big Ben and Westminster Palace (Congress)

Many of you may recognize this hundred and two meter tower. 

 Big Ben

Yes. It is the famous Big Ben- the clock tower of London. Every fifteen minutes, the musical bells of the Big Ben ring through the area. I was lucky enough to be able to hear it chime and to even be able to see it up close. However, if you can't seem to find the time to go see the Big Ben up close, you can always walk across the Waterloo Bridge and you will be able to spot it from there. Of course, if you try to take the picture, it comes out rather blurry, in my opinion. 

Far-away Big Ben Taken on Waterloo Bridge

Beside the Big Ben will surface the Westminster Palace, otherwise known as Congress. It is a grand looking place and if you pause to take a picture of it, you won't be sorry. What is Congress? Well, if you look up Congress on the dictionary, it comes out as this. the national legislative body of a nation, especially of a republic. This picture was taken in the park right next to Congress!

View of Westminster Palace from the Park

Front View of Westminster Palace

The British Museum

The first thought that crossed my mind when I entered the grandiose British Museum was this: 'Wow. It is white!' Down below, is a photo of the British Museum on the outside- taken before I went in.

Entrance to the British Museum

It is free. I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that there was no entrance fee. You were just waved in with a nod and a smile as well as a polite 'good day'. However, there is a great jar that says: 'Please donate'. Feeling generous? Well then, 'please donate'. Not feeling so generous? Well........ You should feel generous: you're in London!

So, after you make you're way in, when I went there, there was a huge statue right at your front.

The 'Greeting' statue

 I am aware, that obviously, this statue is not called 'the 'Greeting' statue'. It may be called the 'person throwing the disc' but I am not positive. If you notice the ceiling in the background, you will notice that it is very high. Apparently, that is what my dad noticed. The ceiling. Then, to your left will be an obelisk. It is quite massive in size. 

 The Obelisk

It is from Egypt, and I enjoyed looking at it because it had been only a few months that my class had been studying about ancient Egypt. 

Inside, there were many other wonders to see. The first time that I went, I took an audio book, but I have to say that I looked at more without it than with. Please stay tuned in to see more of the British Museum!

London, England

Perhaps you are already familiar with England. Perhaps you live there. Then again, perhaps you don't. Perhaps you don't know if you want to go there or not. Perhaps it's your first time to Europe. Well, there's always a first for anything. I went to Europe just a few days ago, and I was pleasantly surprised at the sights I got to see. I ended up having a lot of fun, and I hope, if you go, you get to have as much fun as I did! I have to say that this was my favourite city in all of Europe that I visited. It was really really nice, and I loved it!

Platform 9 and 3/4

I decided that I would write first a little about the King's Cross station. Did you know that it wasn't actually called the 'King's Cross Station'? Yes- J.K. Rowling even changed the station. It's true: sometimes, the pen is scarier than the knife. Are you a Harry Potter fan? Familiar with Platform 9 and 3/4? I am. I love Harry Potter, and therefore decided to make my way towards this famous tourist spot.

Platform 9 and 3/4

Okay. Maybe you don't know Harry Potter. All I have to say: read it. This particular cart that is protruding from the wall symbolizes the part when Harry Potter is plunging into the wall, on platform 9 and 3/4, to board the Hogwarts Express, which would take him to Hogwarts. I'm not going to go into much detail about it. If you haven't read the books, there really isn't any use going to the spot. If you have, well, you know when it happened. This cart that is plunging into the wall isn't at platform 9 and 3/4, so don't do the same thing as me and almost go and buy a ticket into the gates of Kings Cross to go to the platform in between the platforms. This tourist spot is located just outside the gates, and if you look for it, you will find it. There is almost always a little circle of people waiting to take a picture of them looking like they are going to plunge into Hogwarts. If you can't seem to find it, don't worry. Just make your way to a nearby attendant and they will be more than happy to lead you to it.

That was hardly the end of my happiness and 'harry-potter-ness'. There was also a bookstore near the platform 9 and 3/4 that I decided to jump into as I am rather a big fan of books. I was immediately interested in the wands that they were selling and the Maurader's map. I ended up buying only one treasure, which was Professor Snape's wand.

 

 Professor Snape's wand

It was 27 pounds, and in my point of view, worth it.Unfortunately not in my mother's point of view. She probably thought I was just wasting money, but only went along with it because my dad already promised me that he would buy it. :) The actual wand was black and pretty plain, other than an intricately designed handle. It came in a box that had the world 'FRAGILE' printed out in bright red, huge, bold, and block letters. So really, I rarely open it in case it breaks. It's just that special for me!

I had a great time in the Kings Cross station, and if you are lucky enough to visit it one day, I hope you have as much fun as I did there- and get to buy a wand from the large selection that they offer you!

Bonjour Vancouver!

Hi! I know that it has been an awfully long time since I last had a blog post, so I'm really really really sorry. I just came back from Europe- had a really nice time. I visited Europe: England, France, and Germany. To be more specific, I went to London, Paris, and Koln (Cologne). London was fantastic- it was a bit crowded, but I found that the city was really old. That doesn't mean that it was filthy and things crumbling to dust. It's just to say that the buildings had quite a bit of history in them. Paris, as well, was really crowded. Yet all the buildings were so architecturally nice beautiful perfect. The people had decorated the houses, adorned the houses with such beauty that it was breathtaking. There was a fair amount of smog, but it was understandable with the large quantity of cars around. In Koln, we found that it was small, peaceful, but old all the same. These three cities were always modifying to modern civilization, which I found amazing.

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