The next day I met up with them at Trafalgar Square. We got tickets for a "hop on hop off" bus and got to see the best of London. Our first stop was at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the palace is closed for the time being because the Queen is in, so we were only able to see it from the outside. After we got back on the bus we decided to stop at the Tower Bridge, another one of London's big sites to see. We got a late lunch around the area and then headed back to the hotel. After my night class, I met back up with my family and had dinner at the hotel.
Taylor and me on the tour bus
The next morning I met up with the family at Abbey Road. This was something we were all looking forward to. Me and the boys got to walk across the road and hopefully mom and dad got some good shots of us. The road is still a functioning road, so it was really difficult for us to get across without people honking their horns at us or getting aggravated. Once we got our quick picture we decided to head out of there and go to Madame Tussauds, the wax museum. Since I've already been there, I was really excited for my family to see all the "famous" people there! They all had a really good time, which I was happy about. After that we headed to Picadilly Circus, which was something that I was really looking forward to showing them. It really reminds me of New York City, and because we're so close to there at home, I knew they would like it. We ended up getting a late lunch/early dinner there and did a little souvenir shopping and headed back to the hotel for the night.
The next morning we woke up and headed out for a nice breakfast. It was definitely a good change of pace for me to eat somewhere other than the cafeteria, which I hate. But, I was so grateful for my family being there besides the good meals! We headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum after breakfast to check out the Hollywood Costume exhibit. This was something that I've wanted to see for a while now, and I thought it would be a great thing to do with my family. It was really cool to see the costumes from all sorts of different movies aging all the way back to Marilyn Monroe's Seven Year Itch dress. I got to see some of the more recent film costumes too like Robert Pattinson's outfit in Twilight as well as Natalie Portman's in The Black Swan. I was really impressed by the exhibit and I'm glad I was able to go. After that we headed over to the London Zoo. This was another thing that I've wanted to do for a while. When we got there we headed in and went straight for the giraffes, mom's favorite. We got to see the three giraffes that they have there, although they didn't cooperate that much for photos. After that we saw some rainforest animals and then, my favorite, the otters!! I'm slightly obsessed with otters so when we saw the ones that they had I was so excited! They were adorable and even meowed like cats. They chased the people on the outside of their cage wherever they walked, and I absolutely fell in love! I was like a little kid in a candy store! Sometimes I think I can be such an adult and with the snap of a finger, I can turn into a child just like that. After that we headed back towards the hotel, grabbed a quick dinner and went to the room for a quiet night.
Otters!!!
The next day was Thanksgiving back in America. It's safe to say that that was the day I missed home the most, although I was incredibly happy and thankful that my family was in London to celebrate with me. Although, we decided not to stay in London for the day. We woke up super early on Thursday and headed into Paris for the day. I was really excited to be able to see this city again, and with my family this time! When we got there we got picked up by our tour guide and he brought us all around the city of Paris. We got to go to the highest point in Paris and look down on the city, we got to see the Eiffel Tower as well as the Arc de Triomphe. We saw the Lourve from a distance, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was a very fun and jam packed day to see everything, but we did it! I definitely think if we were ever to go back, we could all agree we would need more than just one day. After our ride back to London we headed straight back for the hotel and went to bed.
The next morning we took our time getting up since we were so tired from the rest of the week. We headed out to have a late breakfast/early lunch and then made our way to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. This week was definitely fun for me because I got to knock so many things off my bucket list of things that I've wanted to do while I was in London and this was yet another one. Taylor and I were so excited to go here because we love Harry Potter so much. It took a while to get there but it was absolutely worth the wait. I could go into complete detail and name every single thing that we saw there, but I'll save your eyes the torture and just say that it was amazing. We got to see everything from the great hall to the Gryffindor boy's common room to the green screen that they used for so many of the visual effects. The most amazing thing we saw there was Hogwarts of course. It was obviously scaled down, but it was unreal and magical to actually see it all. I was most definitely in my glory. After getting myself some butterbeer and seeing everything that we could, we headed back towards the hotel and got a great last dinner.
Taylor and me in front of Hogwarts!
The next morning I woke up bright and early yet again, but this time I had to bring my family back to the airport to head home to Connecticut. :( Although the goodbye wasn't nearly as sad as our first one, it was still upsetting to see them leave. I had an amazing week with my family and I was incredibly grateful for them to take time off of work and school to come and see me and the amazing city of London. It made the goodbye a little easier knowing that I will see them again in just three weeks, although that meant the realization of me only having three weeks with the people that I've met here. I'm definitely starting to get sad about leaving and I'm getting to that point where I don't want to leave. I wish that I could pick up all the friends that I've made here and take them back with me so that I could have them, and my family and friends back home all in the same place. These next three weeks are going to fly by with all the things we have planned and I can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing, but I'm just taking each day as it comes and having as much fun as possible.
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