LONDON

 

Our flight from Ireland to London was very early in the morning so we arrived in London with the full day ahead of us. We took the tube to our hotel and stopped at Paddington Station on our way to the hotel.

After dropping off our luggage at our hotel (we stayed at a hotel chain called Premier Inn) we went to the LDS Hyde Park chapel. We had some time before sacrament meeting started so we walked around the area and bought sandwiches and pizzas from nearby delis. There is a Christus statue and mini visitor center on the ground floor of the church. Ava and Brent both fell asleep during sacrament meeting and so I felt responsible to stay awake so that they wouldn't have to come wake up our whole row when it ended :)

After church we walked to the Victoria & Albert Museum. The museum opened in 1857 and has a very cool room full of casts (The Cast Court). If you're like me and don't know much about art, a cast is basically an exact copy of a sculpture made from taking a mold of the original artwork, and then filling the mold with bronze, plaster, etc to create the copy. 

Here you can see Michelangelo's David behind me, and behind that the Gates of Paradise (more on that later). He was especially interested in the David statue because it displayed the fig leaf that used to cover his bits and pieces during the more puritan Victorian era. 

Trajan's Column. It's insanely huge and intricate! This is only half of it. 

Queen Victoria's coronet that Albert had made for her.

The beautiful Gates of Paradise. This is one of 11 replicas of the Gates of Paradise in the world. Brent saw four of those 11 replicas this year in his travels, including the reals ones in Florence, Italy in September. We saw another cast of the Gates in Provo this summer too. It is a cool story that I described in April with Sister Sharon Gray finding the plaster casts at BYU-Hawaii.

The immaculate Royal Albert Hall, that Brent was able to tour.

Kensington Palace- I have to say I was underwhelmed by this one! I had heard of it my whole life, and then I was like what? It's just a brick building? 

Fun fact about me: I really love reading and learning about the royals and I read news stories about Kate & William just about every day. So I was very excited to see the Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace. I remember when her sons unveiled this memorial to her. The Sunken Garden was a favorite spot of Princess Diana when she lived at the palace.

The beautiful garden area:

We walked so much on this trip! See the walking totals at the end of each blog post. Here I am sitting on Ava's lap because I'm so tired once we finally got to the tube. Can you find Ava?!

Classic telephone booth picture:

On Monday morning we went to the changing of the guards. I read that you could watch the guards assemble and prepare beforehand at the Wellington Barracks. This was one of my favorite things of the trip! 

We got up close and watched them play songs that surprised us, like Take Me Home, Country Roads. A couple videos:

We then followed the guards on their short march to Buckingham Palace, and then we met HUGE crowds. It was hard to see anything after that point, so I was glad we had seen the guards up close! There were SO many people smashed together, and I came across a young woman who was probably in her early twenties, sobbing [full on tears and wailing] to her dad that there were just too many people there. I was thinking, me too girl, me too. 

Buckingham Palace did not disappoint. This palace is so grand! I've seen so many pictures of the royal family waving to the crowds from the famous balcony so it was cool to see it with my own eyes. 

The beautiful palace gates.

After our time at the palace, we walked Brent over to the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification/Censors). A lot of our itinerary stops were either walk 15 minutes, or take the tube for 15 minutes. So every time we'd walk. Brent just cold called on the people in the BBFC while Ava and I went to rest our legs at a nearby park. He had gotten some standoffish emails back before our trip, but was able to meet with many of the employees and get information and names/contacts. He was happy to have stepped foot in the BBFC building. The BBFC is a non governmental organization that is responsible for the classification and censorship of films and other media in the UK. This is one of the research projects Brent was studying in each country in Europe.

We had [free] tickets to the British Museum for a certain time, but we noticed they were not checking for tickets at all and letting in so many people. London was having a heat wave at the time, so the museum was SO hot, and there were SO many people that it was pretty miserable. We asked ChatGPT what the top 5 things were to see in the museum and saw those things, and then got out of there!

Most of the museum didn't have AC, and we were just flabbergasted that some of these famous things were not climate controlled! Also, the female line for the bathroom wrapped around the building and was probably like a 20 minute wait. Brent just walked right in the boys. Again, I felt like I wanted to be that girl at Buckingham Palace and cry, "there are too many people!" 

Here we went up some stairs and away from people to see the cool design of the building. Also maybe making it a greenhouse :)

The Rosetta Stone! 

Egyptian mummies:

The most famous chess set in the world - I hadn't heard of it but now I have :) Believed to be carved out of walrus ivory in Norway around 1150 and discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis of Scotland. Hence its name, Lewis Chessmen. This inspired the chess set in Harry Potter.

A stone Moai from Easter Island, or Rapa Nui. In 1868 the crew of a British ship came to Rapa Nui, saw (and I guess liked?) this statue, dragged it down the beach, floated it on a raft to their ship, and took it back to Queen Victoria. She then donated it to the museum. We were kind of stunned at how many famous things were in this museum because the powerful British empire had just taken what they liked from around the world. There is a wide spread campaign to return this to the Easter Islands because it is a very sacred artifact...among thousands of other items the British aquired/stole.

Nereid Monument from Turkey, from around 390BC. All of these old things were just blowing my mind.

Ramesses II bust:

OK those were a few of the famous things we saw at the museum. 

Here I am holding up my water bottle to remember we were always in search of water fountains to refill our water bottles! The high was in the low 90s, and many of the buildings and tube lines didn't have AC since this was an unusual heat wave.

Next it was time for Harry Potter studios. By the time I planned our trip and bought our tickets about 6 weeks prior, the best available time was at 5:30pm. I was kind of bummed at first that it was so late, but it ended up working out just fine. We were able to sight see in the day, and then HP studios wasn't quite as busy in the evening when we were there. It takes about an hour to get there from London and once you arrive by train, they take you on a special double decker bus for another 10 minutes to HP studios, which is on a working Warner Brothers studio and backlot at Leavesden, London. Here we are getting on the train - sometimes they were so crowded but this was not a crowded time. 

We got to HP studios about 45 minutes early before our ticket time. We had stopped at a cafe in London on our way to the train and picked up some food to take with us. I got grilled chicken and French fries and oh it was so yummy and hit the spot! Ava and Brent looked around the gift shop while I ate, and then we were able to go in a few minutes before our ticket time. 

Here we have super excited Ava - she is the biggest HP fan and has wanted to go here for years (six to be exact). This is the real reason we brought her on our Europe trip! 

HP Studios allows you to walk through the sets from the movie and see the costumes and props. I'm going to have Ava describe the pictures since she's the expert!

This was the great hall, and it was so cool to see the costumes and props, such as Hufflepuff's cup.

I was so excited to see the yule ball set since its my favorite scene in the entire franchise.

There were a lot of places where you could do green screen photos and videos, and of course dad snuck a photo.

Here is the barrier in between platform 9 3/4. We also saw the real one at King's Cross.

Here's the Hogwarts express...

In the train there was the compartment that Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in, in each movie.

 Here's the compartment from the sixth movie. I liked how it had the heart on the window that says R + L

There was an outside portion, and there was the REAL knight bus.

and the herbology greenhouses. I tried reenacting the scene of Draco Malfoy in the second movie.

We could take photos in the Ford Anglia from the second movie

and Hagrid's motorcycle from the seventh. Mom told me to act scared, but I guess I didn't get what she meant.

4 privet dive was also outside and it was so cool to walk through the house and see some scenes like the letter scene or when Aunt Marge got blown up.

The second I turned the corner and found myself in Gringotts, my jaw dropped. it was so beautiful!!! Dad was the most impressed by this set...as well as the destroyed one around the corner from this with the dragon!

They had the masks of goblins that work in Gringotts

Diogon Alley was also very pretty to walk through with cool interactive spots.

The final room was the model room. They used this model of Hogwarts from the first movies to make it feel like its a full size castle when they're filming it. And then a laser projector will make it into a quidditch game. It was so cool!

Back to Jen now....We took the second to last shuttle out of HP Studios, a few minutes after 10pm. On the shuttle I sat next to a girl (lady?) a little younger than me from Bristol, England (southwest of London). She is a huge HP fan and was laughing telling me about how long she had been at HP Studios that day (which was her 3rd time). She said she got there at 9:30am that morning! She was very fun to chat with and Brent ended up asking her questions for his research and she helped us navigate finding the right tube to get back to London. I told her we had been to the changing of the guard that morning and she told me she's never been to that! Isn't that how it always is - the locals haven't ever done the tourist things.  

On the way back to the hotel we transferred at the Waterloo station and had to take a picture for Audrey since she's been loving that song after dancing to it in May Day. 

Our hotel had a delicious British breakfast every morning which was super helpful since we ate a big breakfast and then just late lunch/early dinner. The breakfast was not too expensive and kids ate free - yes! Brent really loved the rashers, which is a much meatier version of bacon - you can see on his plate. 

Tuesday in London - our classic London picture with Big Ben in the background. When we got off the tube and saw big Ben it was so striking! I also never knew that Big Ben is connected to the big parliament building. 

We went to an inspection of the King's Life Guard at 11am. Don't touch the horses!!! they bite! We've heard from social media. 

We walked back toward Buckingham Palace so that I could get a better look at it since it was so crowded the day before. I just stood there staring through the gates like a peasant for quite a while. 

Next, we had a tour at Westminster Abbey. When Prince William and Catherine were married here, Brent and I watched as newlyweds at the Cowley's house. It's so fun to see things I recognize in real life like these choir stalls!

Westminster Abbey was pretty amazing to walk through with all the history found in this cathedral that was opened in 1269. We learned a lot through our audio tour as we walked around. Here's Brent at the high altar.

Westminster felt a little bit like a smorgasbord to me. There was so many statues, memorials, tombs, etc crammed in every corner. Like, every king and queen you can think of almost stacked on top of each other. (William the Conquerer, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and her rival sister Queen Mary). It was a bit overwhelming.

There are also more than 3,300 people buried here, including many monarchs and famous people like Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, etc.  Here we are at Stephen Hawking's memorial where is ashes are buried. 

The coronation chair, where every monarch has been crowned since 1308. That is one old throne!!

After our tour, Brent wanted to go to Prince Albert Hall to do a tour. Ava and I were not up for all that walking, so instead we went to a cute cafe by Leicester Square and had lunch. 

The Prince Albert Hall is known for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), an Alfred Hitchcock classic, and thousands of famous productions.  

Our family knows the hall well because this is where they filmed, Monty Python's Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy, and our kids sing Sheep Sheep Sheep all the time. 

Brent was the only person on his tour (last of the day) and got to ask lots and lots of questions. He got to hear Heather Small perform "Proud" (the official Olympics song) as she was practicing for a function that night.  They had to kick Brent out of the royals waiting room and floor because Prince Harry (who was in London same time as us!) and his entourage were going to be coming. Dang we almost had a royal sighting :)

Afterward Brent found the house from.... can you guess where?

The Parent Trap (1998)! 

Brent met up with us at Leicester Square. There's some statues honoring some British characters from film like Mary Poppins

and Mr. Bean:

We went to the Lego Store and got some Lego Passports stamped and saw some impressive Lego creations based on the local landmarks and pop culture. Brent will visit dozens of Lego Stores to get passport stamps in like 7 different countries over the next couple of months. Stay Tuned.

The James Bond car and Bond in the background.

That evening we had tickets to see Disney's Hercules on the West End. Our theater was on Drury Lane, but we did not see the muffin man. 

We chose Hercules since we got the tickets on a great special and Hercules was closing on the Westend in September. The muses were a-muse-ing and the best part of the show, but I don't think any of us were particularly overly impressed by the story and changes they made.

After the show we walked back to our hotel across the River Thames.

Wednesday was our last day in London. We had tickets to the Tower of London at opening.  Here is the Tower Bridge behind us.

The Tower of London is a royal palace and fortress around the 1100s with tons of history again. When we arrived inside we went to see the crown jewels before that line got too long. The crown jewels have been stored and displayed in The Tower of London since 1661! They also had different gemstones and fancy pieces used in royal ceremonies still. We weren't allowed to take pictures in that building. They even put us on conveyor belts to keep everyone moving with the most impressive items.

This is where Queen Elizabeth I was held by her sister Queen Mary for some time before finally releasing her before her sister's death and she became the Virgin Queen. The Tower of London is also where William Wallace (Braveheart) was tortured and quartered. His head was placed on London Bridge and his quartered body sent to the four corners of England to discourage other rebels from fighting the English during the invasion of Scotland in the late 1200s and early 1300s.

Ava and I in front of the ravens cages. One of the Yeoman Warders was telling us about the ravens and how they each of different personalities. Legend says that 6 ravens must be kept here because if they ever leave, the monarchy and Tower will fall.

The giant armor and smallest armor. The giant is for a man about 6 ft 8 inches and the small one is for a 5 year old. 

We were on a tight schedule but could have stayed here another hour or two listening to all the stories from our audio guide. I believe this is the Bloody Tower behind Brent. The Tower of London used to be London's first zoo! 

Execution block and axe:

After the Tower, we walked to the best lookout place, that was completely free. Thanks Cher for all the tips again! We took the elevator up to the 50th floor, just the three of us, and we all said, "woooow" when we stepped out of the elevator. 

Then we went to Leadenhall Market, which was a filming location for Harry Potter. We even found the Leaky Cauldron building. 

After walking around the market we headed back to our hotel to get our bags, and then took the bus to the train station. First we had to see the real Kings Cross and Platform 9 3/4. 

Then we checked in for our train to Paris on Eurostar. The train ride only took a little over 2 hours, and went under the English channel to get us to Paris. The train reaches speeds up to 200 mph. We had comfortable seats and I really loved riding the train!

Walking total from our 4 days in London: 32.2 miles- which is an average of 8 miles per day. Ava and I were so tired, but we saw so many cool things in London and all loved that city.