I was very interested in going to the British Museum. I’ve seen it in so many movies and referenced as having all kinds of items that I wanted to see. I really love Egyptian artifacts and I was so thrilled to see the Rosetta Stone and the various mummies. However, the sheer number of people who were also vying to see these items made it difficult to enjoy my time there. I ended up rushing through the Egyptian sections because every time I tried to read something, someone would stand in my way. It was very frustrating. Perhaps going during the week would be a better idea. I will try again when we go back.

I love books. Therefore, I love libraries. We have been trying to see all the most interesting libraries on our trips. We started in the U.S. where we visited the George Peabody Library in Baltimore, New York Public Library in New York City, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The Strahov Library in Prague is also a seriously beautiful library, but you have to pay someone to take a picture and you can’t get inside to look at any of the books. The British Library is the largest in the world. There are a ton of people there studying, reading, meeting together, and using the library. They have a fabulous collection of rare texts, including the original Magna Carta. It’s pretty neat to look at the notes that authors and even the Beatles made on their manuscripts.

I went to King’s Cross Station simply to see where they filmed Harry Potter. I thought I could take a picture and I would be good. First of all, you can’t get to where they filmed the movie unless you have a train ticket. Instead, they set up a wall that says 9 and 3/4 in which you have to stand in line to get a professional picture taken. Next to that there is a licensed store for Harry Potter. I was disappointed to see all the merchandizing, but not surprised.

It was a beautiful day in London, so we spent some time walking Hyde Park to Diana’s fountain and to see Kensington Palace. We sat for a bit around the pond near the Palace and enjoyed watching the birds and people enjoying the weather. It was a lovely ending to our trip.