After class, I went back to the flat for lunch, and then left for the Natural History and Science Museums with Miriam (one of my roommates). It's one of the many museums that has free entry, because it's subsidized by the government. I'm definitely down with that. I didn't spend very long in it though, because it's not really British. I mean, Science and Natural History are world-wide subjects, so except for some differences in the original artifacts they held, it's the same as any that I would find in the states. The history of mathematics and computers exhibit was really cool. I saw a differential calculating machine that was the size of the piano room at home. Those of you who're familiar with Calculus know that now, all you need is the right formula and a scientific calculator to do differentials. Thank heavens, because those machines looked really complicated! I also saw the last surviving valve-based computer in working order: it was a beast! Holy cow! It was the size of an entire room between the monitors, panels, storage cylinders, etc. The whole thing could store a grand total of 200 kilobytes of information...that's so pitifully small it's funny.
Well, after I was done with the museum at about 3pm, I decided that I'd spend the rest of my free afternoon taking my self-designed Harry Potter tour. I'm such a nut! But, to justify myself, I did do it partially for my siblings, because they've always been more into the series than I have. (Anyone who knows my family will back me up on this - I'm not just making excuses.) I definitely got a little more familiar with the tube system, because the three locations I decided to visit were a far cry from reasonable walking distance from each other.
Stop one: Charing Cross station. The Leaky Cauldron is located somewhere along Charing Cross road - unfortunately, it isn't a real pub...at least, it isn't visible to Muggles, so I was out of luck. Honestly, it surprises me that a muggle-accessible Leaky Cauldron hasn't popped up by now to capitalize on the Harry Potter hubbub. I'm sure there'd be one by now if the series was set in the states...welcome to America, right? :) Anyway, I took a picture next to the Charing Cross subway sign, as a tribute to the general location of the pub so famous in the wizarding world.
Stop two: Lincoln's Inn Fields - the filming location for Number 12, Grimmauld Place. It's a really pretty park, surrounded by gorgeous brick townhouses. I haven't seen the movie in forever, so I couldn't remember what it looked like, which meant that I couldn't try to find the specific townhouse that they used to film it. But again, I took a picture next to the street sign as a tribute. Funny story: it took me FOREVER to find the dumb square. I ended up going all the way around because there wasn't a road that went through. Of course, if I had turned left instead of right when I came out of the tube station, I would have been able to go right through to it. After I went all the way around, I decided I didn't really care that I had gone the wrong way because I saw some absolutely adorable little shops in these tiny back streets, and a whole bunch of gorgeous brick architecture. Here's some thoughts from my little notebook that I carry around with me everywhere:
"Right now, I'm sitting in the park at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It's beautiful! I hear bells tolling, birds singing, the occasional taxi driving by, leaves rustling in the cool breeze, and an occasional snatch of conversation in the ever-lovely British accent when someone walks by me on the park's path. This neighborhood is out-of-the way, so there are no tourists to be seen. The decorative trees are in full bloom and smell divine! I wish I could somehow capture everything about this moment (except my hands which are rather chilly thanks to the breeze) so I could replay it later. I feel very legitimately "in London" - does that make sense? A few pigeons even just fluttered past me. I am still in awe over the pervasive, beautiful brick architecture here. It's absolutely stunning.
Step three: best for last...Kings Cross Station! It's HUGE, by the way. I saw somewhere on the internet that there's a tribute to Platform 9 3/4, and I wandered around this gigantic train/tube station for about 1/2 hour trying to find it. And then I finally just asked the information desk, and the nice man told me right off - much easier. Anyway, I found the little memorial(?) and a group of asian tourists about my age took my picture next to it for me. Yay!! It made me pretty happy. There's even a trolley-cart sticking halfway out of the wall!
That's about all there is to report for today. I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon writing the paper that's due next class. Yuck.
I love you all! Oh, and PS, if you're reading this and not writing me emails back, that is SO cheap. You all have to write me too. (milkchocolatekiss@gmail.com) Cheers!
I saw this while I was wandering around trying to get to the Grimmauld place filming location. It's so awesomely London that I just had to take a picture: check out the pretty brick buildings, 4 telephone booths, and a wrought-iron fence.
The Harry Potter tribute at Kings Cross. PS, I didn't know until I loaded this onto the computer that it was blurry, and I'm VERY sad about it. :( At least I got the picture!!
The Filming location for #12 Grimmauld Place
The Leaky Cauldron is located somewhere along Charing Cross Road
I'm constantly amazed at this...it's really true, Mom. Artificial junk is really hard to find here in the UK. This is a sucker at the museum. Check out the (very standard for the UK) ingredients!! I've heard that all the American candy bars (Snickers, Twix, etc) are SO much better here, and I believe it, because I'm sure that all the artificial ingredients have been replaced with the real stuff. Hopefully someday this stuff will make it to the US, right?
The differential calculation machine I mentioned earlier. See - it's HUGE!
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