I DREAMED A DREAM

i don't know what it is about october, but october these days makes me dream about LONDON. oh how i love londontown. let's put this in perspective:

paris has my heart. paris is like my soulmate that i marry in the temple so we get to be together forever, that's how much i love paris.

LONDON is like my best best friend that i've known since i was two and we are soulmates just in a different kind of way. it is like my bosom friend and kindred spirit. i LOVE london.

so i'm having a hankering for some quinoa and edamame salad from pret-a-manger and some double decker bars from a drug store and also some chicken and potatoes from nandos PLEASE I NEED NANDOS.

also every time i listen to fool's gold by one direction it takes me back like it is too real. i feel like i've just gone back into a pensive and i'm literally sitting on the train, in the chunnel, with a black scarf over my head, laughing with my friends, and eating chocolate to get rid of the dementors. and then waiting for the bus to harry potter studios and talking to a scottish girl and her telling me that she likes my accent when i'm like your accent is wayyyy cooler than mine that i don't even call an accent.

did you know that they were selling tickets to have christmas dinner at the great hall? like i cannot even deal with the feelings of sadness/hope that one day i'm going to eat christmas dinner in the great hall. it would be worth every penny.

anyway october makes me think of london because october of last year i went to london and there's just something about it.

christmas also makes me think of london because i was there last christmas with ma mere, but now we are getting off on a tangent. BUT the purpose of this post is to tell you about my birthday present last year that was the best birthday present of my life. my mom and i went to the queen's theater in london and got tickets to go see les miserables!

for those of you who don't know, the west end of london near picadilly circus is home to several broadway theaters, such as the queen's theater. basically shows like les miserables, matilda, and wicked are pretty much always playing there. queen's theater is where les miserables was originally performed and it has always been a dream of mine to go there and see the play because i LOVE les miserables so much i could cry.

we might have been on the very top row, but it was the most incredible experience. every single singer was top notch, they had a rotating stage that made everything effortless and perfect, and i was singing i dreamed a dream for the rest of the month.

BANKS OF THE RIVER THAMES

"The Thames will carry her sons forever."

last week in london we walked down to thames river. as english as it could be, we collected sea glass, skipped rocks, and moseyed on the banks of the ancient river. (i don't know if it's actually ancient, but i feel like all rivers must be ancient, they always were something in some form or another)

LONDON// PART DEUX

last weekend i went on a little trip to london. i loved london! i ate some good food (fish and chips! double decker cadbury candy bars! dr. pepper! and nando's! go to nando's!!! they have chicken and mashed potatoes!!), did some fun stuff (note: harry potter), and had a nice little break from school. thursday we arrived in london and went to harry potter studios. friday we went and saw all of the big monuments, and saturday we went to the camden market! 

there were lots of things that i liked better in london than in paris. the city is cleaner, everyone is happy, and it seems like there are less homeless/sketchy people. however, it is not paris. as much as i loved london, paris will always have my heart. it was interesting to see how different london is than paris. here a few snippets from my amazing weekend. 

^^^i kept forgetting that london has a queen. i love that it has a queen. queens rule! queens forever!^^^

^^^the buckingham palace. what i am wondering is, where are all the guards?^^^

^^^there were men on horses reenacting things? i wasn't really sure, but next week is armistice day, which is like veteran's day, so i think that all of these soldiers in fancy uniforms had something to do with that^^^

^^^hey, i thought my brother was in colorado! silly me. (big ben)

^^^excuse me, i am making a very important phone call.^^^

^^^westminster abbey. it's so breathtaking! it's also kind of a weird combination of architecture. there's some gothic in there, but there's also classical and others. not really sure what they were thinking.^^^

^^^big ben and the parliament. i LOVE this building, it's so beautiful^^^

^^^the london eye. we didn't go up, but we walked along the river, and they had street performers everywhere, it was really entertaining.^^^

^^^tower bridge^^^

^^^the tower of london, which i think is hilarious because it's not very tall like a tower if you ask me.^^^

^^^the tower was so insanely crowded, but that's because they were putting up these poppies. there were thousands and thousands of poppies. they have them to commemorate the soldiers and war veterans. it was really neat to be able to see them surrounding the tower of london^^^

^^^on our walk to the camden market^^^

^^^i loved the camden market!!! if you ever are in london, GO. it was so much better than the paris market. the people are in your face, but they're very friendly and nice. we were talking to the guy that we bought our hats from, and he was super bummed because the people before us were apparently really rude because they didn't talk to him at all. make sure to barter, and you can get really great deals! also go get food. they have a food market, and i had the best macaroni and cheese in the world. also chicken curry in freshly baked naan. mmmmmmmmmm^^^

^^^another scene from the camden market. it's such a quaint little area^^^

^^^BYE MUM I AM GOING TO HOGWARTS NOW^^^

IT'S MAGIC

this weekend a few of us went to london. i loved london. we took the tgv (a really fast train) and arrived in london. after walking around, exploring the area, and eating some fish and chips we hopped on another train to go to THE MAGICAL WORLD OF HARRY POTTER. i was in the first grade (i think, not exactly sure on that year) when my mom started reading harry potter to my brother and me. since then, my life has always had harry potter in it. going to midnight book premiers and movies, growing with the characters, falling in love with them and having my heart broken when they died. harry potter is such a huge part of my childhood, and it has been a huge part of my life in adulthood (ha). weekends with harry potter marathons, harry potter friendships and bonding moments (they're real). 

harry potter is a phenomenon, and i am so glad (as cheesy as it sounds) to be part of that phenomenon. i love harry potter. when the opportunity came for me to go to london, i knew i had to go to the warner brother's studio tour. basically i went to the warehouse where they filmed much of the movie, saw original sets, costumes, and props, and got to experience the reality of this magical world. 

I WAS SO EXCITED I NEARLY PEED MY PANTS AND CRIED. ACTUALLY I DID KIND OF CRY ONCE.

from the train station (where i was worried that the death eaters were going to come the whole time, of course) we hopped on a double decker bus to the studio. they are super chill at the studio. it's magical. literally magic. and they have the best wifi i have experienced in europe so far. magic. also, please appreciate that there is not four hundred pictures in the blog post. i literally took four hundred pictures. 

"no story lives unless someone wants to listen." - j.k. rowling

^^^the cupboard under the stairs and harry's first glasses^^^

after an introduction movie, we went in to the great hall. the great hall is the only permanent set that they had originally in the studio. it's the actual great hall! inside were costumes that the actors actually wore, and pretty much i was at hogwarts. i could not contain myself. 

^^^mcgonagall, dumbledore, and snape^^^

after the great hall, we proceeded to the rest of the studio. here they would build temporary sets to film in. it was filled with the coolest things. we were able to see the gryffindor common room, the boy dormatory, dumbledore's office, hagrid's hut, the potions room in the dungeon, borgin and burke's, the death eater's meeting room, the ministry of magic, and umbridge's office. 

"the thing about potter is that it's very earnest about expressions of things like loyalty, courage and redemption. audiences were hungry for that."  steve kloves

"i read the book, and i fell in love with it... the source material is so fantastic that every single day was a day of discovery"  

 ^^^the mirror of erised, when i looked in it, i saw myself with cats, (three tops, i'm keeping it cute) who would have guessed ?!?^^^

^^^these two photos are of the gryffindor common room. i never realized it before now, but if you look at the walls, they are covered in tapestries that are replicas of "The Lady and the Unicorn" from the middle ages. they were woven in flanders, and are considered by many to be the greatest works of art from the middle ages. they also happen to be wonderfully in tact, and hanging at the cluny museum in paris, and i have been there to specifically study those tapestries. how awesome is that!!! the gryffindor common room is covered in them and i never knew before we walked in there, and i'm like, hey i recognize that!^^^

^^^godric gryffindor's sword!^^^

^^^feeling pensive?^^^

^^^the weasley's kitchen^^^

i took this picture as i was waiting in line to touch a snake. yes i touched a snake. i did not want to, but they had the snake that was nagini there, and that snake is too old. you just look at her, but they had a baby version of that snake, and i touched it. i shall never touch a snake again. 

^^^tom riddles' grave^^^

^^^completely candid of the first time that i tried butterbeer. it is soooo delicous! basically it's soda with this marshmallow buterscotchy buttery goodness on top!^^^

^^^the knight bus^^^

^^^number four, privet drive. where a little baby boy was left on the doorstep with a lightening bolt scar...^^^

^^^i visited hogwarts on october 30th, the eve of the death of lily and james potter. their house was left the way it was after voldemort's deadly attack to remind the wizarding world what happened there, and i was finally able to see it. it was such a neat time to be there. we tried to get tickets for halloween, but the day before was pretty darn great.^^^

^^^buckbeak^^^

^^^diagon alley^^^

^^^they were having a special "dark arts" expo, so along with the snake that i touched, they had a whole bunch of death eaters walking around. this one decided it would be funny to scare me. so of course i screamed because i'm very jumpy, and then she thought it would be funny to follow me around a little bit. i truly know how harry potter felt^^^

at the end of the tour, they have ollivander's wand shop. inside are thousands and thousands of wands, and inscribed on each box is the name of someone who worked on the movie. it was a really touching tribute, and it is incredible as you walk through and see all the wands and the names of all the people who were able to help make the magical world i love possible. 

"the stories we love best do live in us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home. " j.k. rowling

the tour was absolutely incredible. i was able to ride a broom, and see how hair and makeup was put in to play to make the creatures and characters in the movie. they also have a full replica (scaled down of course) of hogwarts and its grounds. IT IS ONE OF THE MOST MAGICAL THINGS I HAVE EVER SEEN. they have music playing, mood lighting, and a few tears were threatening to fall out of my eyeballs. also, as i was saying before, ollivander's wand shop was the last part of the tour. i didn't realize it was the end of the tour. when i rounded the corner and saw it was the end i had a minor breakdown. it was that amazing, that sweet, and that magical. i love you hogwarts!

and then i went and spent a ton of money. i mean, i had to! i'm kind of regretting i did not get a hufflepuff scarf, (i am a hufflepuff and proud of it! jk rowling actually said that's her favorite house, and every single quiz i take tells me i am one, so there's no escaping it! it actually makes a lot of sense...) but i did get a chocolate frog, chocolate wand, an owl (whom i have named king rupert radcliff watson the third, rupy for short [ron is my fav]), a hufflpuff house pin, and the book fantastic beasts and where to find them.

to the boy who lived, there will be books written about you. every child in the world will know your name. thank you, harry!