London- Day 3

We started our day off bright and early by heading to Westminster Abbey. We arrived there at 8:30 am and people had already started lining up (it opens at 9:30)! By 9:00 am, there was already a huge line. Make sure you arrive early, especially if you don’t have tickets yet. Since we bought our tickets online, we were given priority entry.

When you go in, you can get a free audio guide and map before continuing with your visit. The visit is one way so walk slowly and make sure you take in everything! While there are many tombs and memorials are on the wall, many are also on the ground so make sure you keep an eye out for them. With many people walking around, it can be hard to see some of the ones on the ground. I nearly missed Newton’s tomb until someone beside me freaked out when they saw it. Unfortunately, photos aren’t allowed in Westminster Abbey, but not being able to take out your camera or phone forces you to enjoy your surroundings and take in all the detail.

We left Westminster Abbey and went to Westminster Bridge to take photos of Big Ben and the London Eye. Cross over the bridge and head down the stairs for an even better view of Big Ben and Parliament. There are many souvenir stands here with pretty good prices. We picked up 5 or 6 postcards for £1.

After taking many photos here, we headed to Kings Cross Station to go to Hogwarts visit Platform 9 and 3/4. I was a bit nervous that it would be hard to find, but when we got there, we saw a huge line to take photos there. It was also right next to the Platform 9 3/4 shop. The store had a photographer to take photos of people which you could later buy (£9 for 1 I believe) and they also had different props like scarves and wands that you could use. It was quite a cool experience despite the long wait (and to my disappointment, I was not able to cross into Platform 9 3/4).

After this, we headed to the British Museum. There was a security line outside and it was getting quite hot. We wanted to see the Chinese exhibit first, which, unfortunately, was closed off. The Chinese ceramics were still available for viewing, which is better than nothing. We then went to see a few of the other well-known artefacts in the museum like the Rosetta Stone. We were getting quite tired and hot at this point and wanted to go home. The British Museum, unfortunately, didn’t have any air conditioning and the hot weather outside and the large crowds inside didn’t help with this. We explored the Greek and Roman exhibits a bit before heading back around 5:00 pm, despite the fact that it closed at 8:30 pm that night (it was still very busy when we left).

We called it a day here as the next day we needed to get up bright and early for our trip to Oxford and Cambridge!