Platform 9 3/4

Two days ago was a day full of walking (which I guess is just like every other day here). We woke up and walked into the town of Reading with Lynlee and Thomas (which took maybe fifteen minutes). We browsed around the largest mall in the UK, the Oracle, and just wandered the town for a bit before walking back to our dorms to hang out. Then for dinner we walked all the way back into town for some delicious Italian. And we walked that off again on the way home. I don’t know what I’ll do back at school when everything is within five minutes or less.

Yesterday we started off early, walking to town to catch a train to London. We took a different train than normal, just to try something new…it took about an hour longer than our normal route, but on the bright side, we were basically the only ones in our car so we could stretch out and nap a little. After finally arriving, we headed off to the London Aquarium. On our way we walked under this little bridge and short alley where it was legal to spray paint, and literally every surface was covered, the walls, the handrails, the signs, everything. It was pretty amazing; we almost went and bought some spray paint so we could add our own artwork.

The aquarium was pretty cool, although it would have been much better if I weren’t so incredibly crowded. There was a “Shark Walk” near the end in which I almost peed my pants. Basically you stood on glass and looked down to see sharks and other creatures swimming beneath you. All I could think was, “What happens if this glass breaks?” We then grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the British Museum.

The British Museum was huge, so unfortunately we didn’t get through the entire thing. There were some amazing exhibits. First we wandered through some Egyptian sculptures, tombs, and sarcophagi. I’m always amazed at how they did such incredible work with just their hands. They carved everything, not to mention the building of the pyramids. We saw some Greek and Roman artwork, sculptures, pottery, jewelry (my favorite for sure). The majority of the sculptures were missing heads or a limb, we couldn’t decide exactly why. We later discovered that a few of the labels said something like “The head of such-and-such a sculpture is currently in Greece.” Some even said the arm was located in a different room of the museum. Now why it wasn’t all together, at least for sure the parts all located in that museum, we still can’t figure out. After all of these huge rooms, there were only two smaller rooms dedicated to the Americas. I guess someone is still bitter.

We went to Camden Town, where there is a huge market in the square. The boys were a little disappointed when they found out that the market catered mainly to girls, with only a few (inappropriate) t-shirts for the boys. Needless to say, the girls were the ones who walked away happy.

After Camden Town came my absolute FAVORITE part of the day (: We headed off to King’s Cross station…yes, THE King’s Cross from Harry Potter. Here’s the best part, we got pictures at platform 9 and ¾. So yes, that was one of my absolute favorite parts of today. Then we found somewhere to eat dinner and headed back home.

Today starts classes, for me anyway; Justin will (hopefully) figure his out. Pictures will be up soon. We miss you all!

-Barbara