On May 20, 2010 Mom, Annika, and I traveled to London. Dad would be traveling with the students and would meet up with us later while the students get on a plane to America. Yes, sadly their time here is over, but we still have some time.
When we arrive, It's very late, so we board a bus that took us within a few blocks from our hotel so we had to walk the rest of the way. Now if it was daytime, we would've just taken the London underground, but it wasn't, and since the underground isn't open at night, we had to walk.
The next day we took the London underground and saw the building that was used for the inside of Gringotts! Even though we couldn't go inside, it was still nice to know that I've seen one of the buildings that was used in one of the HP films. Our next stop was an underground station (not Kings cross) that was also used in the HP films. It had been closed down awhile ago and is now used for filming all kinds of movies like Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.
We then went to Covent Garden market to wait for Dad. We seemed to wait forever, but it turned out he was waiting on the other side of the market. Once we found him we had lunch and then went to Cecil Court. It's believed that Cecil Court gave JKR the Idea for Diagon Alley. We also got to follow the path of the Death Eaters in the opening sequence of Harry Potter and the Half - Blood Prince. By then we were getting pretty tired, so we went back to the hotel to rest before our big night out.
At around 7:00 we left to see the Lion King. I have to say that it was the absolute best performed play I've seen in my whole entire life. I could write pages about how amazing it was, but as I don't want to bore you, I shall just move on.
The next day we saw Big Ben! We also saw the building that they used for the Ministry of Magic! Then we saw the Household Cavalr
y and walked on Westminster bridge which Harry and the order flew under in HP movie #5. We then went down into the basement of St. Martin in the Fields and did some brass rubbings. We then went back to the hotel to rest.
The next place we went to was Buckingham palace! Of course we couldn't go inside, but we did have a nice stroll in one of the gardens. We then went to one of my
favorite places in the whole world - Waterstons bookstore! It was awesome! We then went to Fortnum and Masons which Annika and I really enjoyed because the main floor is all candy, chocolate and other desserts! Mom even let us buy a piece! It was really good.
The next day Dad and I went to a science museum while Mom and Annika went to a quilt exhibit. When we met up again we went to Liberty of
London (which Dad and I didn't much care about), and then went to Hanleys, the biggest toy store in England! It was really neat! Also, the walls around the staircase were decorated with scenes from Narnia, so we took a lot of pictures.
We spent most of the next day at the London tower. We did a lot of walking that day. We saw the royal crowns that the kings and queens wore on special occasions. They were really fancy. We did have time for a couple things in the afternoon, so walked across
Blackfriars bridge and the tower bridge where Harry and the Order fly under in #5. We also walked across the bridge that collapsed in the opening sequence of HP #6! Then we saw the place that was used as The leaky cauldron in #3! For our last stop of the day (and most exiting) we saw the building that was used for the outside of Kings Cross, and saw platform
9 3/4!!! It was awesome.
This entry seems to be getting a little long, so I'll just tell you the most exiting stuff. We went to St. Paul's cathedra
l (I've been to the 3 biggest churches on the world now!) and we saw the leaky cauldron used in #4! Personally, I don't remember the Leaky Cauldron in #4. We also had lunch in Diagon Alley!!! It was really sweet. We also rode the London eye! The last thing we did in London was go to the British museum. That is all of my time in London (and yes, I know I wrote a lot).
On June 2,2010 we took a day trip out to Gozo. Gozo is a slightly smaller island than Malta where the Maltese like to go there for the weekends. You can get there by taking a ferry that goes between Malta and Gozo. The first thing we did when we arrived there was go hiking in Xlendi (pronounced Shlendy). We eventually came to a beach like place, except instead of being covered in sand, it's covered in soft rock that crumbles when you touch it. We also discovered that if you mix it with water, it becomes a clay like substance. Our next stop was a craft village. We stopped at Gozo glass, bought some for some of our friends and family, and looked around at some of the other shop
s there. I bought a cute little parasol for my American girl dolls before we left for my favorite part of the day. Ramla bay! It's my favorite beach in the whole world, not only because it has 
alot of rocks scattered around so its easier to make forts, but the sand is a really pretty red color instead of the usual yellowish brown color. We played there for an hour or so and then left for our favorite restaurant on Gozo called Oleanders (we like to call it Olivanders). Another place that we like to visit on Gozo, though we didn't go there on this day trip, is a place called the Azure window. It's a very nice place, especially for those people who really like to clime (like me). I just thought I might as well mention it since we went there the other two times we went to Gozo on this trip.
