Vacation to Italy and the UK part 2

Well, we have officially ended vacation as of yesterday. All of us are still recovering from jet lag, which means that 6 A.M. this morning felt like sleeping in. 

However, we did have a fun time, and I'm excited to return to London again for school.

After staying in San Gimignano, we moved onto Venice. Imagining an old city floating on rotting logs in the middle of a roiling Mediterranean sea, I thought it would be smaller. I was surprised by how large and colorful the city was. People were everywhere!














We were all inundated by the crowds and often retired early just to get away from the noise and people. Even in San Marco's Plaza, which is known for its abundance of winged vermin that some call pigeons, there were so many people there that these pigeons had little to no place to land. 

The crooked clock tower on the island of Burano

We ate some amazing pasta (I particularly enjoyed the fish carbonara with black truffles) as well as gelato. To make our experience more enjoyable, we did a gondola ride as well as an excursion to the three islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello, which are near Venice. Murano is the island that is known for the Venetian glassmakers.

In case you're wondering, yes we shopped way too much in Venice, taking advantage of finding street vendors on every corner, as well as stores with real Italian leather.
















We left Venice for London. Originally we were supposed to have a layover in Amsterdam but the airlines rerouted us to have a layover in Paris. Turns out we should have gone through Amsterdam, as we were delayed for a good two hours in Paris. We didn't arrive at our air BnB in Notting Hill until about 11:30 P.M., exhausted from travel.

We woke up ravenous on our first day in London. Walking blindly from the air BnB (due to lack of phone service and Wifi), we stumbled onto the famous Portobello road, which was showcased in the popular romantic comedy movie Notting Hill, starring two of my mom's favorite actors: Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Turns out that when we arrived in Portobello Road, it was a Saturday, or market day. The streets were packed full of vendors selling wares from jewelry to lemons. After wandering some way down the road to find breakfast, we stumbled upon a cute French bakery named "Fabrique." This adorable restaurant had amazing freshly baked bread and pastries. In conclusion, we went there every morning to get cappuccinos and vanilla buns with orange peels.

Examples of our drinking habits while in Florence

A good cappuccino is difficult to replicate

One of the parts of our London holiday (as the Brits say) that Rylee and I were most excited for was the trip to the Warner Bros studio. The studio, just outside of London, has been turned into a Harry Potter museum, complete with the movie sets, props, and original costumes from all eight movies. Taking a tour bus, our family arrived and became part of the multitude of people that had come to pay their respects to the world culture that is Harry Potter. 

The dragon from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Enjoying the view from Privet Drive

The original Great Hall of Hogwarts, plus original costumes

Hermione's Yule Ball Dress from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

Ron's original Yule Ball dress robes

The Hogwarts staircase that moves

Snape boggart robes and Lupin's from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Who doesn't love the Fat Lady door?

Potions class with Professor Slughorn from Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

The Hogwarts clock

Dumbledore's door/staircase to his office

Dumbledore's office-Very very small!

My personal favorite: the animal actors!

Door to the Chamber of Secrets

The Weasly Burrow

The Tombstone to Voldemort's father

Dolores Umbridge's office from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 



Going through the entire tour made me realize how small all the sets of the movie really were. I mean we had to squeeze in alongside everyone else to fit into Dumbledore's office. There were multiple interactive parts of the tour, including posing in front of a green-screen on a broom to look like you're playing Quidditch. However, my favorite interactive part was the new Gringotts bank rooms that they had just created. A dragon projected on a screen runs toward the audience and blows fire on everyone. Smoke machines are activated to make it look real. I also enjoyed learning that the wallpaper within the bank was hand-painted, along with all the goblin faces for each of the actors. 

The tour took four hours for us to complete. At which time we were completely exhausted due to the large crowds and screaming children. It was nice to return to a quiet flat.
The next day, my family helped me move into my flat. We picked up some of the boxes I had shipped already there, mainly containing clothes and books (I had to limit myself to shipping only fifteen books, knowing I would be back home for Christmas and could replace my stock). My flat is in the middle of the Kensington area, which is really ritzy. It only took us about 20 minutes to walk to the Imperial College campus, which we wandered around for a bit. Afterward, we ate fish and chips in the "Devonshire Arms," a local pub. That night we relaxed and packed, knowing we would be leaving early the next day for the airport.
After an 8 hour flight from Heathrow, we landed at Denver International Airport at about 2 P.M. yesterday. Everyone was exhausted but glad we got to enjoy this vacation.


The many faces of sleeping while traveling. Some of us didn't realize we were getting caught on camera. 

Now that I'm back in the States until September 15, I've got to figure out some fun things to do until then. Climbing a 14er is definitely in the cards! As well as doing a lot of archery, as I can't take my bow with me abroad. So for now, I'm laying low and finishing my Visa, all the while dreaming of London.