And I have a bow and arrows. Nothing makes sense!

After dropping mum off at the airport, I headed back to the flat to figure out what to do next! My roommate, MC, and I decided it was time to go see a sight in London that was crucial to our childhoods. (Actually, not really, it was just a big spot that we had been talking about going to visit for quite some time)

We went to the Parent Trap House!!! 

Interestingly enough, this house (which is just around the corner from Harrods) sold for £14 million in 2010! WOW. And surprisingly enough, it doesn't look like it did in the movie, they must have just used a set somewhere in town, but it's still a gorgeous house! 

Afterwards we headed home and I went shopping for groceries, mostly snacks to get me through the next couple of days. 

At about 11:00 that night, I headed to the Westview Shopping Center to save my spot in line for the Avengers European Premiere! 

That's right folks! I was getting in line to save my spot for the premiere that started at 6:00 Tuesday night! I had a long night ahead of me. It was mostly filled with me shivering, standing in the cold weather of London. Thankfully, I wasn't waiting alone, my friend PC joined me at about 12:30 and sat in line with me. We took shifts standing and sitting and running to the toilets. And thankfully we made some friends in line behind us who were from all over England. I had brought two books with me to read along with water, snacks and some extra layers to keep me warm throughout the night. 

At about 8:00 the next morning, they finally let us in the shopping center to get our places against the gates.  

We had a very long time to wait! Thankfully, in that 10 hours I was able to finish not one, but BOTH of my books, along with taking two 45 minutes naps and talk with the people around me. So overall, it wasn't that bad of a wait. I had spent the night in my glasses and most of the day so that I wouldn't have terribly red eyes when it was time to take pictures. 

At about 5:30, they sent some sort of DJ out to give away prizes which included tickets to the showing after the premiere along with the jacket that Chris Evans wore on set and the jacket that Scarlett Johansson wore as well. The DJ quickly became annoying because he kept saying "Now listen hear guys" or "Are you ready for this?" Of course we were ready!!! We had been waiting for more than 15 hours!!!

FINALLY at 6:00, Joss Whedon was the first person to step out on the stage, followed by Paul Bettany, Chris Hemsworth

Elizabeth Olsen (she looked fantastic btw)

Mark Ruffalo 

Right as I was taking this picture someone bumped my arm

Jeremy Renner

Robert Downy Jr. 

Chris Evans

Chris's Date was his brother Scott who was pretty cute:)

Scarlett Johansson (who also looked super hot!)

And Aaron Taylor Johnson

I was even featured in the official Marvel European Premiere for half a second!

I was a bit upset that James Spader who plays Ultron and Hayley Atwell who plays Peggy Carter weren't there. 

My two favorite cast members were Jeremy and Mark because they spent the longest on the floor signing autographs and taking pictures with fans!

The premiere finally ended around 7:30-8:00. (I wasn't too sure because I was so tired I could barely stay on my feet anymore) PC and I finally headed home where I took a shower and passed out on the couch. 

The next day (April 22) was a recuperating day for me. I was EXHAUSTED from my traveling and my Avengers adventure. But, the girls and I, (TP, MC and PC) headed to the same Westview Shopping center to see the midnight premiere of Avengers Age of Ultron! 

One thing that I do like about cinemas in the UK is that if you want to go to a midnight showing, you can buy your tickets online and reserve your seats so you don't have to wait in line for hours at a time! I think that theaters in the US should start doing that! It would save everyone a lot of time!

The movie was AWESOME! (If you haven't seen it yet I recommend it!) There was more action that the first one, but I felt that there wasn't as many one liners to quote and laugh at. But that's ok! Marvel did it again! 

After the movie ended it was time to head back and crash once again! 

April 23 (Thursday) we spent some of the day sitting around, until AR, MC, TP, and I went to the south bank where Up and Go (an Australian breakfast drink company had set up a large obstacle course to run through). 

Surprisingly, walking along the south bank, I found a cute little book seller who was selling a ton of books for a discounted price. 

I told the girls to go on ahead while I browsed the books (I didn't find anything to buy unfortunately) and I would catch up later.

I finally caught up while they were waiting in line to go through the obstacle course and sat and took pictures while they ran through. 

Afterwards, we split up, MC and AR headed back home to get some homework done, and TP and I took off in search of an adventure. 

We ended up walking past the original Twinings shop that opened sometime in the 1800's and sells a TON of tea that they don't sell in the shops. (I ended up trying a new flavor of tea called Super fruity and now I'm hooked)

We kept walking and ended up over by St. Paul's Cathedral and found St. Bart's hospital, yes the VERY SAME hospital that Sherlock Holmes fell to his death at. 

Yes, I could not be a true Sherlock fan if I didn't take a stop by St. Bart's and take my own sidewalk picture. (And yes I did get some funny looks as I lay on the ground so TP could take my picture)

The funny thing was that all the windows on the ground floor had messages such as "Sherlock lives" or "Johnlock forever" or "Did you miss me?" written in the dust.  

After that we headed home and I sat down to pack up a suitcase for my trip to Greece!

The Best Week Ever (Part 2)

Sorry, I apologize once again about how long it's been, although I'm not sure how many people are still ready besides my mum. But a huge thank you to those of you who are still reading!

The next morning (April 16), we packed up at left for the train station to take us back to England and down south to Salisbury. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple, we had quite a few train transfers and waiting at stations, but we made the most of it! We finally arrived at the Salisbury train station around 3 o'clock at took a taxi to the Stourhead Gardens where we were staying in a cottage that had been converted into a small hotel.

The gardens are HUGE!!! We, unfortunately, didn't have time to explore them all (they cover 2,650 acres, I think you would need at least a week if you wanted to walk around the entire place). But one of the big reasons that we went to Stourhead was to capture this beautiful shot. 

Yes, this is the rotunda, where Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightly) turned down the wonderful Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen). It's better if you image pouring rain and dramatic music in the background. 

It even had the fantastic bridge that she runs across, but sadly, I couldn't recreate that moment because there was a gate across the bridge. But we could explore the rest of the gardens at our leisure.   (I think my favorite part of this trip was my mom continually saying "I can't believe I'm here")

There was also a Pantheon, which was closed Thursday afternoon, but the exterior was cool looking!

On the other side of the lake, across from the entrance was a small grotto that was built over 150 years ago! 

We probably spent over two hours exploring the garden and taking pictures that afternoon, but soon our tummies were rumbling!

We headed back to the room to put away cameras and put on warmer clothes and took a detour trip to the church across the way from the cottage to take a look around. Apparently, they keep it open during the day, but lock it up during the night and someone had stolen the roof off the church!!! I'm not sure how they were able to accomplish something like that, but the church was asking for donations for building a new roof. We then headed to the pub that was on the premises for dinner. We both ended up getting Salmon and potatoes and they were to DIE for! I'm not exactly sure what made them so tasty, but it was probably the best meal we had on the entire trip. 

After dinner, the gardens were closed, so it was time to head to bed. (Mum wanted to get up early to take pictures at sunrise, I on the other hand was going to continue to sleep peacefully.) After having breakfast at the same pub where we had dinner, we headed to the house that was also on the lot. 

It's a pretty big house with a stable yard off to the side and entrance to the garden from the rear. I don't remember much information about the house, but I do know that it's not the original house. It was demolished in 1717 and then rebuilt sometime between 1721-1725. 

My favorite room was the library of course! I don't remember how many volumes were in the library, but I do know it was over 1,000! I also know that there are volunteers who spend years restoring many of the books in the library. 

The other cool thing in the House was this cabinet, called the Pope's Cabinet. Purchased by the owner of the house who thought that this cabinet once belonged to Pope Sixtus V. There are 150 drawers in this cabinet and one of them has never been opened! In fact, each time they take it apart to clean it, they have to video record it so that they know how to put it back together! (There was a video downstairs that showed them taking out some of the drawers, mum recorded it) Also, fun fact, there is no record of the transaction that anyone can find and the owner never told anyone how much he paid for it, so no one really knows how much the cabinet was purchased for. 

Some pretty flowers out in the garden of the house. 

After exploring the house, it was time for some lunch! We headed back to the guest center of the gardens where we couldn't make up our mind where to eat, the cafe or the farm shop. While we were trying to decide where to eat, a man from the farm shop offered us an apple slice and a sip of apple cider. (For those of you who don't know, cider in England is ALWAYS hard, meaning it has alcohol in it!) Sufficient to say, I had my first drink of alcohol that day!

It was a good thing my mum was there that day to supervise my alcohol consumption. (Don't worry, we had a good laugh about it for the rest of the day:D). And thankfully I downed it first before my mum could drink any, so I was able to stop her from drinking it.

Even after that unpleasant experience, we decided to go to the farm shop for lunch where we had an awesome selection of cheese, fruit, veggies and homemade baked goodies to tide us over! 

After a mostly alcohol free lunch, we called a taxi to take us back to the train station and we headed back to Bath! (I say back to Bath because we had a transfer and had to wait at the train station for about an hour).

We arrived in Bath around 3 o'clock and were able to drop our luggage off at the hotel (after mum was flirted at by the guy behind the desk) and went off exploring! 

The Bath Cathedral was only a hop, skip and a jump from where we were staying. 

The Royal Crescent is a big sight seeing spot in Bath. It was built between 1767 and 1775 by John Wood and is one of the best examples of Georgian architecture found in the UK. It's also a filming location for period dramas such as Persuasion! 

On our way back from the RC, we passed by the Jane Austen center where we looked at souvenirs and scheduled an afternoon tea for the next day and then went in search of dinner. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to watch some telly and relax since we had had such a busy week. We ended up watching a movie with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore called Fever Pitch. 

The next morning (April 18) we had breakfast at the hotel, packed our bags and headed down to the Jane Austen center where we had afternoon tea!

Let me tell you, I felt extremely British at that moment!

Afterwards we picked up some souvenirs (a tea set for one for me, bookmarkers for mum, and some Elizabeth and Darcy Christmas ornaments for the pair of us). 

It was finally time to bring our trip to an end. We headed back to my flat in London to spend the Sabbath recovering from our journey!

We made it back to London at about 5 o'clock and took my flatmates, MC and TP out to dinner at Byron before TP headed to Amsterdam. After a wonderful dinner of the four of us getting to know each other, we headed home. Mum and I stopped by Tesco on the way back to the flat to pick up some groceries for our meals the next day! After getting back, we (mum, MC and I) piled in our room to catch up because we hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks!

The next morning, mum and I headed to church and then we spent the rest of the afternoon preparing dinner and reading. 

Then Monday morning rolled around and it was time to take mum to the airport and bid adieu! We had had an awesome week of adventures!

The Best Week Ever! (Part 1)

After my LONG night of traveling and getting home I was quite ready to pass out and take a nap, but I had just enough time to get some food in my belly and shower before heading to Heathrow to pick up my mum!

Of course I was dumb enough not to take any pictures while we were at the airport, so you can imagine long lost hugs happening after the security gate. 

While I had the opportunity to have her visit London the previous month when she came with my dad and younger brother, this time I had her all to myself and we had planned the most wonderful vacation!

After picking her up from the airport we headed back to the flat to drop off her luggage and get some lunch! Our next stop was to Portobello market, since neither of us had fully walked along it's entire length before. My mum purchased some touristy items in some of the shops and I took her to Hummingbird Bakery Cafe, one of the finest bakeries in London! During each month, they display different types of cupcakes for each month. During April it was Blueberry Lemon and Salted Caramel. I think my favorite cupcake that I've had from there was their Pumpkin Spice Cupcake which was there during March. I think I had 4 of them over the course of the entire month!

Once we walked the entire of Portobello Market, we started to slow down, jet lag was hitting mum and I was exhausted from my all-nighter in the airport. But since it was only 5 o'clock or so, we knew that we couldn't sleep yet! So we headed out to get some dinner at the Notting Hill Fish House which have awesome Chips and Cod Bites (These are so much better than regular fish and chips because more of the surface area of the chip is fried!) By the end of the meal we could barely keep our eyes open and we headed home to get some well needed sleep.

The next morning was time for church, but neither of us woke up until 11:45, so there was a frantic rush to get ready because we needed to leave at 12:30 to make it on time! Church was a wonderful experience, we met up with a guy from my ward and History class on the bus and got to chat up with him. He had recently come home from traveling to Iceland and Denmark.

Once church was over, mum and I made our way back home to relax and spend the rest of the afternoon catching up and making dinner.

The next morning (April 12) was the beginning of our journey! Our first stop was to the Westminster tube station where we got off in Parliament Square and took a lovely tourist photo!

From there our journey took us down around the corner to the Churchill War Rooms Museum! This museum is a fantastic exhibit entirely underground! Many of the original pieces used during the London Blitz and second World War are still found down there! For those of you who don't know, behind 10 Downing Street is a large empty lot that used to be a car park. Well underneath this empty lot, they built secret war bunkers to house the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, during the time of war in the 20th century. 

This museum holds relics from Churchill's life and the original bunker furniture that has not been touched! 

One of my favorite pieces of clothing that was worn by Churchill, it's very recognizable! 

It was even a piece of Churchill's costume in an episode of Doctor Who!

Another one of my favorite items in the museum was the Enigma Machine

For those of you who have no idea what this is, this is the famous coding machine that the Nazis used during WWII. And if it hadn't been for the ingenious mind of Alan Turing and work of other brave men and women breaking this cypher, the Allies might have lost the war.   

There was a ton of information in the museum and I really suggest you go see it if you are in London!

We then walked to Trafalgar Square and stopped by Tortilla to pick up some lunch to eat at home. Once we ate, we packed up our belongings and headed to Watford Junction for our second round of Harry Potter! 

On March 16th or so, they opened rebuilt and set up Platform 9 3/4 to the public! So of course we needed to go see the original Hogwarts Express that two the students to school every year!

Let me tell you, I was not disappointed at the new set up that had been introduced!

We didn't stay very long because we had already seen the exhibit and we were on a bit of a time crunch, so we quickly jumped to the platform and got in line to walk along the train compartments!

While there were only 2 coaches behind the engine, we were still able to look into the compartments that we set up representing the school years for Harry, Ron and Hermione. Candy wrappers and a rat for the first year, Lupin's trunk and chocolate wrappers for third year and they even had Lavender Brown's breath heart that she fogs up the window for. 

Across from the train, they had false compartments that you could sit in and the window displayed a green screen until everyone was settled in. Once the video started, you were able to "take a ride" on the Hogwarts Express and watch the scenery fly past you. 

After the Platform, we had a quick stop in the Cafe between the studios and I got some Butterbeer! 

And once again my stomach was bothering me from the carbonation! But it was worth it! However, I did find out from some friends that the Butterbeer in Orlando is much better than the Butterbeer in London and I made it a point to compare the two in the near future!

We pretty much breezed through the second studio, stopping only to take a few pictures and stopping to buy some souvenirs in the shop and then we were back on the bus to head on the train to go to Sheffield. 

We had a two hour train ride to Sheffield, during which we met a cute older English couple who were on their way home from a business trip that had in London over the weekend. We finally arrived in the cute town of Sheffield around 11 or so at night and we were tuckered out! We had a small trip to the hotel where we checked in and then passed out. 

The next morning (April 14) we packed up our luggage and left them downstairs with the hotel staff to hold on to while we went to Chatsworth House! Or Pemberley #1 as mum and I called it! We had an hour long bus ride where we got to see some amazing countryside and mum kept repeating that she felt like she was in the movie and that "your dad would love to ride these hills". 

When we finally arrived at Chatsworth House, we had to walk the outside grounds for a bit until it opened at 11. We didn't have a problem exploring a bit. 

We were both SOOOO excited to be there! I wish I could have found that little clip from Pride and Prejudice (2005) when Elizabeth Bennet sees Pemberley for the first time and giggles, because that's how I felt! We spent all of our time outside exploring the grounds and we barely saw a fraction of it! Unfortunately because we were on such tight a schedule, we didn't have time to explore the inside of the house, but we were able to go into the gift shop where we found something as equally important! 

The sign underneath said "No Kissing!". It made me wonder how many people did just that before they needed to put the sign up.

Apparently the statue room is an actual room inside the house and after paying a fee, you are free to tour the gorgeous rooms!

I heard some older women commenting on the Pride and Prejudice souvenirs while we were in the gift shop and one of them said "Where's Darcy? I want a picture with him?" I pointed out the bust to her and she turned and told me that she "Much preferred Colin Firth's Darcy because he was a lot more rugged and good looking". Made me laugh to know that women of all ages have that one celebrity or fictional character they are obsessed about.

After our brief time at Chatsworth House, we had to take the bus back to our hotel, grab our bags and purchase train tickets to Disley, an hour and a half train journey North. We rode on some quite small trains between some of the smaller towns. 

While it wasn't that small, they typically had only 2 carriages and could only hold 100 people or so. 

Once we finally made it to the Disley train station (it was so small the attendant who sold us our tickets had never heard of the station before), it was a rush against time to check into our Bed and Breakfast before heading to Lyme Park before it closed. 

Surprisingly, we made the last shuttle up to the house and thank goodness we did because there was a 3/4 mile walk from the park entrance to the house or Pemberley #2! 

Let me tell you, it was soooooo pretty! I fell in love with the grounds very quickly even if they were much smaller than Chatsworth House, they were still breathtaking. 

And yes that is the pond that we see lovely Colin Firth emerge from behind the trees when he is in a very improper state of dress! 

The house and grounds closed at 6, so we were only able to browse for a half an hour or so. We then made our way back towards the park entrance, taking our time and enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather. 

On the way back to the B&B, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up snacks for dinner because there weren't many options in the town to choose from. The rest of the evening was spent watching telly and snacking on our dinner. (I unfortunately thought orange juice sounded like a wonderful drink to have, but we forgot we didn't have a refrigerator to keep things cold. So I ended up downing a good portion of the carton and made myself sick. I still can't look at OJ without shuddering a little inside.)

The next morning was a short train ride to Wales, more specifically, Prestatyn, where we were off to see the lighthouse my mum's great great great grandfather (something like that) was born in! May I point out that it is the most northern point of Wales, so it was quite chilly and rainy while we were there.

We stayed with a very cute Welsh couple who gave us directions on how to get to the lighthouse because it was a bit out of the way. Before heading out to the lighthouse, we stopped by a fish and chips place for lunch. It was probably the best FISH I've had while I've been in the UK! The lady took our orders and then pulled out two pieces of fish and dipped and fried them while we were watching!

We then hailed a taxi because it was a 4 mile hike to the beach where the lighthouse was! 

Because it was low tide, we could walk out to the lighthouse and take pictures up close. However, I'm sure you can imagine that once the tide is high, there's no walking out to the historical building, it's swimming time. 

After we had had our fill of beaches and cold water, we started the long trek back to the B&B we were staying. We had made it about 2 miles of the way back with no cab in sight, when suddenly a cab pull in front of us dropping two passengers off. I quickly waved him down because I was really tired of waking and we got a ride back to the train station. And then we walked back to the B&B where we relaxed until it was time to eat some dinner! 

Our hosts recommended an Indian food place where we were quickly seated next to a birthday celebration going on at the table next to us. I ordered my first dish of Chicken Tikki Masala (the fated dish that has supposedly beat out fish and chips as the most popular dish in England). While I did enjoy it, there was no way I could finish it all and there was no way that it would be fish and chips on my most popular list! 

We headed back to the B&B for showers and bed!