London

August 18
When we arrived in London we went on the underground to our hotel on Belsize park. At the hotel we layed down and went to sleep. Later in the day we met Alex and Julia (our friends that decided to meet us in London). We went to their place and watched television and a documentary on penguin island at their hotel. Their hotel is on Hamstead Heath. The next day we will move next to them.
-Emma

August 19
Today we moved to their hotel. We went to the British museum. After that we went out for tea at Tea and Tattle. Then we went to the biggest bookstore in the world. I got a book called Chinese Cinderella.
-Emma

Today was really fun. Me and Dad went to the British museum but Emma, Alex and Julia were disappointed because they were expecting Greek marbles, as in the marbles that are very small and round that you use to play games, Not the large statues. She and her friends left early, along with the rest of the crew, But me and dad stayed at the amazing museum. It was very cool. It had the Rosetta stone in the center of an enormous corridor full of giant Egyptian statues and slates. Some still have paint on them. The hieroglyphs on some of the artifacts were amazingly preserved. We also went through the Greek and Assyrian areas, and saw some more absolutely amazing things. The Assyrian gates, The statues of the Parthenon, and some incredibly detailed Greek pottery were just some of things we saw. But that was only one wing. The museum was so big we didn’t get to see anything else!
-Bjorn

August 20
Today we went to the tower of London. It was a big castle area that you could go into. There were tour guides that would take you through. I didn’t like the guides that much because we just looked at the places instead of going inside (but I didn’t mind it that much). He talked for a long time, and there was a lot of people. Then he dropped us off. We went to go look at the crows. Then we went around to look at all the towers. We came back down after that and went to a play. It wasn’t that good but it was interesting. The we went to the gift shop. I got an ink and pen. Alex and Julia left then so we went to see fit for a king and the crown jewels.
-Emma

This was really fun. It was pretty amazing to go to a castle. In the towers they reconstructed places the way they actually looked in medieval London. That was pretty cool. We also got a tour from the Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters. They are retired soldiers that guard the crown jewels. They also have pretty good senses of humor. We also went to see a small reinaction of a contest between two knights. We also went to an exhibit called fit for a king. There there was a bunch of armor and artifacts that the different kings wore. I didn’t see the crown jewels because me and dad got a little mixed up about the closing time, but I can say the line was REALLY long.
-Bjorn

August 21
Today we went to the London eye. It was really expensive so Mom had to stay n the ground and not go. They kept the London Eye going so you had to go in the pods while they’re still moving. It almost feels like you’re not moving because it is so slow, but if you look down you can see it is. You could see Buckingham palace from the eye, Big Ben, London bridge, and a bunch of other buildings. When you get to the very top it isn’t that scary. None of it is. When you get off it is still moving so you have to hurry. The London eye was super fun.
-Emma

August 22
This was a packed day. It started out when we all went off to Buckingham palace, and entertained ourselves by staring at some guards. It was pretty boring. Then we went to the natural history museum, which was also pretty cool. There was a cool looking dinosaur museum, but the line was to long to be worth it. Instead we went to a underwater deep exhibit. That was also cool, and really well done. unfortuantly, Dad and I wanted to go to a Sherlock Holes museum, so we had to cut our visit to the museum short, and barely saw any of the natural history museum. The Sherlock Holmes museum was pretty cool. It was located at baker street and at the address of Sherlock Homes himself. They had completely created the living areas of Holmes and Watson down to the last bullet hole on the wall. The whole thing was a cool looking flat. The first level housed the bedroom of Sherlock Holmes and the detective’s shared sitting room. The second flat was dominated by multiple Sherlock Holmes artifacts. The third level up on the velvet covered staircase was full of busts of different scenes and characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories. It was really fun to explore it and gain an idea for where the books actually took place.
-Bjorn