Day 28- Hello London! The British Library and a day of nerdiness

It was a struggle waking up this morning as I had set my alarm for 7:30 and was still exhausted even after going to bed early, so I kept hitting snooze, probably to the annoyance of the 9 others in the room, but at 9:30 I finally got up. Originally I had planned to go to the Tower of London that morning and follow the itinerary I had made for myself, but I realized my schedule limited me in what I could do, so I decided to jump around the schedule a bit.

I started out by heading towards the tube that would take me closest to where I needed to go. The route I took I hoped would take me to one of the locations from Sherlock, but upon my arrival I realized the park I wanted was in the opposite direction, woops. Instead I headed on to the tube station which, as it so happened, brought me past the part of King's Cross Station seen in the 2nd Harry Potter film! What luck!

Kings Cross Station

My first official stop of the day was a location I had found on Pinterest called St. Pancras Old Church. I wasn't so much focused on the church as I was the cemetery. Within the cemetery there was a ring of gravestones stacked around a tree called the Hardy Tree that, as the tree grew, the gravestones became imbedded within the tree. (The photos will explain more).

After my trip to the Hardy Tree I continued walking down the same street and decided to stop in to the British Library where they were having a celebration of the signing of the Magna Carta as well as a textile fair where you could look at different kinds of fabric and learn about different kinds of stitching and buy things, I wasn't exactly sure what it was about though even with the pamphlet. My first stop in the library was the restaurant because I was famished. It was a serve yourself kind of style cafeteria but not a buffet. I grabbed myself a piece of grilled salmon and roasted veggies that were quite good and a slice of lemon poppyseed cake for dessert that was simply delicious! Hopefully the sugars in the cake and in my blood orange sparking drink were balanced out by the healthy main dish.

After my very satisfying lunch I headed downstairs to the Treasure's exhibition. It was probably the best collection of documents that I had ever seen! Original written documents by Da Vinci and Michelangelo, original manuscripts of music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and the Beatles! Jane Austen's writing desk and an original manuscript for Persuasion, and many other neat things like the petri dish of the guy who discovered penicillin! And it was totally free to see it!

After I finished viewing the collection I headed downstairs and so the most trippy work of art I had ever seen! Watch the video and you'll understand why! It took me forever to figure out how it works.

I then headed in the direction of my first Sherlock recreation of the day, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where Sherlock jumps off the roof. The photo sadly didn't turn out the way I hoped because the sun was being complicated. On my way there, I found a tour group standing by a plaque dedicated to Scottish hero William Wallace saying that he was killed near that spot, which I thought was pretty cool. The plaque reads, "To the immortal memory of Sir William Wallace, Scottish patriot, born at Elderslie Renfrewshire circa 1270 AD, who from the year 1296 fought dauntlessly in defence of his country's liberty and independence in the face of fearful odds and great hardship, being eventually betrayed and captured. Brought to London and put to death near this spot on the 23rd August 1305. His example heroism and devotion inspired those who came after him to win victory from defeat and his memory remains for all time a source of pride, honour and inspiration to his countrymen."

Where Sherlock lands

Once I finished indulging my inner nerd, I decided to walk to my next stop since it wasn't overly far. On my way I passed some buildings that looked really old and out of place which was neat that they were still there, tucked away between large buildings. I also walked along Fleet Street, I was tempted to get my haircut but I couldn't find a barber ;) (Sweeney Todd reference for the day).

I was so excited when I finally arrived at the Twinings tea shop! If you don't know me, I really really love tea. It was tea heaven! Any kind of tea you've ever dreamed of, they have it! I was excited to fill a Twinings wooden box with the mix and match tea flavors because sometimes I just couldn't choose! I bought 89 bags of tea and they threw in an extra 2 which I would never complain about.

After hitting the mother-load with my tea I headed to the nearest tube station. On the way, I came across yet another Harry Potter location, the Australia house, where they used the interior for Gringots Bank! Sadly, it was really hard to get a look inside but I could see some of the recognizable chandeliers! I was on a roll today with film locations!

My spoils :D 

Australia House

Before I continued to the train, I decided to take a breather and sit in the small park next to the station. There I organized my tea so it would be easier to transport later on and then I checked my Tripadvisor app to see what was in the area so I wouldn't miss anything. I found that I was close to the Somerset House which had an impressionist art gallery so I decided to make my way to it. It was a very confusing set up and I nearly gave up to find where the art gallery was but then I managed to find my way up an elevator and through a courtyard to it. It was £5 to get in so I decided to skip it to save money after spending almost $50 on tea. Instead I browsed the gift shop and then headed out and walked along the Thames river to get to the next tube station. I was so shocked when I saw ANOTHER film location! This time it was a location from Sherlock where he meets someone from his homeless network! It was also a very nice location to see the central London area

Somerset House courtyard

Sherlock location!!!

Having fun with my zoom from 1.5 miles away!

Love my zoom!

More views of the river (not sure where exactly)

 By that time, I was exhausted, I had walked a ton, so my last stop was to Russell Square Gardens which happened to be the closest tube stop to my hostel. This where John Watson met his old friend in the park before his friend took him to meet Sherlock for the first time! After my photo session I headed back to the hostel to drop my things before heading to the shopping area across the street to get dinner at Nando's, the chicken chain that needs to catch on in America. I made it back to the hostel just in time for the screening of 'Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi' in the hostel theatre. While waiting for the movie to start I started chatting with the only other person in there, a girl from Germany. To my surprise she said she was from Heidelberg, on of my favorite cities I visited in Germany! And to her surprise, I actually knew where Heidelberg was, apparently people often don't know about it. It was a day full of random little surprises.