Last Day in London

   Yes, I knew it had to come to an end sometime, but I still wasn't happy about it. The night before my last full day in London I was gchatting with Brad and asked him what I should do on my last day. He mentioned the British Library. Genius! How had this not been on my list? I love libraries and this particular one has a gallery containing some amazing works. So, the morning of the 30th, Denise and I headed out to see the library.
   The library, by the way, is right by King's Cross Station. For you Harry Potter fans out there, yes, they do have a platform 9 and three quarters. We went by so Denise could take a picture. I had one from my previous visit, but it still makes me happy.

   After maneuvering our way around the station, we made it to the British Library. interesting fact- if you looked at five items in the library a day, it would take you over 80,000 years to view the entire collection.

 

Anyway here's a list of the highlights...

1. One of the four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta

2. The original manuscript of Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures Under Ground

 

3. The Gutenberg Bible

4. The original manuscript of Jane Austen's Persuasion as well as her writing desk. (loved this!)

5. Original lyrics on cards, envelopes...from the Beatles

And I'm done finding pictures, but I was also able to see the original score of Handel's Messiah, the original Beowulf, Notebooks from Leonardo da Vinci (so cool to see his mirrored writing), Charlotte Bronte's original Jane Eyre, and scores from Beethoven, Schubert, and Mozart. I could have spent forever in this library!

   But we had to move on, so we went to Harrods. Also amazing but in a completely different way. This place is out of control but so much fun! I did buy a new journal so I could have a green Harrods bag (and I really did need a new journal).

   After Harrods Denise and I went to meet her friends at the Tate Modern. Saw a few cool things, but we all know modern art isn't my favorite (sorry Brad).We had all worked up an appetite after the museum so we wandered around and finally found an Italian place for dinner.

So much fun! Denise, thank you for everything. Mom and dad, thank you for letting me go. Such a great Christmas present. I'm already planning an agenda for next time...