Shakespeare's Globe and Ben Franklin's House

I didn't learn much at either place. Shakespeare's Globe burnt down in the 1612. In 1997, they built one with the same materials. It is the 1st thatched roof in London since the Great Fire in 1666. It's round with an open roof. People can stand by the stage for a show & if it starts to rain - they can't use umbrellas.

Ben Franklin's London house is the only one left surviving. The tour was terrible. My mom was amazed to learn that he lived in London for almost 18 yrs, his wife didn't come with him and that he was a lot older than George Washington & Thomas Jefferson.

My mom went shopping without me. At Harrod's she saw a memorial to Princess Di with her engagement ring. She said it was creepy.

British Museum and the 9 and 3/4 platform on Thursday, Oct. 10th

The British Museum has a real samurai suit, a chair made of guns, a statue from Easter island, the Rosetta Stone and a burial ground from ancient Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is a stone with three languages and they are hieroglyphics, Greek and medieval Egyptian. The languages they knew where the last two and by using them they deciphered the language of hieroglyphics.

The 9 and 3/4 station is the Harry Potter gate at the King's Cross train station. I got a picture of me going into the wall. I also got see all of the wands.

For lunch we had a pancake, really a crepe, at a Dutch restaurant & it was huge. I think I could eat 2 by myself.

On Wednesday, 10/9 we went to Oxford and the Cotswolds

The Cotswolds had a lot of thatched roofs. Thatched roofs are roofs made of hay or reeds. You didn't want to live with a thatched roof because hay falls on you at night and sometimes a rat gets on the roof and might step on a loose part and fall on you. So now, they wrap them in chicken wire. And in the old days, they put a blanket over the top of their bed to catch falling rubbish. It was really the poor people who invented the canopy bed. I pet horse here. My mom loved these villages.

Oxford is a town known for its university. It is very hard to get in. There are 38 colleges that are now part of Oxford University. It's very, very old. Christopher Wren's 1st building is here. Then he designed St. Paul's.

Churchill War Rooms, St.James Park, the Royal Mews and the changing of the guard

Yesterday was a fun day. We saw pelicans and a lot of different animals in St. James Park. I also saw real palace guards at Buckingham Palace. I was too far away to really see the changing of the guard. I saw horses and really cool coaches at the Mews. And the most grand coronation coach is here. The Churchill War Rooms were from WWII where they planned their battles.

Tuesday, 10/8 we went to Stonehenge and Salisbury on a guided tour

Salisbury has a huge cathedral. It was built in the1200s. It only took 37 years to build. The first person buried here was a knight, Edward Longspee. They found a rat in his brain that proved he was poisoned to death. Read The Ghost Knight by C Funke to learn more about Longspee & Salisbury. It has the tallest spire in England even taller than St. Paul's. An original copy of the Magna Carta is here, too.

Stonehenge is the calendar built in 2000bc. Some of the rocks are from Wales over 240 miles away. There is a rock that when it rains it looks red in this one hole. It is called sacrifice stone.

On Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace has a famous old maze that was half a mile long. It took us around 17 minutes to complete it. Then we went to the butcher, bakery, kitchen, Henry the VIII rooms, William the III rooms and the gardens. The garden also had the biggest grape vine in the world.

Greenwich

On Saturday, we all went to Greenwich. We rode a boat down the Thames to get there. Our first stop was Discover Greenwich. Next we went to the Painted Hall which was cool. Then we went to the Cutty Sark. It is a sailing boat that was built to ship tea in the 1800s. At our next stop, we had to climb a big hill. At the top was the real prime meridian! I got to stand on the eastern and western hemisphere at the same time! Then we went to the Maritime Museum. We did not have much time there. So there are no pictures of it. Part of the new Thor movie was filmed here.

Westminster and London Eye

On Friday, we went to see Westminster Abbey (Big Ben is not here)and the London Eye. In Westminster, Sir Isaac Newton, Shakespeare and Charles Darwin are buried here. There is also the Coronation Chair that every king or queen gets crowned on. There is only one person ever that did not want to be king. We aren't allowed to take pictures in the Abbey. This time my mom and I went on the London Eye in daylight instead of night. It is not as fun during the day.

Here at last!

     I finally got here at 7:40am! I am about to eat lunch and go to the London Museum. I have one picture of a magpie.

I am staying at Globe View. It has a very good view of the Thames-but not our room.I will blog again after the London museum.