And this is how it ends (The End)

Hello there. And here we are. The last page. I've been on the most wonderful adventure here in London. As my final words, I want to tell you all the things I've seen here. It may be hard to believe, but everything I say is true. Just what are the things I've seen?
I braved the coldest rain and snow to see stars, and the most beautiful day to find a cursed Roman ring. I pet badgers, foxes, squirrels, and marveled young children with ancient snake bones. I saw animals from all around the world. I discovered ancient relics from every country, every nation on Earth. I explored royal palaces. I walked down the halls of kings, the underground tunnels of war, and I saw as history unfolded before my very eyes. I even went to Hogwarts!
I walked the streets, with others and alone, and discovered what London had to offer. I walked in cities, down backcountry roads, and along the vast ocean's coast. I've walked down tunnels covered in ever changing street art. I've ridden the London Eye and saw every place I'd gone to and all the places I never discovered. I went to other worlds where they had different customs, spoke different languages, and met a friend I never thought I'd see again.
I saw a giant mechanical elephant, aliens, robots, daleks and an ancient, blue box older than even you or I fly into the air. I watched as witches flew, musicians find love through music and bright little children create wonderlands through their dreams and their own brilliant minds. I went into the world's largest toy store, a museum dedicated to the Father of Science Fiction, and I visited the home of the greatest consulting detective ever known.

These are all of the things I did in my four months in London.

This is the story of my adventure.

And this is how it ends.

Do not count this man out! (the last three days)

My time in London is coming to a close, BUT I REFUSE TO GO WITHOUT ADVENTURE! Last two days, I was lucky enough to get out of my internship early. This allowed me more time to run around London and do the things I hadn't yet done.
Wednesday, I went to Canary Wharf, the business district of London. I got such a different vibe from the place. Tall buildings and such clean walkways. Everyone was walking around in suits or professional clothing, and there I was in my big gray coat and turquoise volunteer shirt. All of it accumulated into, what I thought, just a different place from the rest of London.  I didn't stay long. There wasn't a terrible lot to see, but I'd been meaning to go for a while. After, went to go see the Sherlock Holmes Museum. It was a recreation of the home that Sherlock and Watson lived in. When all of that was done, I decided to head back to the flat and a later decided to go out again to see a musical. I went to Once, the musical based on the film with the one song that everyone knows. The entire cast were the musicians, the stage was just a bar, and before and during the intermission, audience members were allowed on stage (during intermission, they were serving drinks.) I thought the musical was okay. 6/10.
Next day, I got off early and made my way to the British Museum. It was my intention to go see an exhibit on Pompeii and Herculaneum, but I made the decision not to. I then went to at least 7 bookstores, bought a DVD and went to eat at a Pizza Hut restaurant. I ordered what I thought would be a medium sized pizza, but got served a large. Before we left (way back when) we were told that London serves small portions when it comes to food. It was my thinking that a British "Regular" size would be an American "Small," so I ordered a Large pizza. I was greeted by an actual Large pizza, I mean an actual American "Large" pizza, and stuffed my face until I was feeling sick in my stomach. After dinner I went to another musical. I was lucky to score a £5 student ticket to see Matilda the Musical. I got up and went to the theatre an hour before the box office opened (my earlier attempt to go to the musical was a failure due to arriving 15 min before it opened and was greeted with a rather long que.) It was a fantastic musical. The set was great. The choreography was really cool. Only problem I had was that it was hard to hear what they were singing at times (and that's why I bought the CD.)
Today, I stayed at my internship till the very end, said good-bye to all my fellow volunteer co-workers and headed to The London Eye. A great way to end my trip, go take a 30 minute sky tour of the city I'd been living in for the past 4 months. Spot Big Ben, Parliament, The Shard, The Gherkin, and Buckingham Palace. The place I'd become so familiar with. The paths I've walked everyday and every night. The unknown roads I decided to just walk down. Walking to and from my internship in Forest Hill. Arriving back at the flat to heat up a pre-made meal. Going out on my own and finding what the city of London had to offer for me. I'll miss being in London. This city I've learned to call home.
I have one more post left to do. It'll probably be up either tomorrow or the day before. Till then, later!

Sherlock Holmes Museum

Sherlock's Room

Sherlock and Watson's affects (effects?)

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Napoleon of Crime, Moriarty

Once at the Phoenix Theatre

Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre

The Set for Matilda the Musical

Carriage at the London Eye

This is some pretty advanced stuff they got here.

London from the Eye

London from the Eye

London from the Eye

Cardiff (Doctor Who Experience)

Sorry that this post is coming so late. I had a few last academic things I had to deal with (finals, projects and papers), but now they're all done and I can spend my last few days in London at my internship and spending time doing as many things as I can.
Anyways, last weekend I packed a backpack and headed to Cardiff, Wales. I arrived in the evening and made my way to my hotel. My room was the smallest room I'd ever slept in. It was Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs small. It had the bare necessities, which was fine with me seeing that I was only going to be there for a weekend (then again, another towel and bed sheet would've been nice. Kleenex too.)
On Saturday, I went downstairs for my first English breakfast, I grabbed my umbrella and jackets and walked down to Cardiff Bay and to the Doctor Who Experience! I was lucky to get in on the first group of the day. It was SO COOL! In the beginning, me and a group of other shoppers got to actually live an episode of Doctor Who. After the experience part, we were brought to the collections, original and replica costumes and props from both the Classic and Revival series. It was amazing. I literally took pictures of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! I have two cameras full of the entire place. After spending like 2 hours there, it was a rather small collection in comparison to Harry Potter, I went to walk around Cardiff Bay. I bought myself lunch and then waited around until dinner. It was a rather long walk back to my hotel and there weren't any really good places to eat where I was staying. I had Burger King the first night I was there, and I wasn't gonna have that pathetic excuse for a burger again. So I bided my time in the pouring rain at the bay until it was close to dinner time, at a larger and more satisfying burger and then made my way back to turn in for the day.
Not wanting my entire trip to Cardiff to be all about Doctor Who, I was determined to see more of what Cardiff had to offer. I went walking around Bute Park, outside the walls of Cardiff Castle (it was £11 and I was feeling guilty having spent so much recently), the National Cardiff Museum, and Central Market. After grabbing lunch, I made my way to the train station. I don't know why I thought a 5:15 PM train was a smart idea because it wasn't. By 2:00 PM, I was ready to head back, but had to wait three hours until my train. I was too tired to do more walking and it was raining and windy, so I spent the final hours of my time in Cardiff standing outside the train station, buying a really good hot chocolate and playing on my iPhone (Yeah, I know, lame.)
With so few days left, the pressure is on to complete everything I want to do and see. I still haven't done the London Eye. I'm thinking of trying to buy cheap seats to a musical too (we'll see how that goes). Fingers crossed that I can fit it all in somehow. I'll post if I do. Till then, later!

My room. Like I said. Really small (shower is behind me).

British Breakfast of eggs, beans, ham and a tomato.

Cardiff Bay (Bae Caerdydd)

The Doctor Who Experience

Old Classic Doctor Who TARDIS console.

Costumes of the past Doctors 4-10. They were a combination of replicas, and refurbished originals.

Classic Series TARDIS

Ecceleston/Tennant era TARDIS interior.

The TARDIS console.

CYBERMAN!

Pieces from the Doctor Who Special The Snowmen

Along the docks, there's a memorial wall to Ianto Jones from Torchwood, a Doctor Who spin-off show.

Memorial wall to Ianto Jones.

Time to do homework (JK, lets go to a Doctor Who set!)

So I woke up this morning, dreading all of the homework, final projects, and papers my mates and I are expected to do in our final two weeks of London. I went on Facebook and read from one of my Doctor Who pages I like that there was filming out in Trafalgar Square! I got up threw on clothes, got ready, ate a peanut butter and honey toast sandwich and RAN OUT THE DOOR!
I arrived at Trafalgar Square and low and behold, the TARDIS. It was amazing. It didn't take long for filming to begin. I think I was waiting around for like literally 15-20 minutes before they were getting extras and the film crews ready. I took a TON of pictures (114 to be exact). We couldn't have our cameras out during the actual filming because they said it would mess with the 3D. That's right, they were filming for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special!!!!! It was beyond awesome! These are only a few of them. A lot of them are either not that good or the same instance just 5 seconds later. I'm mostly going to let the pictures do the talking, but I will talk about the filming I saw.
The first stuff they filmed had the TARDIS in the air on a giant crane. Jenna Louis Coleman (YES she was there!) was looking out from inside the TARDIS. There were handles on the bottom of the TARDIS that Matt Smith (YES he was there too!) was hanging from. Matt lets go, lands on the ground and then walks over to some UNIT soldiers as well as a scientist with a colorful scarf and Jemma Redgrave. He salutes them and they begin to converse. As that's happening, the TARDIS lands and Jenna hops out to join them.
After this scene, they replaced the crane TARDIS with a different one, and filmed what looked like the second half of the scene I described before. Matt salutes the UNIT people and then utters the only audible line of dialogue I could hear, "Ahhh shut up." The scene ends with Matt being handed what looks like a letter with a giant red wax seal on it, and he and Jenna walk off towards the National Gallery and past the barricades that were holding the spectators back.
A fun note, I got to talking with some of the people standing around me and taking each other's pictures. When it was time for us all to go, we said, "See you in the future!" on account of us possibly being in one of the shots. I'm excited to see the anniversary special and to say"I was there!" I'm hoping more that I'll get to say "There I am!"
Apparently they were had previously filmed at the Tower of London. Now I could go on and on and on about what I think is going on with the pictures and videos that have been taken recently, but I think it best to save those for another time (and not scare away anyone with my obsession that is Doctor Who.)
This weekend, I'm off to Cardiff to go to the Doctor Who Experience! I'm super excited. I had a brief heart attack when I realized that the hotel I booked was, although the right hotel, but in the wrong location (like not in Wales wrong location). With that all sorted out, I'm excited to go! I'm less excited about all the homework I still have to do, but today was an absolute surprise. I'll be back to fill y'all in on my Cardiff adventure. Till then, later!

Youtube video of the filming that took place today!

The set at Trafalgar Square

The TARDIS!!!!!

Matt's (and I think Jenna's) body double(s).

The TARDIS is connected to a giant crane that lifts it in the air.

UNIT soldiers

THERE HE IS!!!! MATT SMITH!!!!!!!!

THERE THEY ARE!!!! MATT AND JENNA!!!!!!!

Running through the scene. Jenna is in the TARDIS and Matt is under the TARDIS

The TARDIS is being switched out for another TARDIS.

Inserting the inside background of the TARDIS inside the TARDIS

Matt Smith saluting

Jemma Redgrave (black) and Ingrid Oliver (scarf)

Jenna Louis Coleman and Matt Smith walking down the steps of Trafalgar Square.

Two of the best pictures I took of Jenna Louis Coleman and Matt Smith.

Two of the best pictures I took of Jenna Louis Coleman and Matt Smith.

An Unexpected Journey (There and Back Again)

Last weekend, I headed out to the historic site, The Vyne. The Vyne was home to two families, the Sandys and then later the Chutes. It was part of an old Tudor palace and was fit to entertain the likes of King Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I. Getting there, I took a train from Waterloo to Basingstoke, there I had to wait about 40 minutes for my next train and then off to Bramley. From the train station, I set out on my journey. Having mapped out my path before hand, I knew that there was going to come a  point where I wouldn't be walking on pedestrian paths anymore, but just along the side of the road. I was lucky to have found The Vyne car park, and by cutting through there, cut down the walking distance of my journey (and the risk of getting hit by a car!).
 The reason I was off to The Vyne was for a small exhibition on a cursed Roman ring. It is believed that this ring was behind the inspiration of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel The Hobbit. However, there is much speculation behind this claim, and it's not certain whether this is true or not.
Some history behind the ring, it belonged to a man named Silvianus, which was stolen by a man named Senicianus. Silvianus asked the god Nodens to curse Senicianus, offering half of the ring's worth in coins. Inscribed on the ring is "Senicianie vivas iin de[o], which they translated as "Senicianus live in God." Something that I don't understand, because if the ring belongs to Silvianus, then why is Senicianus's name on the ring? (Oh well.) The ring was discovered in 1785, by a farmer. The curse tablet that they connected to the ring was found in the 19th century at a Roman temple in Gloucestershire. This is when Tolkien comes in. He was asked to do some work on the tablet and research on the name 'Nodens', the god that the curse tablet was offered to. Again, however much the Vyne Ring, or 'Silchester Ring' influenced Tolkien is unknown.
I also explored around the actual Vyne house and the outside as well. I was lucky to have been blessed with such a BEAUTIFUL day. Blue skies, nice wind, and the sun! It was refreshing being out and away from the city, also to be in an area of true nature. The Vyne was down south, and wasn't just some park in the middle of a city. It was the great outdoors (a place I don't get out to that often to be honest.)
I'd talk more about The Vyne, but to be quite honest, I was only there for the ring. It was a fun and unexpected adventure. Speaking of the unexpected, just wait until my next post. I'm working on it right after I wrap this one up. You'll probably see it before you read this build up to it though. Meh, doesn't matter. :)

The path before me.

Welcome to The Vyne. (Yay for finding the car park!)

My map of The Vyne

The Vyne House

Smaug Daragon, the dragon. They had a bunch of little guys with riddle cards for the kids in the different rooms.

Venusay the hobbit the dwarf. They couldn't actually call them hobbits due to name rights and other reasons.

Cast your one ring into either of the two towers to decide.

The ring 

Copy of the curse tablet.

My lunch. (Tea, chocolate cake and a fruit scone)