I’m sorry it’s taken a bit to get this third post together, but life!
We spent about four days in London, mostly so we could go to the Harry Potter Experience, which was very fab. At the beginning of the tour they asked the audience if anyone had been before. One woman said she had been 53 times. Wow! The cost alone must run into thousands of pounds. The exhibition was fantastic, which lots of displays from the talented people who made the costumes, sets, prosthetics and make up.
The Gringotts bank set was amazing. I took lots of photos and video of it. We had a nice lunch there and drooled over the merchandise. I’d totally do it again, but not 53 times.
We had an accommodation issue in London which soured our experience somewhat, and then we headed off to Ireland. I was there for three weeks, including Dublin Worldcon and a workshop with David Farland. So I went between Donegal and Dublin a little bit.
Warning: there are images of a bog body here, that is a corpse that is thousands of years old so look away if that does not appeal. We stayed in Westminster so these are a few along the river. We wished we could fossick on the shores of the Thames but you need license now.
Then we did a tour of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, which included a Queen Victoria exhibition. Unfortunately no photos but we did get some of the grounds and the back part of the palace that you don’t see from the street. I love the lake in Buckingham Palace, not that we got to walk around but it was visible on the exit path.
Then we went to the British Museum. I’ve been a few times and it is so big I’ve not see all of it.We were focussed on early Britain this visit. It was incredibly busy and the food was so expensive. The following shots are of the bog body. I saw more of them in Ireland (in a museum, not the wild).
These are some roman hoard. The quality of manufacture was amazing. And the head, early Christian I believe.
I am going to keep Ireland for the next post. Sorry, I’m out of time.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 