Home Sweet Home..... well, as close to home as it can get :)

Sad to say, today is the last of my amazing trip. It's been beyond amazing, and I am beyond stoked that it isn't the end. On March 28th, I will begin another two week trip with my dad. Until then, I am hoping to get around England as much as I can on the weekends, because I only have about 4 more!!

This last day was a EARLY start, with us heading off the airport around 5am, and catching our flight into London! Being back home, we decided not to waste the day, and made a day of our arrival :)

Ok guys, time to get dorky. I am going to post this picture, and I really hope that some of you will instantly know what it is... 

That's right! I found Platform 9 3/4, headed straight towards Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Alright, I will give some of you a break, but there isn't much of an excuse not to know about Harry Potter. To get into Hogwarts, you have to head straight into the wall at Platform 9 3/4. Hence the cart halfway through. Oh, you bet I took a turn !!

It was amazing!

After returning from Hogwarts, we headed straight for the British Museum. The museum was founded in 1753, and their collection spans over two millions years of human history! There literally is no exaggeration in that statement, they had more stuff from history than I could have ever imagined. It was unbelievable, and definitely a future-teacher's dream. 

Museum from the outside. Please take note of the horrible weather, and our great idea to spend hours inside of an amazing museum :)

The inside of the museum!! 

Statue of Ramesses II

The mummy of Cleopatra from Thebes. 100 AD

THE Rosetta Stone!! The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian Artifact which showed historians the writing of the Egyptians. 

My favorite Roman sculpture at the Museum.

Parthenon Carvings

Parts of the Parthenon :)

The history that have followed this sculptures are breathtaking. These are sculptures once located in Greece. In 1799, Thomas Bruce, the British ambassador, apparently received permission from the Ottoman empire to remove pieces from the Acropolis. For the next ten years, Bruce removed about half of the sculptures from the Parthenon. It is a major debate, and one I discussed in history classes in college, whether or not these sculptures should remain in the British Museum, or should be returned to their homeland of Greece. Although I do think they belong to Greece, the care and protection of these sculptures in the British Museum are superb, and they are quite spectacular. 

Why no heads you ask? Well, damage in Greece occurred through hundreds of years of war. An explosion in 1687 destroyed many of the pieces. Other sculptures have simply been worn down, or their surfaces has become eroded.  Still breathtaking in their glory, and this certainly was a special moment. After years of studying history, I couldn't believe I was in front of some of the most exquisite pieces of history yet. 

The British Museum was amazing!! My favorite museum by far, sorry DC :(

From here we went on to the Sigmund Freud Museum. The museum is actually located inside of his house in London, and his furniture, books, and collectibles are still in their places. It was pretty cool to get to see his "couch" where he sat with so many patients and discussed their mothers, fathers, dreams, and wishes. 

Sigmund Freud lived in this house!