England

When I got off the chunnel in London, I was very tired. I went to sleep on the two hour car ride to Sutton, Coldfield. Then, I woke up just as we pulled up to our hotel. I got to stay in an old castle with a moat. The castle was called New Hall Manor. Everything was so beautiful.

But first, I visited my cousins for the very first time, so we drove over to their house. My dad was a little crazy driving while on the opposite side of the road, but we made it there in one piece! For dinner, I had “fish n’ chips”, which is fried fish and french fries (they call potato chips “crisps” and french fries “chips”), with a side of mushy peas, (they are like mashed potatoes, but with peas instead – it’s actually very good). After dinner, I had sweets (candy) for dessert.

Sadly, I had to leave too soon, but I would visit another time. The following day, we drove back to London. On our way back, we stopped at Warwick Castle, which was built by William the Conqueror in 1068. It was beautiful and I got to see the chambers. There were even stocks where traitors or “criminals” would be placed for punishement. I also saw torture chambers where people would get tortured if they did something really bad. As I walked up the staircase to the tower, I saw where the knights would stand to protect the castle from invaders. (If you look at the photo, you can see little crosses where knights would shoot their arrows to protect the castle.)

Then, we finished our drive to London and got to stay in a “flat” (apartment) for a few days. One day, I visited Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth lives. There were rooms where there were just two chairs and a piano. The one thing that amazed me was that I got to see the throne room. Then I came upon a room where King George III would have his children hunt animals for practice. I was not permitted to take photos. Then a little farther away, was the Tower of London. Here is where the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom are held. Unfortunatley, I have to rely on my memory to be able to see them, because visitors are not allowed to take photos in that room. Along with the Jewels, there are gold and silver plates, and utensils there as well.

This is Harrods Department Store
(All of the green awnings are Bart of Harrods).

After that, I took a double decker bus to Harrod’s, which is a famous department store in London. I thought it would be the size of Macy’s, but I was wrong. It’s like three shopping malls all put together into one department store! I ate lunch in one of their Vietnamese restaurants. Harrod’s has twenty one restaurants. While being there, I also purchased two teddy bears, which is their mascot. There are different teddy bears for each of their many departments. They have teddy bears with outfits – such as a royal guardsman, a piper bear wearing a kilt, a policemen, and so on and so fourth.

The next day was my final day in London. I went to Big Ben and the London Eye, which is very beautiful in so many different ways. I hope that someday you will get to see what I saw.