It's about darn time I did tourist-y things.

I've recently been panicking because I thought I wasn't going to have enough time to see some of the major London sights whilst here, which seems just kind of ridiculous, but trust me--it feels like I have had no time to do anything. So today (despite the fact that I have a big research paper due this coming Tuesday) I went with a friend to the Tower of London. Yay!
We literally spent hours there, and I'm pretty sure we saw every single thing there is to possibly see within the Tower. There's not really that much to say about it except that  it's old and awesome and the sight of some awesome historical events. We got a great tour by one of the Yeoman guides aka Beefeaters. His name was Simon.
It was a beautiful day here. It was like 60 or something and sunny and gorgeous. I heard the weather is downright nasty back in Illinois. Ha-ha. Sorry.
Before  we went to the Tower, however, we shopped for a wee bit at Harrod's. We had been there before, but just within the past week a new shop opened up inside the store completely dedicated to Harry Potter memorabilia and it is AWESOME. Intermingled with the merchandise were actual props from the movies including such things as the characters' robes/clothes, Harry's broom, everyone's wands, Hermione's bottomless bag, some of the Daily Prophets, the sword of Gryffindor, and much, much more. It was extremely cool...and I spent a lot of money. I may have bought Snape's wand. It was expensive. I'm calling it my Christmas present to myself...along with every other item I purchase for myself from now until Christmas. I also got a free knit Dobby because I was one of the first five people of the day to spend over a certain amount! Huzzah! He's adorable.
After we visited the Tower, we tried to go to Westminster Abbey, but it closed just a little while after we got there so it wasn't worth going in. But we got some nice pictures of the outside!

Here are all the loverly pictures from the day's adventures. Didn't take any pictures of the Harry Potter stuff because I'm stupid. Here's my Dobby holding Snape's wand, though.