I omitted to say it elsewhere, but I'm certain I've mentioned my two-day (April 30th and May 1st) London trip in Skype chats.

My father didn't want us struggling with a suitcase or travel bag, so we stuffed everything into backpacks.

Worse, because of the inn's hours, we had to check in after 4pm and check out before 10am, not to mention all the places we wanted to visit. So, aside from the first evening's dinner and the second one's breakfast, we pretty much carried all of it around.

I'm just glad that only lasted two half-days, otherwise my shoulders would've hated me for a week.

Anyway, onwards to the actual journal.

Summary in no order: I slept through the train rides as well as scribble sketches and some poetry, saw Madame Tussaud's wax statues of celebs and politicians, bought postcards with witty quotes, took notes while visiting museums, ate a cupcake and a scone for the first time, gathered newspaper articles for inspiration or arguments, bought poetry and ancient recipes books, rode buses around town and had Indian food.

The Eurostar ride in the morning was rather eventless (is that a word?), I spent most of it sleeping and scribbling. The latter also was my main activity on the way back last evening.

First thing we did, was top up the two Oyster cards from my summer trips there (I'd got one at each trip since I didn't know the first would still be valid) and buy one-day Travel cards for the other two members.

And then DAY 1 began! :3

First morning, we took the tube to Madame Tussaud's famous wax statues museum, where we split up. I and mom went in while my sister and father traveled around (to Trafalgar Square and stuff) on double-decked buses.

We snapped a few photos with celebs in there; I remember Marilyn Monroe and Freddie Mercury, as well as Charles Chaplin and Atatürk. There were statues of Tussaud herself, one working on a severed head which I pretended to assist her with.

I also entered (alone) the "Scream" attraction, where I entertained myself watching people get scared by actors wearing make-up. Not gonna say I wasn't nervous because of the dark and the ambiance, but I can proudly announce I only jumped once from startlement. Hell, I even clapped at a well-done scare, I think it was because of a good hiding spot.

Outside of that, there were torture devices and statues of famous murderers (uplifting). It was followed by a ride through Londonian History in tiny taxis on a rail, I took notes all the way through, from the Great London Fire to the World Wars.

After eating a sprinkled white-chocolate-covered apple there, we ended the visit with the Marvel Superheroes 4D animation advertised outside. Whatever the fuck 4D is supposed to mean, to be fair it was 3D on 180°, and they reused the same "OBJECT IN YO FACE LOL" trick over and over.

Then my mom wanted to see the David Bowie exhibition at the Victoria&Albert Museum. She remembered the station wrong (and I didn't recall it from my museum visits in previous travels), but we took the opportunity to have crepes for lunch, and I got a couple postcards with witty quotes - like "don't put your mouth into motion before your brain is in gear".

When we finally got to the V&A Museum, the tickets to the exhibition were sold out. We still spent the first half of the afternoon walking around the museum, I taking notes as I walked by some pieces (mostly because there are portions of Mythospective taking place in the real world).

We then left for the inn, when a brief mishap made us split in the tube so we each carried on alone. But in the end, all four of us were resting together in our room (yes the same tiny room, NOT A SINGLE DROPLET OF PRIVACY OR MOVING SPACE FOR ANYBODY) before leaving most of our stuff (FINALLY) and going out for dinner.

We stopped by a pastry-café-thing for dessert, which was an occasion for me to try a cupcake for the first time in my life (there are muffins in France but NO CUPCAKES WTF IS THIS CONTRADICTION).

It was hard to sleep that night, because my father kept getting up to open the window of the tiny room.

But anyway, DAY 2 begins!

After some sort of vaguely satisfying breakfast at the hotel, my father decided that we'd go all together this time. It didn't really suit my mother's wish to see the David Bowie exhibition - nor my plans to see the Tower of London, but that one's not going anywhere.

So we went to the British Museum, which we didn't have time to visit in its entirety but I still saw enough to take even more notes, this time on African(*) and Asian cultures (mostly death rituals and "supernatural" matters). I also bought books, like a collection of Ancient Roman/Greek recipes (with modernized ingredients) and animal haikus.

While buying a sandwich there to eat later, I got myself a scone; the dough (texture and color) reminded me of a Turkish dessert whose name eludes me right now.

My mother, again, wanted to enter the exhibition on Pompei there, but she got upset and decided against it.

Early in the afternoon, we took various buses and went around, stopping at Selfridges to have lunch; dad and sister had fish&chips (BOOORRIIINNNG) while mom and I got Indian food (king prawn wok in my case, mutton and stuff for my mother).

After that, there wasn't enough time left to actually visit the Tower of London, but we still took the tube there to see it.

Then we headed directly for St Pancras to go back home.

And that, folks, was the end of this journey.

(*) Among the Minki (African wooden carved figures) I was stunned by a statue of the exact same animal I'd seen in a dream months ago: a dog with two heads, one on each end, that acts as a guardian of sorts. Considering I was taming it -WITH A HUG- in the dream, one might wonder if there's some sort of symbolism or premonition going on...