Utkarsh Rai

They say the sun never sets on the British Empire but thankfully it did. The British Museum is a vast complex taking visitors back to the time when London ruled around half the world. The India exhibit was probably the largest in the museum. Priceless treasures displaced from their rightful locations now reside in this heavily guarded museum. One such treasure is the magnificent Kohinoor Diamond native to India. Its beauty and fame was such that any who laid eyes on it lusted after it instantly. I casually told our guide that India had been asking for the diamond to be returned and he lazily replied that if we give everything back we’ll have nothing left.

However, there is a lot more to UK than just its museum. UK is the land that has been home to some of the greatest literary geniuses to have ever graced this earth. Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Chaucer, Dickens, George Eliot, Kipling, J. K. Rowling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the list goes on. England is also the birthplace of some of the most memorable characters in literature. From Sherlock Holmes to Jane Eyre to Harry Potter to Noddy to Elizabeth Bennet to Robin Hood and so on! It was so exciting to see 221B, Baker Street. I also visited the home/museum of William Wordsworth and of the Bard of Avon (Shakespeare). We saw his grave as well and the ominous little curse he added on his tombstone.

In London we travelled on the London Eye and had a fantastic view of the Thames, the London Bridge and of course, the sprawling city of London. We stopped by Westminster Abby and we visited the Buckingham Palace. At the palace our tour guide waved enthusiastically at one of the topmost windows and then announced that the Queen had just waved back at him. I think my daughter believed him because she started waving too.

We also paid a trip to Liverpool- the city from where the Titanic set sail. We were shown the spot from where the names of the deceased were read out to the masses. We also visited the Stonehenge. It was freezing when we got there and our thick jackets were not providing us with the respite we expected.

The sound of bagpipes played by men in kilts welcomed us to Scotland. The Scottish lochs were beautiful and made the entire countryside picturesque. Unfortunately, we did not spot anything remotely resembling the Loch Ness Monster. We checked out the Edinburgh Castle and immersed ourselves in the beauty and tranquillity of Scotland.