In honor of LITERALLY FINISHED releasing, I thought I’d take you through a picture walk of my trip to England last fall that follows the plot of the book. (Thank you to one of my readers, Larry, for suggesting this post!) There are no spoilers here, so you can look through either before or after reading the book.
We went during the fall because it’s my very favorite time of the year, and I figured it would be less crowded than traveling during the summer. A LOT of people warned us that it would likely be rainy, cloudy, and a bit dreary but we reminded them that we’re from Seattle so we’re used to that kind of weather. 😉 Originally, we had this trip all booked for May of 2020, but we all know how that year turned out. Enough said. The really great part about rebooking our trip was that our good friends, Beth and Kyle, could join us. You’ll see them in some of the pictures below!
Okay, following the plot of the book, I’ll start with our Dickens Walking tour in London. The guy in the blue jacket there is Richard (our Langston) and next is the water gate he showed us to prove how different that section of the city used to look before they built the retaining wall and the Thames used to come all the way up to that gate (situated a couple hundred feet back from where the water comes now).
Here are some shots of the old All The Year Round building, where Dickens used to work and live. If you’ve read LITERALLY FINISHED, you know how important this building is to the mystery! (The little blue plaque just tells you that it’s a historic site, if you can’t read it)
Picking the tour back up after Alex takes over, here are some shots of Middle Temple and the fountain mentioned there.
Speaking of tours, here are some shots from our sightseeing double-decker bus tour just like the one Pepper and Alex rode around on. (Beg Ben, a glimpse of the London Eye, the tiny Twinings building on Fleet Street, driving over Tower Bridge at night, and a shot of the four of us–Beth and Kyle in the front, me and my husband in the back.)
Some more of London before we head to Oxford… (Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, a beautiful fall day in Hyde Park, cute little pubs, my cute husband in a cute pub 🥰, Buckingham Palace, a view of the Shard, and finally Beth and I during a high tea we went to at Kensington Palace)
Moving on to Oxford! We’ll start with our favorite pubs! The Head of the River and the Lamb and Flag both feature in Pepper and Alex’s stay in Oxford. I’ve also added a picture of The Eagle and Child too, even though it wasn’t open.
Here’s us in front of the Bodleian Library and some shots of Christ Church College. (Peckwater Quad–the library where she studies with Fergie is behind us in this picture, the shrine to Saint Frideswide in the Christ Church Cathedral, the public entrance to Christ Church College.)
Punting! While we didn’t crash into anyone else like Pepper did, we definitely hit the river bank and concrete barriers!
Okay, next up is the medieval Warwick Castle where they meet Trinity for the first time. (The tall tower in the first picture is Guy’s Tower, the one they climb to talk to Trinity, and the next two photos are from the top of that tower)
Blenheim Palace was GORGEOUS. (You’ll see a picture of the second Whomping Willow there as well as the extensive grounds we wandered around much like Pepper and Alex–though we didn’t have a mystery to solve)
I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures! I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of LITERALLY FINISHED.
Thanks for reading!