Wednesday, October 3, 2013 Flying cars and Broomsticks; Blue Line and Cheese

Wednesday, October 3, 2013  Flying cars and Broomsticks; Blue Line and Cheese

The group split into two groups today – one went on the Underground and train and bus to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and the other toured London and went to the Borough Market and saw lots of different foods and tasted cheeses.

Ann, Sue and I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  We had breakfast at 8:30 and left about 9:00.  We walked to the Waterloo Tube Station which is close to our hotel.  

We finally found the ticket place but had to wait until 9:30 to purchase the non-peak all day tube tickets and found the right train to Euston Station, north of Waterloo.  We actually met lots of people today as we asked directions.  Several people just saw that we were confused and they asked if they could help us – that was very much appreciated.  We got worried when we realized the train from Euston to Watford Junction was an Overland Journey and I thought it might mean a bus trip, but it was an overland train.  It had a few stops but we got to Watford Junction just fine and they had signs up indicating people should disembark here for the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  We walked outside the station and found a bus that would take us right to the tour.   

We were so lucky with schedules and so forth.  We were not so lucky when you consider how many stairs up and down we took during the day in connection to the tube – hundreds and hundreds of stairs.  Well, maybe only a couple of hundred stairs, but I’d say at least that many.  Ask Sue and Ann if they think so too.  We also had to walk for miles and miles in the tube station.  Well, . . . 

When we got to the Studio, you could tell they were prepared to deal with multitudes of people.   

You had to order your tickets before you got there and you had to choose a time of entry.  We chose 11:30 and arrived at about 11:00.  The process of actually getting our tickets was very simple except that I left 2/3 of our stubs in the machine, but one of the helpers ran them over to us within a minute, so all was well.  Thank goodness for helpful people.  Since we had time, we had a snack and water before entering.  We got our headphones and digital monitor – this was a wonderful feature because we could watch all kinds of video and see all kinds of photos dealing with everything we were seeing during the tour.  

 

There was a wait of about 15 minutes to actually enter the first area and then another 10 minute wait while we were entertained by a young man telling us the rules and procedures and asking silly questions and so forth.   We did get to see the Cupboard Under the Stairs during this time.

Then we entered a theatre type of room where we watched a short film about what we would see.  Then we entered THE GREAT HALL.  It was wonderful.  

 They had actual costumes worn by some of the actors at different stages of the movie series and the lady told us all about small tidbits of info that I had never heard before.  Everyone took lots of photos and then we moved into Stage J, I think it was called.  This was a very large room with about 20 exhibits in it and we all wandered around at our own pace looking at everything.  The creators sure did a great deal of thinking and building on the sets, the props, the costumes, and the understory items that I never noticed before.   

This is the Gryfindor Common Room.

This is a set that was only used one time but must have taken hours and hours to create.

We decided that we would need to rewatch the movies to see some of these details, so that’s on my agenda for the next little while.   

At the end of this stage, Sue and I got in line to actually do the green screen filming for the flying car and riding a broomstick.  We did them both and it was kind of embarrassing and kind of fun.  At the end, we decided not to purchase the videos of us on these but we did buy some photos of us after the green screen had been changed to a shot of something else.  

We then went to the outdoor section which contained the house on Privett Drive and the Potter’s house after the attack by Voldemort.  See, I’m not afraid to say it!!  We also saw a flying car and the triple decker purple bus and the flying motorcycle with side car and many more items.  Looked like it had rained earlier and indeed it had, there and in London also.  

Sue bought and tried the butterbeer!!

Then we went into Stage K, I think, which contained the animatronics section, Diagon Alley, and some of the small and larger models of Hogwarts.  Such detail was amazing.  Really, it is mind-boggling.  The larger model was just beautiful and it was displayed beautifully.   

This place really knows how to entertain people and show off their ‘stuff’.   

We entered the gift shop and wow, do they have things for purchasing.  We did very well and only spent a little money.  Honestly!!  

We then went back to the café and had lunch, but I couldn’t find anything of interest much.  I figure I’ve eaten some fruit for breakfast, a lemon cupcake when we arrived, a brownie just before we left and some nuts later.  What a healthy diet I’ve had today – NOT!!!  We walked outside and got on the bus, which took us to Watford Junction for the train, which took us to Euston for the underground tube, which took us to Waterloo where we left the system, along with millions and millions of other people.  Well, not really millions at Waterloo but lots and lots.  London definitely has efficient people movers, that’s for sure.  I was impressed by it all.  

 We came out at a different set of doors than we entered this morning and promptly went the wrong way.  After miles and miles of walking, well, maybe only one mile or so, we found our hotel and dragged ourselves in.   

This is our hotel - the Park Plaza County Hall.  You can see the Eye behind it.  We were TIRED!!  Past tired!!

We met the other girls in the bar so we could all tell what we had seen and done during the day. The other girls had gotten on the hop on, hop off tour again – the blue line this time and they liked it a lot better than the red line.  The headphones made hearing and understanding the speaker much easier.  They did have to sit inside the bus because it was raining at the time.  The enjoyed seeing all the places around London and had a really good morning.   

They returned to the hotel for a short break, then took a taxi to the Borough Market and had lunch there.  Some of them liked their lunch better than others.  They spent lots of time walking around looking at all the food items that were for sale. 

 I think they liked some special cheeses that they tasted today but will wait until they get home to actually order them.  We’ve learned that many foods do not travel well when we try to bring them home from trips.  They taxied back to the hotel and have decided that taxies are a really good way to travel while in London.  I’m looking forward to trying that soon. 

For dinner tonight, some of us are having meals sent us from Room Service and some of us are too tired to eat.  

Tomorrow, Sue and I plan to meet the tour at the front door of our hotel at 5 a.m. to take the Chunnel Train to Paris for the day.  I hope I’ll be up and at ‘em before 5!!  The other girls have a couple different sets of plans but I’m too tired to remember what they said.  Chances are I will not be posting an update on the journal since we won’t be back to the hotel before 10:00 or so tomorrow night.  I also won’t get to talk to the others tomorrow so the update for Friday will have to wait until at least Saturday.  Perhaps, I’ll carry my heavy old laptop around Paris tomorrow so that I can at least write up about what Sue and I do in Paris before we get back to London.  Or maybe I’ll sleep all the way back.  Who knows??  I’ll tell you at some point what all happened tomorrow.  

It’s 7:11 p.m. and I’m about ready for bed, so nite, nite!!!