Tower House

After a huge shopping trip at Tesco's we drove off to our house that we'd rented in the Lake District which was called Tower House. Here's some pictures of it:

From outside. The little tower off the the left was just used as storage for the bins. 

The dining room

Living room - we spent lots of time in here working on the puzzle and watching the Olympics

Mine and Ashlynn's bedroom

Brazil vs. Honduras

The next day we met up with David and Andrew's family in Newcastle at their home football stadium. We were really excited to get to see the semi-finals for the men's Olympic football, which in our case was Brazil vs. Honduras. We went into the game supporting Brazil, but by the time the game was over, we all would have preferred Honduras. 

Before the game

The game was pretty intense. Honduras scored first, which was surprising as Brazil was meant to be the best team. Brazil were quick to get back in the game, however and by half time, the score was 1-1. After some bad calls by the referee, the game ended with Brazil winning, 3-2. 

Huge crowds leaving the stadium

Ashlynn and I bought t-shirts so we could match David and Andrew.

A Day in London

Other than posing with Wenlock, we:

-booked tickets to see Shrek the Musical

-bought a picnic lunch at Marks & Spencers

-ate our picnic lunch outside of Hyde Park because food wasn't allowed in the park

-went into Hyde Park to watch some Olympics

-watched an all male acapella group perform

-went for dinner

-went to see Shrek the Musical 

At the concert

Outside the Shrek the Musical venue. It was a very cute musical with lots of sets, costumes and funny songs. 

Wenlock in London

The day after the studio tour we spent the day in London. As you all must know, the Olympics were held in Britain this year. The mascots were Wenlock and Mandeville. Dotted all over London were statues of Wenlock, so throughout the day Ashlynn and I posed with them. Here are the photos:

Diagon Alley

One of the most spectacular sets was definitely the Diagon Alley set. All of the building facades were there and we got to walk down the street, seeing the different Wizarding stores. It was incredible the amount of detail in each of the windows. 

Weasleys Wizard Wheezes

Diagon Alley. At the end of the street you can see Gringots Bank. 

The last room of the studios was breathtaking. It was a full scale model of the Hogwarts castle. All of the shots taken from above the castle or flying through the castle were taken on this model. The lights around the room were on a cycle so that we could see the castle in different parts of the day. We waited till the light was good to get this picture:

At the beginning of the tour the lady said that you can go through the whole place in 45 minutes and that normal people usually spend about 3 hours. Overall we spent 6 hours in the studio. Yeah, we're really not normal. 

The Outside Sets....

Leaving the main building, we went outside where there were a few more sets available to see. They also had butterbeer for sale, so we had to buy it...

Number 4 Privet Drive

The Knight Bus

The Butterbeer wasn't that impressive. It was just cold cream soda with foamy stuff on the top. The creamy top stuff was amazing, but the cream soda was just....well...cream soda.

In the Studios

On the left is Harry's bedroom under the stairs. On the right is the great hall. Both of these were where the films were filmed. In these very rooms! The magical ceiling in the great hall obviously wasn't actually there, it's movie magic. 

The boy's dormitory was TINY! It was really cool to see the many different sets that Harry Potter lovers have grown up seeing in the movies. 

Our reflection in the Mirror of Erised

The Ministry of Magic. 

Harry Potter Studio Tour

The next day was the whole reason why we'd come to the American base. It was time to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! We had to get to the studio by 2 o'clock so we stopped off in a town to get lunch. We went to an Italian restaurant with paintings of famous couples eating on the walls and we requested to sit by Will and Kate.  

After lunch we drove to the studio and got in line for our tour. Everyone was given an iTouch in a case with headphones so that we could see videos as well as listening to people explaining what we were going to see. We were so excited! 

Outside the studio

An American Town

That night we drove to the American base where we got a really nice house to stay in. It all felt very American.  

The living room

The kitchen

The room that Ashlynn & I shared

Our little house

The street outside made me feel like we'd stepped into a movie set. 

That night cause we had nothing to do other than watch the olympics on American TV, we went bowling at the bowling alley on the base. We had lots of fun. 

Juggling bowling shoes because we can.

Punting in Cambridge

So after Italy, I went to France (which I've already posted about). Once again, I'm sorry that I haven't had time to post about Italy, but I'm going to try and get up everything from our trip to England which took place after my trip to France. 

We took the overnight ferry to England and then stopped for the day in Cambridge. We even went punting, with Ashlynn and Daddy steering us along the river with a long pole. 

Punting on a river in Cambridge

Beautiful Bridges

Church on the side of the river

Eating with the Locals

We got told to eat at the winning contrada's party that night, so we turned up, payed 10 euros each and got included in the dinner which included Spaghetti Bolognese, hamburgers, bread and potatoes. For those who don't eat meat (Mommy and Ashlynn) all they ate was the bread and potatoes. 

Another day, Another Church

The next day we walked around the other side of Siena. 

A view of the other big churchy thing