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