I took A LOT of pictures on these two days. Be warned, this post is photo heavy!
London, Day 12, Thursday, October 17th, 2013
Today we took three trains to Watford Junction, then a short bus ride out to the sound studio where all the Harry Potter movies were filmed. There is a studio tour that includes original sets, props and costumes from the movies. It was a truly amazing tour that was well worth seeing. Words can’t even begin to describe it. Needless to say, I’d highly recommend it!
AThen, it was 3 trains back to London and our home station of Sloan Square. This time we actually went into some of the shops on Kings Road. Sharon got some really beautiful tailored shirts and we both actually went in and looked at some the leather goods we’ve been drooling over.
Tomorrow we will actually visit London above ground, and try to take in as many
sights as possible. As we’ve been telling each other, we can sleep on the plane.
I’m tired, and I’m about on saturation limit on what I can absorb, so seeing Harry Potter today was a good thing. Tomorrow will be long, but I’m looking forward to it. We’ve just barely scratched the surface of London, but it’s certainly been worth it.
Sharon did as one very thought provoking question today (which may just show how tired we are) – ‘If all the exit signs say ‘way out’, why don’t all the entry signs say ‘way in’ instead of just showing an arrow?”
On that note, I’ll say goodnight.
Probably the most amazing thing at the Harry Potter Studio Tour (amidst many, many incredible sights), was the model of Hogwarts at the end. A beautiful made, perfectly scaled, model of the castle. Every time a new scene was added to the movies, it was added to the model. It was an amazing sight!
London, Day 13, Friday, October 18th, 2013 – Our Last Day in Europe!
Today was our last day in London, and we packed a lot into it, and I’m beat. We began by taking two trains to Green Park, right where we had dinner the first night. We walked across Green Park to Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial. It was spectacular. It wasn’t on the scale of the French, but it was certainly big enough! There was no changing of the guard today, so we headed down St. James Park towards Horseguards Park.
St. James was really stunning. Charles II had added a lake so he could swim and boat, and had filled it with waterfowl. There are still tons of them there, and it is clearly a main draw for people to that park. From pelicans to pigeons to swans and ducks of all types, they were entertaining to watch.
At Horseguards Park we watched the changing of the guard. The horses were impressive. I got a real kick out of watching the horse the bugler was riding. He was the only white horse, and he had a large ceremonial tassel about a foot long attached to the nose and of his bridle under his chin. He entertained himself by flipping his nose so that the tassel would flip up over his face. He did it over and over as they stood there for what seemed forever. After each time he’d look around with bright eyes to see who noticed! Must have driven his rider crazy.
I think the tourists drove them crazy as well. At one point, as they stood on the grounds as another part of the ceremony was taking place in another area, some of the tourists started stepping over the low chain barrier to get pictures. They got more and more bold about it until finally the rider on the white horse broke ranks, and galloped at them with the rider yelling at them to get out of the square. They moved pretty fast and nobody dared step over the chain after that. It’s easy to think of them as ceremonial, but these are the Queen’s guard, recruited from the most elite units. They mean business.
From there we wandered up past Whitehall and saw Big Ben. We then cruised the Thames up past the tower gate and saw several landmarks from the river. The architecture is so interest – a real mix of the old and new. So many of the old buildings were lost in WWII, and have been replaced by the ultra modern, making for a very interesting skyline.
After the cruise, we went back past Whitehall on the other side, past Westminster Abbey, back down St James Park to the palace and toured the royal mews. We saw the actual ceremonial carriages, the stables, the harness room and some of the horses.
Then it was back across Green Park and along St James street and over to Fordham and Masons, where we saw many more lovely things we couldn’t afford. After that, two trains back home. We ate dinner at Chelsea Potter, a quintessential English pub a couple of blocks from us. We have covered a huge amount of ground today but it was frustrating because there is so much more to see, and we just don’t have the time!
Tomorrow it’s off to Heathrow and home, and I’m ready. I don’t think I can absorb another thing.
I do want to say a bit more about the Queen’s Mews. Right off a small lane near the Palace, the mews is a brick rectangle. Large, but you wouldn’t know it if there wasn’t a big sign. The rectangle houses stables, carriages, and an indoor riding school. One side of rectangle houses the magnificent golden coach. They actually have to take the walll down to get the coach out.
In addition, I have never seen a bathroom so beautiful. The whole thing was quintessential English in green and burgundy tile and chintz. I took pictures to prove it. Of the bathroom. In the Queen’s stable. I guess it really does make a logical kind of sense.
Suzanne’s Travels 