Monday, April 14, 2014

London Part 2: I'm At Hogwarts!

Ciao Stranger,

Without further ado, let me introduce you to my favourite part of my London trip: visiting the Warner Bros Studio where they filmed a big chunk of the Harry Potter series. I didn't even know of its existence until a month ago when Matt went on the tour himself. He praised it like no tomorrow and I knew I had to book it, more for myself than for Eddy. It was like a dream come true. Reading the HP series, I've always wanted to visit Hogwarts and be a part of the magical world, and for 3 hours that day, I was able to do just that. Sure not everything was the way I imagined it to be, but that was to be expected. The trek to Hogwarts took us an hour and a half just to get to by bus-train-bus because it's in a suburban area of London but without a doubt, it was all worth it. I could hardly contain myself when I got there. I practically pranced into the studio after this picture was taken.

Harry's room under the stairway! Alright, I took a LOT of pictures at every stop because I couldn't resist it. Don't worry, I won't upload all of them because it will undoubtedly drive you crazy, unless you're a HP fan, and if you are, you should definitely check this place out instead of looking just looking at my pictures. Just a heads up, you have to pre-book this online, and it can fill up incredibly fast in the summertime. Someone told me you should book it months in advance even, but since I didn't go during high season, I was able to get the tickets just a week before.

Inside the Great Hall, they showcased some of the clothes worn by the actors/actresses. The cloak on the furthest left is the original one Daniel Radcliffe wore on his first scene in Hogwarts. He was (still is) so tiny! And what did the Great Hall look like? Pretty much just like the way you saw it in the movies, but 10x smaller than you imagined it to be without the floating lights on top. Kind of a let down.

You can also purchase some butterbeer. It tasted like butterscotch and cream soda mixed together. Almost like root beer. Not sure if it was worth the 4 pounds or not but it's just one of those things you have to try, regardless of its price.

You don't realize how much work was put into this series until you come here and visit the backstage work. They made hundreds of face masks for the goblins, creatures and characters. The meticulous detail of each design was beyond impressive.

Diagon Alley, where a new wizard can find anything from candy, owls to wands. Snap snap snap, more pictures! As you can see, this place isn't an amusement park. There's no Harry Potter ride or anything of that sort, but more of a walking tour you do at your own pace. You learn about how the movie is filmed and see it from a new light.

The only "active" part was a section where you could ride a broomstick with a green screen background and get your pictures taken. Obviously I had to get a piece of this even though it's used to rip off tourists. What can I say, I need a picture to remember my fabulous day at Hogwarts. I am now officially a Gryffindor student: my robe says so!

Before I go on and show you everything about the tour, I will end it with a picture of my new school. I'm pretty sure a little part of me died when I left the studio, it was an emotional moment for me. It was like a visit back into my childhood. I remember making a fortress out of chairs and cushions and reading the HP series inside my indestructible defence system because I was frightened the Death Eaters would find me. Even though I was scared out of my mind, the book was just too damn addicting to put down so countless nights were spent in there. And visiting the real Hogwarts brought back all the memories of the good old days of my childhood. I don't think the tour had the same effect on Eddy, he's too young to have any emotional attachment with the HP series. What a shame.

Eddy and I headed back to Leicester Square where I went for another Jianbing for dinner. Eddy tried this pita/falafel place. It's like Pita Pit but you get falafel inside it and there's a variety of toppings you can put on the wrap yourself. Not bad at all. I would definitely go back there again.

On our last day in London, Eddy and I were planning on going on another 3 hour walking tour but I wasn't feeling my best at all and really wanted to go back to the apartment and rest for the day. Being the responsible big sister that I am, I let Eddy walk around the city by himself. No I'm not crazy, he's a smart boy, I have faith in him. Contrary to what you might think, I did not stay in bed all day, in fact, I went down to Leicester Square (yes again) and got myself another Jianbing. What? Don't judge. 3 Jianbings in 3 days, nothing wrong with that! I told you I'm addicted to those things, I just had to. Before I headed home, I grabbed some Asian pastries, made a pit stop at a fruit stand to grab something healthy and headed back to my bed. I think one of my favourite parts of London are these fruit stands. They have a great variety of fruits (something that Rome lacks) and they're all placed in these plastic bowls (shown on the right) and each bowl of fruit costs 1 pound. So instead of wondering how much an apple or 2 bananas cost, and getting those nasty changes, you can just pick the bowl you want and pay the 1 pound. Love it! Everywhere else should also adopt this simple. How efficient!

That night, Eddy and I feasted on junk food and watched movies/shows together. Great bonding time and needless to say, we were ready to head home the next day. A picture with the blossom tree outside the apartment to end the mini Europe trip.

To end Eddy's last night in Europe, we decided to go back to Momart where he can pig out to his stomach's content. Don't mention that place to me for another month or so. I can't take any more of their food in after going there twice in 2 weeks. And after dinner, even though we could barely walk out of there, we indulged ourselves with gelato and tiramisu cake. What have we learned from this trip? That Eddy and I are complete pigs. And stingy ones too. *oink oink*

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