The Tour...

Day 3. An exhausted me decided last night that today would be a sleep in, take it easy kind of morning. So by the time I got up, got ready, walked to the train station (without getting lost! Yay!) and got into London, it was already 11:00. 

The first thing on my agenda for today was the British Library. A library might not sound that exciting, but this one has the largest collection of catalogued items in the WORLD. It's huge! It also has at least five different exhibits about various artifacts and/or history. In there "special items" exhibit I got to see the Magna Carta, Gutenberg Bible, the first know book, original handwritten music by Bach and Mozart, sacred texts that were thousands of years old, and original lyric ideas written by the Beatles. It was crazy to see all of these things and realize that some of them are hundreds or even a thousand years old! Too bad cameras weren't allowed in the exhibits.

Before I left the library I went to use the toilets (they're not called bathrooms here) and I got super excited because they were free! That's kind of a big deal in London, as many places charge you 20-30p. So that made the British Library even better :)

After the library I took the tube to Baker Street and went to see 221b, the home of Sherlock Holmes. It wasn't hard to find. They have a museum and gift shop there, and lots of signs all down Baker Street. I was pressed for time and wanted to get lunch before headed off to my afternoon tour, so I didn't stop to go inside. Instead, I headed down Baker Street in search of lunch.

After only a couple of minutes I saw a sign for fish and chips. Since eating fish and chips is kind of a must while in London, I stopped and ordered some. They were...alright. They were definitely hot and fresh, but also tasted pretty greasy. Which I guess is pretty much the point of fried foods. I just don't really like fried foods. So anyway, I did the fish and chips thing. Moving on...

Next I got back on the tube and went to Euston Station, where I'd be taking the train to Watford junction for the Harry Potter Studio Tour. I had a long wait before the train arrived, and after that I had a long wait while on the train. And after that a long wait for the bus that would take me to the studios. Then a long bus ride. It was quite a long process.

But it was worth it.

Prior to arriving at the Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden, I'd been afraid that I would be the silly adult among bunches of younger fans. I was very wrong. I saw very few kids there, it was mostly adults who were roaming the lobby waiting for the three o'clock tour to begin. The lobby was a wide open space with the gift shop on one side and a cafe on the other. All around the room are photos of the cast, as well as various film artifacts on shelves or hanging from the ceiling. As our time it approached we got in line, where we were shown the first set from the films: The cupboard under the stairs.

When 3:00 finally arrived we were brought into a large, cinema-like room. Everyone sat down and watched as Dan, Rupert, and Emma told us about all the behind the scenes work that went into making the films. After just a few minutes the film ended, and the screen went up, revealing the doors to the great hall.

Out guide gave us a quick run down of how the tour worked. We'd start in the great hall, hear a few facts, ask any questions, and then be free to go at our own pace through the rest of the tour sections. Then she opened the doors.

It was incredible. It really was the great hall. A huge room with tables set and the teachers standing at the end. And to think it was the actually room used to film all the great hall scenes in all of the movies...

We finished in the great hall and walked through the doors to the second part if our tour. This room had set after set, prop after prop, costume after costume. Again, I would realize in the middle of all of it that everything I was seeing was actually used in the movies. What's crazier is that people actually had to make all the sets, props, posters, costumes, etcetera, etcetera. SO much work went into these films!

After a LONG Time in that area of the tour, I headed outside. Here was the knight bus, the Hogwarts bridge, the chess set from Sorcerers Stone, the Potter house in Godrick's Hollow, and of course, Privet Drive. They were also selling Butterbeer here, but I passed on that one. 

Next was back inside for the "creatures and makeup" portion of our tour. Again, makeup must've taken forever in some of the scenes. We were also shown some if the animatronic creatures used on set. The Monster Book of Monsters, and Buckbeak both moved around as we walked by.

After that we entered Diagon Alley. Again, it was really amazing because it was all life sized, each shop intricately decorated for those walk-through Pre-school year scenes. Fred and George's joke shop was my favorite.

And finally, I made it to the last section of the tour: sets and design. The first room consisted of small clay models of buildings or structures in the films, as well as concept art paintings. The next ( and last ) room was Hogwarts. It was so much bigger than I had expected it to be! They used the model for all the exterior shots and filmed the actors on a green screen, then put the two together. Amazing.

Of course, we exited through the gift shop. I simply couldn't walk away with nothing, so I bought a time turner, a chocolate frog, and Bertie Botts Every flavor beans.

Two and a half hours after the start of my tour (that place is huge!) I was on my way back to Rayleigh. I got back, had some dinner, and talked with Benita a bit. And that was my day! I didn't fit in as many things as the last couple of days, but it was still awesome :)