A detailed account of adventures in Europe. My husband and I are currently living in Germany and are taking full advantage of the location. We travel roughly once a month and I write the stories here. I also try to include the websites I used when planning and booking our travels so other people can easily follow in our footsteps. And, because pictures are worth 1000 words, there are links to online photo albums from our trips.
When my parents came to visit we planned a week long
excursion to the UK. After we landed in London we proceeded to pick up our
rental car, but Sixt wasn’t located at Heathrow; we had to take a shuttle out
to the lot. Our car was a black Citroen something or other; the standard
European hatchback. Whenever we get a new rental car (at least every 3 months),
it’s my job to fiddle with the dials and to figure out how the navigation
system works. The nav system wasn’t very intuitive or user friendly so I
switched to our handheld Garmin—a decision I would later regret. Perhaps to
make up for its navigational deficiencies the car came with a bonus; there was
a CD already in the player! It wasn’t just any CD either; it was The Beatles #1
hits CD. Naturally we put it on and drove through London feeling very
authentic.
Best. Picture. Ever.
Cutty Sark, London, England
Our first stop was the Cutty Sark, a ship that dates from
the height of the British Imperialist era, though it was in use until 1954.
This ship has been in dry dock since 1957 and acts as a museum of English
maritime history. It was a very hands-on museum and there were many exhibits
for children and Joe. A lot of the ship is original; they’ve delineated
restoration work with gray paint; original ironwork is white. Most of the boat
was dedicated cargo space and the living quarters were cramped; the vessel was
designed for making money. Throughout its eight seafaring decades, the Cutty
Sark carried a variety of cargo, but I think the best time would have been when
it was ferrying tea from China; this cargo would have smelled much better than
wool from Australia.
Crossing Abbey Road
London, England
We then drove all the way across London to Abbey Road. We
parked in an underground lot and witnessed a large queue of cars at the exit. A
man was struggling with the automatic pay system and the mechanical arm
wouldn’t let him out. Among those behind the man were an irate delivery truck
driver and an anxious mother late to pick up her kids. Later, when we returned,
the arm was bent at a funny angle; perhaps forced just high enough to let a car
through. Abbey Road was once again packed with people, and since I’d already
been there, I volunteered to stand on the island of safety and take pictures.
My mom asked me to take this picture.
She said she hadn't seen clothes like this in awhile.
Oxford, England
Despite not sounding like much, due to the size of London
and the abundance of traffic, these two visits took us past 3pm. We were
spending the night in Birmingham, so after visiting Abbey Road we headed north.
We stopped briefly in Oxford for dinner. Originally we were going to try to
take a tour of the Bodleian library, a Harry Potter set, but we arrived too
late to join a tour. Even if we had arrived on time, I don’t think we would
have made the tour; Oxford University was having its graduation that day and
there were gowned students and their families everywhere; surely the tour would
have been full.
Instead, we delighted ourselves with looking at the old
buildings and eating dinner in the Kings Arms Tavern. Almost every year my
parents spend a week in Colonial Williamsburg, and one of their favorite places
to eat is the Kings Arms Tavern where the food is prepared using colonial
methods, and the staff wear traditional garb. Since Colonial Williamsburg is
set before the American Revolution, technically both taverns are British. In
the modern Kings Arms we learned British pub protocol; place your order at the
bar, receive a number, and wait for your food to be brought to your table. I ordered a rabbit pie with cider. Mmmmmm. Meat pies in the
UK tend to refer to a stew baked in a puff pastry pie shell; very hearty and
delicious. It was an excellent conclusion to our first day in England.
My parents outside the Kings Arms Tavern
Oxford, England
Photo Bombing Random Idiots
Abbey Road, London, England
Before trekking to the next Waterstones, we headed out to St. John’s Wood. This is where Abbey Road Studios is located, and here you can recreate the eponymous Beatles album cover. What most people were ignoring is the most obvious; Abbey Road is a busy, working intersection. Morons were walking in front of buses and cars, and holding up traffic while they posed like bizarre Barbie dolls. I looked at the album cover, and all 4 Beatles were in the act of walking; not stopping, posing, and smiling for the camera. We crossed when it was safe, and without holding up traffic. We also casually ignored the camera in true Beatles fashion. I even (mostly) accidentally wrecked some other idiots’ photo. We were all going to cross and then they just stopped moving like Andy’s toys seeing a kid; I almost crashed into them. No apologies from me.
Our Island of Safety
Abbey Road, London, England
We left Abbey Road and headed for the British Museum, thinking we had left the madness behind. Our goal was to see the Egypt rooms and the Rosetta Stone, as described in the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. The British Museum is free, actually all state owned museums in the UK are free, and the place was packed, mostly with Asian tour groups.
There were people everywhere, and lots of them were really pushy. Tired of being bumped and jostled, we eventually abandoned the museum after a 30 minute wait for the bathroom. It was just too crowded, and the experience really wasn’t enjoyable.
The Rosetta Stone behind Glass
The British Museum, London, England
Leaving behind the throngs of people, we walked to the Waterstones on Euston Road. This bookstore is spread over 5 floors and is in an historic building. They also sell second hand books, and I was amazed to see them organized like new books; they weren’t stacked in milk crates. There were scores of books about British history, books by British authors, and books about British localities. It was tough to limit my purchases, but I only bought 3 books (from that particular store anyway).
Our last day in the UK was pretty relaxed; just wandering. The first stop of the day was the reconstructed Globe Theater. The Globe is on the banks of the Thames, and is pretty true to the original 17th century specifications. The only major changes are in regard to fire regulations; fewer people can enjoy a show at once, and they now have electricity.
We were the first tour group of the day and when we entered the theater it was empty. We managed to take a few good pictures before 100 French high school students joined us. It must have been tour group day because we ran into them everywhere. I would love to see a play here, but in early April, they aren’t showing any yet.
Ice Mice on the Millennium Bridge
London, England
We left the Globe and walked toward St. Paul’s Cathedral over the Millennium Bridge. This is the bridge attacked by Death Eaters in the cinematic version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We were going to pretend to witness the attacks when something else drove all other thoughts from our minds: ice mice. Someone had placed about a dozen mice on the bridge; they were made of ice. I only wish a sign had warned us ahead of time; watch for ice on bridge.
Twinings Tea Shop on the Strand
London, England
We next looped around St. Paul’s, a lovely church designed by the famous architect Christopher Wren. We admired it from the outside and continued along The Strand, stopping eventually at Twinings. Twinings is a tea company and we visited their original shop in London; it opened in 1706. Inside the Strand Shop are few displays of antique teas and memorabilia—oh, and tea!
The shop smelled amazing, and there were many ways to customize your tea purchase. I bought a few tins; they’re beautiful and I may even repurpose them into a craft once they’re empty. The shop was well lit and a pleasure to explore; the front door is still original.
Lincoln's Inn Fields aka #12 Grimmauld Place
London, England
When we left, we wandered over to Lincoln’s Inns Fields. This area was a little less genteel; there was a van distributing food for the homeless. How fitting then that this area provided the exteriors for #12 Grimmauld Place, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. We snapped our pictures and returned to the more populated streets.
Leadenhall Market
London, England
Grimmauld Place was quite different from the other HP exteriors set we visited: Leadenhall Market. This is a covered market with a lot of specialty shops. The area is very quaint; each address is made of mosaicked tile. One particular sore in the market held our interest: The Glass House. Though it has since changed hands, The Glass House was used to film the muggle side of The Leaky Cauldron. It’s blue now, but the exterior is otherwise the same.
The Glass House in Leadenhall Market
London, England
We also visited a Waterstone’s Bookshop while in Leadenhall market. The internet can help you find any number of books on a particular subject, but I still maintain the best place to find information about the city you’re in is the local bookshop. Here you will find books you didn’t even know existed, sometimes as translations from other languages. It’s also more fun to buy a book in a store than it is online. You can hold it, feel the weight of it in your hand, and peer through its pages before purchasing.
I was on a hunt for a particular Jack the Ripper book, authored by the London Walks guide, Donald Rumbelow. Here on the blog I’ve directed you to Amazon, but that is because you are (probably) not in London. The first store didn’t have the book, but they directed me to another stores in the city; the hunt continued.
We’re big fans of walking tours; they let you explore less frequented parts of cities while following a fun, central theme. In the past we’ve done been tours, but on this trip we started with a history tour exploring the infamous serial killer: Jack the Ripper.
A little online research pointed me to the best tour company in London, London Walks. They have dozens of different tours, all over the city. It was difficult to settle on a particular tour, but ultimately we narrowed it down to their most publicized tour, the Jack the Ripper walk.
The reason this tour is so popular and so publicized is because of the guides, or one in particular, Donald Rumbelow. Mr. Rumbelow is the designer of the Ripper walk, and the guides base their tours off his research. He is the leading authority on Jack the Ripper and has written several books on the subject, with a new one due out this fall.
The Complete Jack the Ripper
Photo from Amazon.com
It’s a scandalous tale involving members of the royal family and those close to them. It seems the murders weren’t random, but carefully calculated killings. To this day, the records are still classified by Scotland Yard, and their date of de-classification keeps being pushed back, citing concerns for national security. Mr. Rumbelow believes that is the truth came out, there are persons still living who would be affected, and that is why the records are still being withheld from the public.
The information in the walk is not published on the London Walks website, and I won’t be ruining the surprise here. If you are in London, I highly recommend the tour, and it runs every night. If London is not in your travel plans, or if you are impatient, you can order Donald Rumbelow’s current book, The Complete Jack the Ripper, from Amazon and obtain the information that way.
This tour was wonderful because it was conducted by a subject matter expert, and because it was designed to educate. The London walks don’t try to reel you into their tours with gimmicks and costumes. There were other tour companies operating in the area, and these guides were costumed and/or carried weird props; London Walks doesn’t do that. Our guide saw one of these other groups and sarcastically asked my sister “Do you wish I had a lantern?” Our tour was more like mobile lecture on a seedier chapter of London history, and it was very enjoyable.
Do doo dodo doo do dooo do. Doo dodo doo doo doooo.
That’s my interpretation of Prologue by John Williams, in case you were confused, the song currently playing for your enjoyment. Do doo dodo doo do dooo do. Doo dodo doo doo doooo. We went to Warner Brother’s Leavesden Studios where the 8 Harry Potter (HP) movies were filmed! Get ready for some serious geeking out! It’s a Potter Post!!
My interpretaion of fantasy fiction.
Image from Zazzle Posters
My first encounter with Harry was in the 7th grade, in Canada. This was the first year of its publication and a friend was trying to get me to read it. I blew her off saying I didn’t want to read about witches and wizards. When I said no to her, I was thinking about super nerds, and imagined an artful unicorn poster come to life. Not really something I was interested in; instead I stuck to my mysteries, learning to love Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.
The Head Table in the Great Hall at Leavesden Studios
Hertfordshire, England
Later, Harry became harder to avoid. I really hate reading trendy books, so I was still refusing to read Potter, but now for 2 reasons: the aforementioned aversion to fantasy, and the unwillingness to participate in something popular. When the first movie came out on DVD, Harry became impossible to ignore, and I had to suffer through the first movie at a youth group lock in. But it wasn’t bad, and I wasn’t suffering. It was funny, thrilling, and engaging. I was hooked. I hadn’t slept all night, but when I got home, I tore apart my sister’s closet; I remembered my mom had bought the books for my sister a couple years earlier, and that’s where any of us had last seen them.
I raced through the books, each more amazing than the last. Yes, they were for children, but the writing was beautiful, and I was able to lose myself in it. Then came the agony; only 4 books out of 7 had been published. I’d read greedily, knowing I had easy access to more, and then silence. Waiting. Re-reading. I had to wait years to finish the story. In the meantime, I busied myself with guidebooks, dissecting the language of the world I so loved, and trying to divine the future of the story. It was from these unofficial guidebooks that I really began to appreciate the depth of Rowling’s writing—the amount of thought behind each sentence, each name. This wasn’t haphazard writing; she had a carefully devised plan, and was leaving clues behind for us to follow.
Professor Umbridge was one of my favorite characters because
she was so well written, I loved her because I hated her.
Educational Decrees from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Leavesden Studios. Hertforshire, England.
Harry was my escape. Here was a world entirely different from my own; I could forget the stress of being an angsty teenager, the personal responsibility of college, the fact that I was planning a wedding while fiancé was in a war zone, the nightmares. It all fell away while I was at Hogwarts. I still read the books, once or twice a year, and they still captivate me, every time. I envy those who haven’t read them. It would be wonderful to begin again without knowing what I know now, but with each read comes new perspective and new appreciation of the writing.
While waiting in line, we were treated to the
cupboard under the stairs from Harry Potter and the Socerer'sStone.
Leavesden Studios. Hertforshire, England.
When the movies were released, they brought my imagination to life. On screen, before my eyes, Hogwarts was revealed. I could almost believe it was real, at least for a few hours. Many of the props and sets have survived the decade long franchise, and these are kept at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, another town of my imagination, about 40 minutes outside of London.
Leavesden Studios is an immensely popular attraction. I booked our tickets several months in advance, and reserved the first available time slot. When we arrived, we exchanged our vouchers for tickets and queued up inside. We still had to wait about a half an hour before we were able to enter. Later tours had to wait even longer; the queue had tripled in length when we exited.
The Black Family Tapestry was enormous, this is only one fourth of it.
The tapestry was on screen for less than five minutes.
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England.
The tour is self-guided, and you can linger as long as you like. Around the studios is a well-educated staff, only too willing to talk about Potter and the movie magic required to bring the stores to life. I enjoyed listening to the staff, but I wish I knew where they were standing. I often wandered up in the middle of an explanation, wishing I could have heard it from the onset.
Ron Weasley's Bed
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England.
The details in the props were amazing. They displayed a level of craftsmanship not easily observed in the films. The devotion to the characters and plots comes through in the sets. Sure, there were some creative liberties taken *cough, cough Burning Burrow cough, cough* but overall the people designing the sets tried to stay true to the books.
One of my favorite rooms was the boys’ dormitory. This room featured in many of the films, but it didn’t get a whole lot of screen time. Nevertheless, the beds and night stands were outfitted for each particular student. On Ron’s bed was a homemade, patchwork blanket. Was this blanket mentioned in the books? No, but knowing the Weasleys, it is easy to believe such a blanket could have been there the entire time. In the stories, J.K. Rowling didn’t concern herself with minutiae, like how many cauldrons were stacked outside Potage’s Cauldron Shop, but the movies makers did, and as a result, the world experienced a place that could exist in real life; outside of our collective imagination.
My one complaint comes from the gift shop, and the actual studios. (Platform Nine and) Three quarters of the gift shop was full of cheap, plastic souvenirs for children; slapping an HP logo or school crest on anything. The last quarter of the store was real souvenirs; things kept in cases and behind glass, things the average collector couldn’t afford. There was no middle ground for someone like me. I loved the concept art, but a non-signed print would have been fine. I don’t need the limited edition, framed version, and I certainly can’t afford it. On the flip side, I don’t want to tack a poster of Daniel Radcliffe to my wall either.
Concept Art of the Goblet of Fire
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England
If you loved the movies, and you definitely know Hogwarts isn’t real, Leavesden is worth a visit. If, however, you can’t handle learning the truth about the movie magic behind the Potter magic, you may want to skip it.
Scroll down for more pictures, and important links.
This owl is real, and she was one the birds that played Hedwig.
This is one of the cats that played Crookshanks, and he is
mesmerized by a treat his trainer is holding.
On the day we visited, the studios were in the midst of celebrating their one year anniversary, and as part of the celebrations, the animal actors were on site.
The Potions Classroom with Self-Stirring Cauldrons.
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England
Some of the Paper Props created for the films.
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England.
As Umbridge gained more power in the ministry, the crew made her outfits pinker.
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England.
Potage's Cauldron Shop (R) and Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary (L)
Diagon Alley, Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England.
