London: Day Two

Our first full day in London initially had a full schedule. After breakfast, we took the tube over to the famous Harrod's department store to have a look around and to do some souvenir shopping.

I've been to London several times, but this is my first trip here.

The building is enormous! The store fills up every level, too. As well as the basement.

Like I said, enormous!

The interior was pretty spectacular. And air conditioned. A definite plus.

Just for grins I checked the price tags on a couple of handbags. One was over £1500! The other was a bargain at just under £900.

Our next stop after Harrod's was supposed to be the British Museum so Christa could see the Egyptian exhibit housed there. But when we arrived, the admission queue was insanely long. It snaked back and forth, but if it was a single line, I reckon it would extend at least a couple of blocks. We opted to find a cool place to sit and enjoy a beverage. Surprisingly, the line moved pretty quickly and it was down to a reasonable length within about 45 minutes. We pondered whether or not to go inside, but decided that we had lost too much time. We had an appointment in the afternoon that could not be missed.

Our appointment was to this place: The Warner Brothers Studio Tour of The Making of Harry Potter.

The series of Harry Potter movies was unique in that the movies started shooting before the book series was complete. Because of that, the studio kept all the props and sets intact. They had no idea what they would or would not need for later movies, so they didn't dare repurpose the sets or props like they would normally do. So when the series was finally completed, Warner Brothers had this massive Harry Potter collection. In what I think was a very shrewd move, they created this tour. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon there.

Bear in mind that all of these photos are sets and/or props from the movies. This isn't Universal Studios where they're replicas. These all are the real deal! And apologies to those who have not seen the films. This blog is likely to be a bit boring. (Hi Mom! 😉 )

The cupboard under the stairs!

You had to wait to be admitted to the backstage area, so it was quite a crowd moving through the Great Hall. Luckily, it thinned out as you moved through the exhibit. Otherwise I would have lost my mind being surrounded by that many people.

I liked that they put the complete costumes on mannequins. It was a nice way to have them on display, rather than in a cabinet or something. This, of course, is Hagrid.

Snape! I can't say I loved the character, in and of itself. I mean, but he was played by the late, great Alan Rickman. I adored Alan Rickman. I'm still sad that he's gone.

And here's Dumbledore. I think this was the late Richard Harris's costume. He was leaner than his successor, Michael Gambon.

Minerva McGonagal. I loved Minerva, and I suspect a good portion of that admiration is that I love Maggie Smith.

Professor Flitwick, Mad Eye Moody, and Sybil Trelawney, played by Warwick Davis, Brendan Gleason, and Emma Thompson, respectively.

A prop from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Ron Weasley's formal robes from Goblet of Fire.

The ceiling section of the bridge to Hogwarts.

The moving stairs and the gallery of portraits.

The life mask of Timothy Spall, who played Peter Pettigrew.

The Leaky Cauldron!

A panoramic of the boy's bedroom in House Gryffindor.

Harry's bed as noted by the HP trunk under it.

A display of the wands used by the different characters. Be sure to click on it to see the photo at its original size. It's better for looking at the wands' details.

The original portrait of the Fat Lady, who guarded the entrance to Gryffindor. The Fat Lady was played by Dawn French in later films.

Gryffindor Common Room.

The entrance to Dumbledore's office. Do you know the password?

The Pensieve

The potions classroom with (I think) Horace Slughorn, played by Jim Broadbent.

Potions class was a big set. There's Snape again.

I found this interesting for a couple of reasons. One, the obvious reason, is this location isn't that far from where I live. Two, Glencoe Village is also where a good portion of the crime series, The Loch (or Loch Ness, as it's known in the States) was filmed.

Hagrid's cottage. There's Fang in the foreground.

The door from Chamber of Secrets

The flying Ford Anglia from Chamber of Secrets (and the bit of the Womping Willow that smacked it).

The Burrow: Home to the Weasley family.

They're having a sale over in Nocturne Alley.

Malfoy Manor from the first part of Deathly Hallows. Here the Deatheaters gather with Voldemort and Nagini has been dispatched to take care of Professor Charity Burbage.

The very pink office of Dolores Umbridge.

Harry and Ron on the Hogwart's Express, plus their loot from the snack trolley.

The bridge on the backlot.

The Night Bus

The Potter family home in Godrick's Hollow after the night Voldemort killed Harry's parents.

The Dursley lounge with all of the Hogwart's letters Uncle Vernon tried to keep from reaching Harry.

One of the Wizard Chess rooks.

Warwick Davis's life mask, as well as the various prosthetics created for him. Warwick played several characters in the series.

Fawkes, the Phoenix. I love his name. But then, I'm a British history geek.

The Hungarian Horntail dragon faced by Harry in the Triwizard Tournament. And Kreacher, the house elf for the Black family on the bottom right.

The Horntail's head

Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother.

A dementor

Another view of the Horntail and Kreacher

Thestral momma and her foal. Thestrals pull the carriages that take students (except for First Years) from the train station to Hogwarts. Only those who have seen death can actually see a Thestral.

Head (both literally and figuratively) of Beauxbaton, the French school of witchcraft and wizardry, Madame Maxime. She was a giant, and Hagrid's sweetheart.