Note: This is the third blog post of our family trip to London. If you wish to see the previous post, just click here.
Dear Friends:
After a fantastic day at Legoland, we continued our vacation in the UK. Today was a crazy day, but was so incredibly memorable. We began the day in central London. We stopped by a small shop to pick up some water, and found the selection of chocolate/flavored milk to be very interesting:
I love ALL of these brands... ; )
We made our way to the London Eye. This is a sort of giant ferris wheel, almost 450 ft at the highest point:
You can imagine the view from that height. As we entered the glass capsules (they each held about 25 people), we rose above the River Thames:
Just to our left was Big Ben, and the UK Parliament. The weather was clear on this day, so we had some extraordinary views:
The twin white spires just behind Big Ben are part of Westminster Abbey (that's our next stop)
It was a really fun experience, and as you can see, the view from just one side of the capsule was spectacular.
We then traveled a short distance to Westminster Abbey. This is the site of the UK royal coronations for hundreds of years. Before leaving for London, the kids saw the new Minions Movie. In it, one of the characters is crowned as king - it allowed us to talk to the kids about what takes place inside the abbey:
No photography is allowed inside the main Abbey, so I borrowed an image to show you what it looks like inside:
In an adjacent structure, they had a gorgeous display of stained glass, as this portion of the complex was recently refurbished:
These historic sites are doing a much better job of offering activities for younger tourists. Westminster Abbey provided a map, where kids could answer questions at various stations around the complex. If they managed to complete the booklet, they were awarded a giant chocolate coin:
Afterward, the kids needed to let off a little steam, so they played in front of the Abbey - I checked to make sure it was OK. It looks like they are all by themselves:
Next, we headed to the Tower of London. This is a very popular destination for London tourists...the crowds were insane. G-Man had his picture taken with one of the yeoman:
The main reason that we went to the Tower, was to see the Crown Jewels. You see, we had the kids watch "Muppets Most Wanted" where there was a plot to steal the jewels. L was really intent on seeing these Crown Jewels, as she wanted to see the princess tiara ; )
The line was particularly long...like Disneyland-long. Daddy took one for the team and waited in the line for a while...
Since no photography is allowed inside the Crown Jewel vault, you'll just have to accept this borrowed picture of what just one of the crowns looked like:
Buckingham Palace loans the Tower a few guards every day, to help protect the Crown Jewels. These are the guys who never flinch. We decided to respect them and take a picture at a distance:
We took the kids to see the armory - a huge collection of weapons and suits of armor, housed in the White Tower:
The rest of the day was spent on a most magical adventure. My wife is a huge fan of Harry Potter. She's the type that stood in line to buy the books at midnight...and then stayed up all night to finish them as quickly as possible. We LOVED visiting Universal Studios in Florida, to see the Harry Potter attractions. For several years, my wife has wanted to take the tour of the film studios where all of the Harry Potter movies were made. G-Man has started reading the books and is now hooked, as well. This trip, I decided to take everyone out to Levesden, where the Warner Brothers film studio is located. I think this was the highlight for my wife ; )
This was an amazing tour. They preserved so many of the original sets. They led us right into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, where they filmed each of the movies:
We proceeded through a giant sound stage, where they had costumes, props and complete sets on display.
Invisibility Cloak - ready for green screen special FX
Gryffindor Bedroom - Harry's is on the left
Dumbledore's Office
Griffin entrance to Dumbledore's office
Mirror of Erised - where Harry saw his parents
Just this year, they restored one of the Hogwarts Express trains. It's beautiful, with actual smoke coming from the stack. You could walk through the train car and see scenes from each one of the films:
Obviously, if you're going to have the train, you need to have Track 9 3/4 from King's Cross. The line here was not as long as the real station ; )
The studio was brilliant, in adding a refreshment stand at the half-way point. This place offered Butter Beer AND Butter Beer ice cream. For those that have been to Universal Studios, you'll understand why this is so good. It tastes like a combination of creme soda and butterscotch. YUM!
#4 Privet Drive
A little bit of Diagon Alley
At the Weasley Brother's shop, they had this delightful display of Weasley's Puking Pastilles - the little pills that would make you vomit, so you could get out of class. We had to explain this one to G-Man:
Overall, I was impressed with how much love and care went into making these films. The level of detail was astonishing. The preparation that went into creating models like this, before anything else was built:
At the very end of the tour, they showed a room with thousands of wands. Each wand box had a unique name on it - representing all the people that helped to bring these books to life in the films. It's amazing to think about how much work goes on behind the scenes...where your efforts may not be noticed, but they add to the immersion of the experience.
Finally, G-Man had a chance to ride on one of Harry Potter's broomsticks. He did a pretty good job. Here's a video clip of his flight ; )
If you can believe it, this was all in ONE DAY. So fun!!! Join us next time, when we take the family to Cambridge ; )
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