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You're ahead of me - I haven't even checked the weather for the weekend.... Ok, now I have and the BBC is saying dry for Friday and Saturday. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!
Well we were up good and early for our trip this morning. DH was at the Boulangerie door a 6:30 am for our croissants and pain au chocolate unfortunately it didn't open until 7:30. Even with the late breakfast we had two cars packed and ready to go by 8:30. My car packed with Two kids, the dog and the cat. Hubby's car has the rabbit and our other son. We drove towards Calais in lovely sunshine until about 30 miles to go when the sky in front of us was pure black. We spent the last half hour driving through hailstones and torrential rain. Luckily it stopped by the time we go to the channel tunnel. We checked in quickly but we didn't get offered an earlier train. A quick picnic lunch (eaten sitting in the car) and we were ready to go. We went through to train boarding and have never seen it so busy. We got sent to our train but stopped as a car and caravan was pulled up the from of the queue to board first. Then my car then hubby's car. The train then closed and pulled away leaving four cars waiting to board. We were very lucky being the last two cars allowed to board. We were in Maidstone by 1 pm and dropped off the dog, the cat and the rabbit. We then went quickly up the motorway to our hotel the holiday inn at Gatwick airport or so I thought. Turns out I had actually booked the holiday inn express 5 miles away. I was so exhausted I almost burst into tears but half an hour later we were checked in to the correct hotel a quick dinner at the Harvesters restaurant then we have time to relax before our trip to Westminster Abbey tomorrow.
As you can see below travelling is an expedition for us.
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Scottish Hogmanay (with a stolen Picture)
Last edited by Thomhazel; 11-06-2012 at 01:07 PM..
Glad you made it Ok - at least our weather was better than the other side of the Channel.
Sorry about all the traffic. I should've mentioned that it probably would be busy. School half term here was a week later - it's this week, so everyone's probably starting to head home.
Exhausting day in London today and boy the crowds were worse than WDW in peak season. I have never seen London so busy. Looking forward to the studio tour tomorrow. Will post properly once home too tired to think tonight.
We got up reasonably early and got the benefit from my booking the wrong hotel: ie a free breakfast. We took a bus to Gatwick airport, a train to Victoria London and then the tube to Westminster. We then joined the long queue to visit Westminster Abbey. See below teenagers have a knack of looking bored anywhere...
This is Saint Margaret's Chapel within the gounds
This is something i have wanted to do for years, since reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown actually as he describes Newton's cript in detail. We were not allowed to take pictures inside so i had to content myself with the outside. We spent a good two hours looking at the place where Kate Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge and the graves of the Tudor and Stuart Kings and Queens lay. The aisle at the abbey is actually much smaller than it looked on the day of the royal wedding.
Once we had finished looking around we went to the Cellarium Cafe for lunch. Westminster Abbey started it's life many moons ago as a Monastry so it still has the cloister where the monks would have lived and this is where the cafe is located. We have to walk through buildings built over 1000 years ago to get there however I'm not sure how much of the original walls exist. I was very very glad to have booked a table for lunch (WDW touring training in action again) as when we got there there were very few tables. We were actually first at the podium but by the time the lady came back from taking people to their table there were at least 6 families behind us (or should have been behind us but most had managed to push there way in front of us saying "what are you waiting for" despite the sign clearly saying wait to be seated. Was it bad of me to be secretly glad we were the only ones to get seated straight away because we had a booking? Just shows pushing to the front doesn't always pay... We had a lovely lunch and sat for a good couple of hours until it was time to go to Madame Tussauds museum.
Me at the Cellarium Cafe
DH, DD and Ds14:
In the afternoon we went to madame Tussauds which frankly we have had better visits to. It was enjoyable but I think the most crowded attraction we have ever visited. As we exited the main room there were so many people it took half an hour to leave the hall. There was a narrow corridor to the chamber of horrors which i bypassed with Ds9 but the others went through. DH got claustrophobic in the tunnel and felt like he was going to pass out. I really don;t know what it would have been like if there had been a fire. The attraction end with a rather nice ride (a bit like haunted mansion) through the history of London then a three D marvel super hero show.
DS9 with Spielberg;
Me and DH or so i dream ;
Pretty Women:
Me and Cheryl:
After all that we went back to the hotel and had a Mcdonalds for dinner. We had considered going to see my hero in Skyfall that evening but i am glad we didn't as when we parked the Cinema emptied as it had a fire alarm and the people were still all outside after our meal. And it was a cold evening almost freezing temperatures.
Not sure why i am getting the variety in the picture sizes as i resized them all to the same size.
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Scottish Hogmanay (with a stolen Picture)
Last edited by Thomhazel; 11-06-2012 at 03:12 PM..
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Sorry about the crowds. That definitely makes things more tiring and you feel like you can't accomplish all you want to do. Hope the tour is less hectic.
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Another wonderful day yesterday. We are so glad we are used to theme parks as the crowds were out in force again but we didn't let it slow us down. The Harry Potter Studios are wonderful and well worth a visit if anyone is traveling near London. It is in contrast to Universal as it focuses not on exterior theming but indoor sets. It is built in two large actual sound stages. It starts with a short ten minute film then we enter the great hall the actual hall where it was filmed. Some of the tables are set up around the sides with models wearing the actual costumes from over the years. Sound stage 1 has the Griffindor common room, Harry,s dorm, Dumbledors office, Hagrids hut and some of the scenes from the ministry of magic. There is also an opportunity to ride a broom in from t of the green screen technology which I did with my youngest son teenagers being too cool for that. Between the two sound stages there is an outdoor cafe selling butterbeer and other things where we had lunch surrounded by the night bus, privet drive, the potter cottage and the bridge that Neville blew up. sound stage two has Diagonal alley and an area showing how they created all the goblins and creatures. The tour ends with a huge (think almost Cinderella castle inCalifornia size) model of Hogwarts used in filming. You walk around it thought the wand room and into a huge shop. The merchandise is exactly the same as in Universal IOA but as the shop is purpose built and not themed there is plenty of space to browse
The main entrance:
Griffendore Uniforms :
Dumbledore:
The costumes and drinks from the Triwizard Ball:
The memories from Dumbledore's Office :
Dumbledore's Pensieve:
Dumbledore's Office:
Potions Classroom:
The Potter cottage:
The bridge Nevil blew up;
Diagon Alley:
Apparently smiling in front of olivanders is decidedly uncool...
Hogwarts:
We did an hours Christmas shopping which drained the last of all our energies and drove back to the hotel. we got there to find the battery in my car completely flat so we will need to find a halfords to buy jump leads. This is not however going to spoil our trip. We have the London eye to do today whether the car is fixed or not. What we can't fix today will simply become tomorrows problem.
I have some pictures although the camera gave up half way around the Harry potter studios as I forgot to recharge the battery. I think a new camera is needed before Florida in February. Good thing Christmas is just around e corner . I'll have to be a good girl and ask Santa for one
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Scottish Hogmanay (with a stolen Picture)
Last edited by Thomhazel; 11-06-2012 at 02:38 PM..
I'm not a big HP fan, but love seeing movie sets and the studio sounds very cool. I'm glad you're forging ahead with touring despite the crowds. Hope the Eye isn't mobbed!
Sounds like you had a great time there. I'm not surprised everything is undercover, given the weather in London some days. I hope you make it to a Halfords and get the car sorted Ok.
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I'm not surprised everything is undercover, given the weather in London some days. 
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