Cheers! It has been a crazy three days...with leaving Edinburgh and traveling to London was sad, bittersweet and EXHAUSTING. We only slept four hours the night before we left Edinburgh, so no posting that night. Last night, we were exhausted from another 20,000 fit bit steps so there goes SO...you guessed it, today you get it all the days in one fell swoop.
I hope you enjoy the highlights of our days. Please excuse any typos, I will fix them when I get home where better connections await!
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Leaving Edinburgh, Scotland, heading towards Alnwick Castle and Gardens. The sun was shining and we were off to a great start.
Lovely country side, very different than HIghlands. In the lowlands, farming is their way of life and you can see this in the rolling hills where cattle and sheep roam and barley is harvested in abundance.
Our trip wouldn't be complete without crossing the Tweed River to England, yes this was on the same tour all in ONE day. What a treat to be in Scotland one minute and then be in England the next. Now, I know what you are thinking, the "border" is just an imaginary one as now Scotland and England are all one big country but that wasn't always the case. It's like our tour guide explained, Scotland is a country within a country. Fascinating history, which has inspired me to read up on that upon my return to the states.
Alnwick Castle and Gardens
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as well as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, were both filmed at this location. If you're a HP fan, you'll remember the castle grounds where HP learned how to fly a broom with Madam Hooch and where he learned the rules of the ever so popular wizarding sport: Quidditch. You may also remember the many scenes where Hogwarts students and staff went about their daily routines. Harry and Ron also crash-landed the Weasley family’s flying car in the Inner Bailey after they took it from Ron's dad--Mr. Weasley. Truly a magical time for us as we stood in awe of these magnificent structures.
It's interesting to note that the castle is actually a "working" castle and home to a family! It has been in the family for over 700 years and an important part of British Heritage. We learned about William de Percy, the first member of the family to settle in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, that's a lot of history! Throughout the castle we saw massive portraits of family members through the years and we were happy to see current family photographs as well. Unfortunately and for good reason, we could not use cameras or video once inside the castle walls.
July 19
London
We arrive in London via railway. The trip was a wee bit over four hours and it was comfortable indeed. Once arrived around noon, we had to make ourselves familiar with the The Tube (Underground). Let me tell you, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. After lugging heavy suitcases and getting dirty looks from people for getting in the way while we huffed and puffed up flights of stairs, oh and standing on the "wrong side of the escalator, we finally made it to our hotel. By then it was 2:00 PM, yes, that's how long it took us to figure things out.
Once we ate lunch, we decided not to waste the afternoon and set off to the closest thing to our hotel: Paddington station where you guessed it, we walked to Platform 1 and found a heartwarming statue of Paddington Bear. I used to watch Paddington as a little girl and would wake up early just to see the show before school! Yes, I know that's not HP related BUT it is literature and I'll share that with my students. Next, we decided to take a detour to Hyde Park as it's just a block away from our hotel. That was another amazing experience, it's such a vast and amazing park.
July 20
London
Today was all about the Tour for Muggles and finding all the "hidden" Harry Potter filming locations which we couldn't find on our own. The city is bustling with people with places to go and things to see, not to mention all the twists and turn in the streets that can easily confuse a tourist like me with ZERO navigational skills (my husband can attest to this, poor guy). I have so many favorite pictures from this tour but my all time one is at the corner of the "Ministry of Magic" where Ron Weasley is looking around the corner of the street to see if anyone is watching. Watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and you will see the exact seen. I think I may have missed my true calling. If only I hadn't smiled in the picture but looked scared like Ron!!
The next best photo was Diagon Alley, followed by the workshop we attended at MinaLima where we learned how to make ----. The shop owners Miraphora Mina and Eduardo LIma met in 2001 on the set of th efilm Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets. They spent ten years working on the film series including the making of the Maurauder's Map, the Daily Prophet. They have a passionate understanding of the films and with that, the MinaLIma Design studio was founded in 2009. We were fascinated by all the artwork in this 4 floor shop. Wish I could load more photos but alas, I was lucky to get these up since the connection was awful!! Took me hours to load these few images.
Our tour guide was excellent, he knew everything there was to know about Harry Potter. The photo was taken at the end of the tour where the actual inspiration for Diagon Alley was born, according to J.K. Rowling.
