**Click HERE to look at pictures from our time at the Harry Potter Studios and tea time**
Both: Hey, everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: This time, we're mostly going to talk about our tour of the Harry Potter Studios, but we're also going to talk about tea time at The Ampersand and dinner that we had with some friends of mom.
Jen: Yeah, so I wanted to go to the Harry Potter Studios because I'm a bit of a Harry Potter nerd. I've read the books twice, I've listened to all the audiobooks, seen all the movies countless times. So we tried getting tickets on the website for the studio itself. We tried booking it through the tour companies. No luck.
Greg: No, in fact, I took a chance that a couple of hotels had packages. So I looked at some of the hotels that were in the area, and one hotel - a Hilton hotel - they had availability while we were in the area. And when you stay there just for a day, you get admission tickets into the tour.
Jen: Yep. So we stayed in a little Hilton hotel in Watford, England.
Greg: Yeah. When you get to the studio outside of the ticket office, they have big, huge statues of the chess pieces like from the first movie. You go in, and you sit, and you watch this little film. When it's done, the screen lifts up, and you see this massive door that invokes the feeling of being right outside of Hogwarts.
Jen: Yeah, it's kind of exciting to see because you know what's coming - or you think you know what's coming. So they ask the people in the audience if anybody has a birthday. And I'm not going to lie, I almost said it was mine just because I knew they were going to get to open the door —
Greg: (laughs) Right?
Jen: —leading to the Great Hall.
Greg: Yeah, the Great Hall, surprisingly smaller than you think when you see it on the film. But it is very impressive. I know I keep using that word every time we do an update.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: But it was not just the movie set. They also had mannequins with different school uniforms. They had various props that were related, all in there for you to see. But they don't give you much time.
Jen: No, I think we spent about 10 minutes in there.
Greg: Yeah.
Jen: And then they kind of filter you out into the next section. And a fun fact about the Great Hall - it's actually one of the few sets that was used in all eight of the films. And it's very well preserved for people to visit.
Greg: Yeah. Well, after they push you through, they do tell you you can come back in later. But what they're trying to create is a big empty Great Hall so that when the next group opens the door, you get that moment of “ooh and ahhh”.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: So you can go back in after that moment and still see more of the Great Hall if you wanted, like all the candles that are up above.
Jen: Right. The floating candles are there. But there's so much to see in the other part of the studios that you don't even really think about going back in there.
Greg: Yeah, I sure didn't, because as soon as you go through the walkway into the next set, it's immediately hitting you with so much great information about directors and cinematographers, costume design, makeup, special effects. They all had little sections that described who they were or little projects they worked on during the filming.
Jen: Yeah, and that's all right when you walk in. And I was getting a little antsy because I could see all the other stuff, all the sets that were there. And I was like a little kid ready to go.
Greg: Yeah, and it wasn't just the sets, right? There were also costumes that were on display, props. But, you know, there were some very im — important…
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: …sets that are very recognizable, like the common room from Gryffindor's area, the common room from Slytherin's area.
Jen: Yeah, Harry and Ron's bedroom.
Greg: Yep.
Jen: Dumbledore's office with Fawkes, the phoenix.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: He's there. He's there…like he's a real thing.
Greg: (laughs)
Jen: (laughs) And one thing that I kind of stood in front of like a little kid, it was Hermione's dress from the Yule Ball. I have always loved that dress!
Greg: But, you know, there were also sections about special effects where you could be in front of a green screen riding one of the brooms.
Jen: Another section you're able to go into is the Forbidden Forest, which, if you've seen the movies, it’s very dark, very…foreboding, I guess.
Greg: And they give you trigger warnings.
Jen: They do. Strobe lights, smoke, if you're scared by loud sounds, because it's all there.
Greg: And massive spiders!
Jen: (laughs) Yeah. So Aragog is there, the big spider. Definitely, people walked through faster after they got past him. They were, like, I don't want him behind me. Um, Buckbeak is there. There's a display where you can actually touch and feel what the materials they used feel like.
Greg: Yeah, which to me was the coolest part about the Forbidden Forest because you touch and feel it and it's like this feels like real tree bark. It looks like real creepy tree bark. And they describe exactly what it took to make it. It's like four phases of treatment and application of various materials, and then the artists have to actually carve to make it look more realistic.
Jen: So this Forbidden Forest wasn't actually the same one that they used in the movie. The original one was built outside in a bigger space, but it wasn't the kind of material that would hold up in an outdoor setting. So when the movies were over, they dismantled everything. But cool fact, the original set builders actually came back to the studio and recreated a version of the Forbidden Forest so fans could walk through it.
Greg: Yeah, which I appreciated.
Jen: Yeah, it's really neat!
Greg: So there was another cool section in the studio where you see the Hogwarts Express train. And along the wall, you have the push carts going into platform 9 3/4. Although the funny piece is there's like six or seven of them — (laughs)
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: — because they know that's what people want.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah. And it's really funny because we left out of London, out of King's Cross station. So at King's Cross station, they have a display of platform 9 3/4 with a very long line of people wanting to take pictures of this same thing. And Greg's, like, “Do you want to wait in line?” I'm, like, “Heh, no, I'm going to see the real one.”
Greg: Right…the real one of six.
Jen: (laughs) Yes. And I did take a picture there.
Greg: So you eventually get past that stuff and see a concession area where you can buy butterbeer, get butterbeer ice cream, get a hamburger, stuff like that. Jennifer got some butterbeer ice cream.
Jen: Yep.
Greg: And right past that concession area is an outdoor area that has the Knight Bus. It has the wooden bridge.
Jen: Yep.
Greg: It has the Dursley house, which you can walk through. They don't let you meander in the home. It's a very specific path, but still cool to walk through the house.
Jen: Yeah. So they have different scenes that are recreated there — when Harry Potter gets his letter from Hogwarts and all the letters are swarming the living room. And then there's part in his room where he meets Dobby. I love Dobby. So that one was really cool to see. But we didn't spend a lot of time in that outdoor area because it had kind of started raining.
Greg: So from there, you go through a spot that's dedicated to everything it took to create the creatures and fantastical elements of the movie. So whether it was special effects, whether it was makeup, whether it was special costumes, they showed, like, how they achieved that. They also had the display showing you how they made Hagrid seem so tall. That was neat.
Jen: Yeah. So it's really cool. We've actually watched some of the movies since then to see parts of it. We're, like, “Oh yeah, we remember seeing how they did that!” It was really neat.
Greg: Yeah. So the last area you go through is a massive model of Hogwarts Castle. It's to scale. It's 1/24th the size. It's incredibly detailed, and it is supremely impressive.
Jen: (laughs) I don't know what else to add to that. It was amazing.
Greg: Yeah.
Jen: It took up an entire room.
Greg: So yeah, I think we both had a great time. Even if you don't like Harry Potter, it is a terrific studio to tour if you like movies in general. I know we've seen the movies so often that it was neat because each little thing still resonated. And I'm really, really glad that we went.
Jen: Yeah. And this is one place we actually went in the gift shop.
Greg: Yes. They make you exit through the gift shop.
Jen: Of course they do.
Greg: And it is the largest exit gift shop ever.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah, if you can't find what you're looking for Harry Potter-wise in this gift shop, you're not going to find it. In fact, I was looking for - specifically - my house's Quidditch t-shirt. I'm Hufflepuff, if anybody's curious. But they never have any of that. It's always Gryffindor, which Greg is, or Slytherin. So I was able to find my t-shirt.
Greg: Yeah, also…everybody that's reading or listening has absolutely zero surprise to finding out you're Hufflepuff.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: So from the studio tour, we stayed at the hotel —
Jen: Mmhmm
Greg: —woke up the next day, caught a train back to the London area to stay at our favorite hotel in South Kensington.
Jen: Yay, The Ampersand!
Greg: Yep. But when we got there, our room was not ready. So we decided to pass the time by doing one of the tea times that The Ampersand provides. It's themed.
Jen: So the hotel is in South Kensington in the middle of the museum district. So it's really close to the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science.
Greg: The cool thing about the science tea is they bring out your tea set and then the lady literally says, “ARE YOU READY FOR THE SCIENCE?!”
Jen: (laughs) And we were. So the top tier has a little container of dry ice, and she pours a little bit of water in there. So you get the smoke and the mist coming down off your tea set. And then you get to discover all the fun stuff that's on there.
Greg: Yeah, they give you a little chemistry experiment type setup where you create your own fizzy lemonade. It's got little beakers and stirrers, and the ingredients are separate, and it gives you instructions. So if I were a kid, I would have thought that's the coolest way to start a lunch ever.
Jen: So one of the other really cute things that they had were these little containers that were covered with really fine crumbled cookies that look like dirt and a little brush on the side. So you get to dig for your own fossils, which they had little chocolate dinosaurs and dinosaur bones under the cookies. And you could discover those and eat those as a treat.
Greg: And of course, there's sandwiches and chocolates and everything that they normally had, the scones. They were all very tasty. But the thing that we remember the most is it was rooibos tea, which we had never had before.
Jen: Yes. And I guess after this and the chai, I'm now a tea drinker?
Greg: I think you are.
Jen: Weird.
Greg: Yeah. But rooibos is not actually a tea like we think of tea. It's like an herbal infusion of a plant that's native to South Africa. I think rooibos means red bush or something like that.
Jen: Yeah, I think that's what we found.
Greg: Yeah. So overall, it was an orange vanilla rooibos tea that I think the brand was Jing, and it was delicious.
Jen: Yeah, they have it on Amazon if you want to give it a try.
Greg: Yes, we've had Rooibos a few times since then. And it's also naturally caffeine free, which I appreciate.
Jen: Yeah. Greg usually looks for the caffeine-free stuff. Um, I just look for one that tastes good. And thankfully, this is one of them.
Greg: Other than tea time, the last thing to talk about in this update is when we met some friends of Mom — Paul and Sharon. So Mom and Paul both work in insurance, and that's how they got to know one another. And they hit it off. And Paul and Sharon have both come to the U.S. and visited Mom when they were here.
Jen: On holiday.
Greg: On holiday.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: And when she mentioned that we were going to be in the London area, they immediately jumped at the chance to meet up with us and we grabbed dinner. And I think what should have been just a couple of hours dinner, we were, like, together for four hours.
Jen: Yeah, I think we closed the restaurant down.
Greg: Yeah.
Jen: They kept asking us if we needed anything else and we turned around and the tables were emptying. So…
Greg: Right?
Jen: But we had a great dinner with them. We talked about travel. We talked about cooking because they like to do both. And they had actually just gotten back from Spain, I think it was?
Greg: Mmhmm.
Jen: So they were able to give us some tips because they've gone to pretty much every place we were talking about going.
Greg: Yeah, that was really useful. We also made an agreement the next time that we're in the London area, we're going to get together so that Sharon and I can do a lot of cooking.
Jen: It was a lot of fun and we're glad we were able to make it work.
Greg: Yeah! I'm sure everyone is going to be grateful now that we are pretty much done updating about London and the UK in general. But overall, I think we both thoroughly enjoyed the UK. The Scottish Highlands were probably one of our favorite places we visited in our traveling, but also just London might have been one of our favorite cities.
Jen: Yeah, I think so. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. And it's for sure one of the places I want to go back to. Plus, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to make a permanent home in South Kensington.
So what's the next update?
Greg: Specifically Belgium. Although I don't know if we're going to start with Brussels or Ghent or Bruges.
Jen: Yeah, because we visited all three.
Greg: I can tell you, though, one update is going to include a rather long rant about why Brussels Midi train station is the worst.
Jen: Ugh, you don't want to miss that one.
Greg: Yeah. So, thanks for checking in!
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
