And hello again! Yep, this one is appearing not long after the last. I have some making up to do.

With the Potter shenanigans out of the way, Thursday held new adventures. First on the agenda was a trip to Oxford to catch up with some of Kate’s family. So off we went to Paddington Station, where we ran into this fella…

It was then on a train with Kate’s folks to Oxford, we we were greeted by Kate’s uncle and aunty. It was fantastic to be greeted so warmly on the opposite side of the world… meeting up with others when travelling is really one of my favourite things in the world.

On the agenda was lots of catching up, with some walking thrown in. So after a coffee to get started, we headed out on a walking tour around Oxford. I really love this place. It feels like it looks… old and reverent, but also young and vibrant due to the students. If I was to live in England, it would most likely be here.

The weather was a bit variable, but we had moments of postcard perfect skies. Our guide showed us around some of the more famous colleges, including some visits inside some. It really is amazing going in buildings 100’s of years old.

As we were walking and talking about Rhodes Scholars, an American couple mentioned about Bill Clinton being one. Then one of those amazingly coincidental moments happened. Who should happen to be walking on the other side of the road flanked by sunglasses and suited burly dudes? BILL CLINTON! Ha! And what do you think was the first thing to go through my head? I need to chase him and ask him about Icelandic Hot Dogs! But alas it didn’t happen. I would love to see what he really thought about those Reykjavik treats.

After our excitement and walk we settled in for some High Tea at Randolphs. It was a very civilised way to wind down our day in Oxford. Mmmmm.

With our day gone too fast, we bid adieu to Kate’s aunty and uncle and boarded the train back to Oxford, where Kate and I left her folks for our next destination… Iceland! Well, not really, but a taste of Iceland. We were off to see our band of the trip Of Monsters and Men again, this time here in old Blighty. Twice in the space of a week, in two different countries! Oh yeah.

We have listened to the album non-stop over the past week, and were really geared up for the show. The show was at the Scala at Kings Cross which I hadn’t been to before, so that was cool too. A 1000 person venue, it was actually quite cool, with lots of levels and vantage points.

And the band… they were great fun again. This show was even better as we were singing the words to all the songs. It was a strange one as their album is not yet out in the UK, but the audience was in the palm of their hand. Me thinks they are destined for some good things. Alas though, as I type this tickets are sold out for their Melbourne show in a week or two, and I don’t have one. Boo. Was hoping for 3 shows in 2 weeks in 3 countries. We’ll see what I can wrangle.

With that it was a quick tube ride home. Not often you’re the only one in the carriage…

Until tomorrow!

Hi all!

Again, apologies for the sporadic updates this week… things have been quite hectic. But let’s catch up by going back to Wednesday shall we?

One of the things Kate and I have had planned for a little bit has been a visit to the new Warner Brothers Studio Tour just out of London. “Why go there?” I hear you ask? Well, it is dedicated to the Harry Potter films. Get to go into the Great Hall? Wander Diagon Alley? You betcha we’re there.

So after a slightly lazy start to the day we left our apartment in Tower Bridge, and headed to Euston Station to get out of London and off to Leavesden. On the way we said hello to Caesar, who hangs out at our tube station of Tower Hill. Kate recreated a photo that has been happening with each visit to London. Who am I to argue?

From there we got to Euston and boarded a train (sadly, not the Hogwarts Express) to Watford Junction. There we hopped on a connecting bus (sadly not the Knight Bus) to the studios.

We were like little kids really. “Holy moly! We’re going to Hogwarts!” was the gist of it. We got there nice and early and had a peruse through the store (which was lucky… more at the end of the post). Of course we were going to try on everything… sorting hats, uniforms, and of course robes…

But then our 2pm ticket time arrived… in we go! After a requisite welcome antechamber, it was off to view the obligatory short film about the Potter phenomenon. It was cool and all, but get me to Hogwarts! Almost as soon as I thought of that, up went the cinema screen and the giant doors opened…

HOLY CRAP! It’s the Great Hall! And in we went to the real start of our journey.

Now the rest of this post will be mostly photos, but I will fill you in on parts along the way. The tour of the Studios is mostly self guided. In the Great Hall they tried to get us through quite quickly to let us loose but also get the next group in. Kate and I didn’t have a bar of that… we weren’t rushing for anyone! So we started our epic stroll through the Potter universe.

The Great Hall was pretty impressive… still set up with food from a banquet, as well as school uniforms, teachers outfits, and the rest of the detail you would expect (except for the ever-changing roof… for that we had to use our imagination). We soaked up every detail and then moved into the main soundstage.

The studio tour is made of 3 main parts… first is the Great Hall then the main sound stage. And holy moly, it was chock full of things, both big and small. This set consisted of minor sets within, including things like the Gryffindor common room, sleeping quarters, Dumbledore’s Office, Hagrid’s Hut, Potion Class Room, Umbridge’s Office, Ministry of Magic… you name it. But along with this was every little detail and piece you could think of.

By the time we got through this section at least 2.5 hours had passed. This opened up into the small outdoor section where we could hitch a ride on the Knight Bus, pop into Privet Drive and visit the Dursleys, check out the giant chess pieces, and have a refreshment. What did we have? Butterbeer of course!

I must say, it is a bit of a scam I reckon. Virtually everybody bought a Butterbeer. Of course you would! But it seemed that many cups were being left unfinished. Our photo essay tells the tale…

But of course I drank all mine, as well as half of Kate’s. In fact by the end of it I got the taste for it I think. Very creamy soda-ish.

From here it was into the 3rd section, which was the other main sound stage area. This one was smaller than the first and dedicated mainly to creature designs to start. Then we turned the corner… and we were in Diagon Alley! Woot! It was very cool to swing by Ollivander’s and the other stores. Alas, no one was there to let these wizards find their wands.

After a brief wander through an area full of production art, we were greeted with what I thought was the most amazing and jawdropping part… and full detailed model of Hogwarts that is used for many camera shots that are mixed in with visual effects. The scale of this thing was amazing, a storey or two high and full of amazing detail. It took my breath away. Talk about saving the best to last.

Which is where we were. The last room was quite sweet, full of wand boxes with names on the end for the 1000’s of cast and crew that worked on the movies. It was fun to search them for all the well-known names.

And with that we were done. We started at 2pm and it was after 7pm by the time we finished. Time to rock the store. But it was then we heard an announcement we hadn’t considered… “A reminder that the last bus to the tran station will be departing at 7:35pm”. Crap! 15 minutes to shop! Luckily we had scoped some things out before we started, so a quick dash to buy up and then a run to the bus, goodies in tow. A rushed end to a magic day. If only we had brought our Nimbus 2000’s we could have just flown home…

Hello again from London!

Sorry about the sporadic updates… it seems we are just getting up to too many shenanigans in London to find time to do a proper go through of photos and post. First world problems hey? But don’t fear! I shall soon update you with tales of Harry Potter and drinking Butterbeer (Matt says “Yum!”, Kate says “Are you insane?!”), Oxford and almost chatting with Bill Clinton about Icelandic Hot Dogs, and good times losing our voices at the Of Monsters And Men concert.

Will update with pics as soon as I can! But now it is time to hit the streets of London town and enjoy some British Museum, V&A and ole Will Shakespeare. Back soon.

Hey all. Welcome to my first proper post from London! These posts from here on in might be a bit sporadic… not because of lack of internet, but mostly because of lack of time. It is go go go! So this one is being posted a day late and today might be a bit late too. Oh well.

Tuesday was our first proper day here in ye olde London town. The plan was to ease in to the week, by catching up with Kate’s folks who had just arrived into London the night before as well. It was great to all meet up, and we decided we were going to spend the day down Greenwich way.

A quick sidetrack… it is so good to be back in London. I haven’t been here for 5 years, and is great to be back on the street, catching glimpses of Big Ben, walking over Tower Bridge. Things I’m sure Londoners take for granted, but I still get a buzz out of. Another is catching the ferry down the Thames, which we all did to get to Greenwich.

The main reason for the visit was to visit the recently reopened Cutty Sark. In my 12 odd years of coming to London, I have never seen it open, so it was a big deal, and especially for Kate and her dad in particular.

The restoration of the ship is quite spectacular and unique, with half the bottom of the boat inside the museum, allowing everyone to wander around and soak in the brass restoration of the hull.

Down there is also many figureheads from old ships that are quite fascinating (why have a dog on the front of your ship, or even Abe Lincoln?!). Kate took particular umbrage with one scary looking lady though…

We then had an opportunity to work our way up through the ship to the top deck. It was quite the sight. As you can tell by the pictures, we got up to shenanigans all over the boat.

After a lunch break under the ship, we wandered to the National Maritime Museum. I hadn’t been there before so it was great to visit another of London’s amazing museums. This one was probably not something I would normally visit, so I found it great to wander about. It is yet another museum where the vast history of the place is simply amazing. Included was a visit to the current feature exhibition Royal River, all about the Thames. Really very cool stuff.

Leaving Kate’s dad to soak up more of the museum, Kate, her Mum and I wandered back into town. Destination? The Palace Theatre to soak up some live theatre action. Of course we had to… we’re in London! So off to the West End. We had perused what was on before coming over and the one that got the vote was Singing In The Rain, an adaptation of the movie. Now when we bought tickets, the first 5 rows were a little cheaper than the other seats. How odd! I hear you say. Well, there was a reason. Rows A and B indicated “you WILL get wet” while rows C to E were “you MAY get wet”. Only may? We’re in!

So in we wandered to our glorious 3rd row seats. Now I was the more optimistic of the bunch… no coat or jacket in case of water. Kate and her mum were a little more prepared, a jacket ready to be lifted at the right times. Off we started, with the show being great fun, a really great adaptation of the movie. Then came the big scene… “I’m singin’ in the rain… just singin’ in the rain”… and the sprinklers were away!

Me, I was still “Bah! Is this all! We’re not getting wet!”. Famous last words. The Don Lockwood character proceeded to dance around the stage, taking great delight in kicking water into the front rows. You “may” get wet? I’m not sure there was every any “may” about it. I was getting it good! But it was all really great fun. We got a reprise of the song at the end of the show with the whole cast, just in case they decided they hadn’t got everyone wet enough. But it all added to the fun of it.

With that done, Kate and I headed back to our apartment for some well earned rest. A big day coming up on Wednesday…

Hey all.

Nothing to report except to say we are in London! Woo!

Iceland was a blast, but all good things must come to an end. Now is a week of shenanigans in London and surrounds. I think we are already full up each day and evening. We have even scored tickets to go and see Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men again here in London. Oh yeah! We are both loving the album so are mucho excited for that. Any Oz readers who are interested, they are playing in Melbourne in a couple of weeks. Maybe I’ll see them 3 times in 2 weeks, in 3 different countries? 🙂

Anyway, that’s all. No photos sorry. But guaranteed shenanigans to come.