Europe Day 3: London

Michelle and I were up early to try and get some internet time in.  The internet at Shaz and Ken’s is pretty much broken, so we thought we’d head down to Starbucks.  Luckily they weren't open and we went to Caffe Paridiso, on Shad Thames for breakfast instead.  Shaz and Ken joined us a bit later, and after we finished coffees and breakfast we caught the tube to Hampstead.

Choosing the lift up instead of the spiral staircase (Hampstead underground is the deepest tube tunnel, some 15 stories down I believe) we came out into the light and onto the streets of a beautiful village.

We wandered along the streets for quite a bit, then headed over to a church with a cemetery sheltering under tall trees, looking the true clichéd old cemetery with its weathered and moss covered headstones.
Walking in through the church doors we were presented with a beautiful huge cathedral, with glowing stained glass windows.
It was a quick walk back into town through a light drizzling rain to where we lunched at the Scrumptious Café; our bellies were filled with baguettes and soup.  I had a salted beef and brie baguette, which was damn delish.
The houses we passed on our way down to Hampstead Heath were amazing, beautiful tall Victorian, style brick houses with colourful flowered gardens.

We wandered the Heath, along grassy paths, across hills and down to a lake, purposefully avoiding the carnival in the distance.

Then we wandered across more hills to another lake where dogs played, a white swan with upraised wings chased his wishful partner from one end of the lake to the other, and a remote controlled yacht chased the swan.

We needed to get back to London in time for our Harry Potter Studio tour, so we caught the bus to Kings Cross Station and enjoyed ciders and champagne at the Grainstore. 

We walked to Euston Station, arriving with plenty of time for a pee, which cost me 30p and were then soon gliding through the countryside on a very fast and very smooth London Midlands train to Watford Junction.
Now the double-decker bus ride to the studios was another thing.
I think the driver thought he was driving the night bus!
We sat up the top, right up at the front, and I don’t know how we didn’t collect any number of cars as we drove through the narrow streets.
The low hanging trees along the way were less fortunate, crashing into the top of the bus as we flew down the streets towards Warner Bros.

The studio tour was quite simply amazing; it was a fitting homage to the Harry Potter universe.  A number of the sets from the movie were there: starting with the Great Hall from Hogwarts with tables all set, and the wizarding teachers at the far end to welcome us in.

We passed the Gates to Hogwarts, Dumbledore’s office, Gryffindor’s boy’s bedroom, the common room, Snape’s potions, Hagrid’s House; the list went on.
There were endless displays of costumes from the movies, creature effects, 4 Privot Drive with the opportunity to take a selfie with Hedwig, butter beer, the Night Bus, the Anglia, chess pieces and a walk through Diagon Alley.
But the highlight had to be the huge scale model of Hogwarts: words or even pictures can do it no justice.  Simply amazing.

Check out all the photo highlights here