Harry Potter Studio Tour, Leavesden

Hiya! Sorry, I already wanted to do this post last weekend but then I didn't have any internet connection and I was lazy during the week.. but yesterday was my last day at school:) now I've got two weeks off.

OK, so.. I went to the Harry Potter Studio in Leavesden last Friday (14/12/12) with a friend. It was absolutely incredible and I really, really recommend it! They're still saying they'll be closing in 

March '13 but my friend and me reckon they're going to announce it's getting extended.. We both really want to go again and they've probably made millions! For an adult it costs 28£ but we had to pay 55 quid each and a bus with GoldenTours from Buckingham Palace Road to Leavesden was included

In the morning I had to get up at 5 o'clock again but my friend's dad drove us into town, which was really nice and made it much easier. Our coach left at 6.45 from Colston Hall (the Mcfly concert is going to be there). We went with megabus not with national express like last time I went to London. We payed about 35£ for a return for the both of us. I reckon megabus is less expensive than national express (I also got some % off because of my NUS card;)), but it also was less comfortable. When you drive with national express, they bring you from one place to another without any kinds of stopovers. When we got on the coach in Bristol, it drove there from Cardiff and was already quite packed. We also had another stop at Bristol UWE. 

When we arrived in London at the Victoria coach station we had one hour to waste. Then we took the bus to Leavesden. It was really cool. I think they were built especially for the HP tour. They were very modern and they played HP soundtracks throughout the whole trip - it took us about one and a half hours. Then we finally arrived:)

everything was decorated for Christmas especially:)

Our tour started at 1pm and there was a big queue, but we only had to queue for about 10 minutes. They lead us into a room - maybe about 50 of us? hard to say. We got shown a film and then..

 the Great Hall was revealed

This post might be an overdose of photos.. oh well.

Afterwards they lead us into the next room, where all kinds of differents sets were put up:

Gryffindor common room

 the boys' dormitory

 ..and His suitcase :)

us in the mirror of Erised (=Nerhegeb)

Dumbledore's office

We also got the opportunity to pay for some 'professional' pictures, which we took;)

It was a bit weird pretending to be flying a car in front of a green screen but it was worth it. The pictures were pretty expensive but we bought four together for 20, so it wasn't too bad. We also took pictures flying a broom.

yap, I took photos of photos of animals:)

 

... then we went outside:)

 We bought some butterbeer!! It looks so strange but actually tastes really really good. The foamy part is really weird though.. it kept on building bubbles which then popped..:/ but still really tasty. 

She said it tastes like cream soda. I've never tried that, but I definitely will now:). And I also really need to do it myself. There are loads of recipes online..

where it all began;)

dementors

Diagon Alley!

hogsmead

the Whomping Willow

                                   

the Gryffindor Common Room

 There were some really amazing paintings:

And the most incredible thing came at last: 

All of the wide shots of the castle were made with this model apparently. They just put it in front of a green screen.

Then we got into a room with wands all around. All the people on the labels were working on the films in some way:) There was some bloke working there who showed you where someone with your first name was.. quite cool job:P. 

Dumbledore:)

and J.K. Rowling

All the employees were really lovely actually and it didn't seem acted.. They genuinely seemed really happy working there.

We had to catch the bus back to London at 4.15pm so we spent about 3 hours 45 mins at the studio. We spent the last hour at the shop though:). It was really cool but some of it was ridiculously expensive. You could buy Dumbledore's robe for about 300 quid! And there was some really useless stuff:P :

 Wands cost about 20£ as well:/

They also sold a notebook with the Harry Potter Leavesden Studio logo on the front of it for nearly 20£! That's more expensive than an actual Harry Potter book! I actually only bought some sweets (a chocolat frog and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans)

We took the bus back to London and arrived at about 6 o'clock.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend xx

Christmasy

I flippin went to the Harry Potter WB Studio Tour yesterday! Was incredible!! But I'll have to do a separate post on it, too many photos;)

OK, sooo... HELLO!
Nothing special happened otherwise.
The floods have been much worse than I was expecting. Big parts of Keynsham, where my host mum works, village next to Willsbridge, was very flooded. We had to watch people getting pulled out of their cars... was quite bad. The whole of South Gloucestershire was flooded rather hard. Oh, and the field, where the Cadbury chocolate factory is, was flooded as well. And there, they want to demolish the factory and build houses... people here say, houses get built on flood areas and they sell them on without telling the buyer and then when it comes, they aren't insured. Sounds bad:/
It hasn't been raining much the last few weeks though.. I'm really glad as my umbrella broke about a month ago and I still haven't replaced it. It's been getting really cold though but still no snow in sight:(.. but more than enough frost:

I didn't go to the Bath market after all. I would have loved to go to, but it only was on until the ninth of December.. I did go to the German one in Bristol loads though. I went into town with my German friend a few times. She found my blog so I've got to be nice just in case;). We went to the St. Nicholaus Market. It isn't as much in the centre as the other one, just a few minutes away, and more urban:

... and then she took me to Park Street - it's a few minutes away from the centre and REALLY LOVELY. There are lots of vintage shops and the street leads from the Hippodrome (theatre), which is right by the water, to Bristol university.

 We also saw some Banksy work:) he apparently is a Bristolian graffiti artist.. really cool

Bristol seems to be in a very Christmasy mood in general:)

School has been rather good, I just keep on sleeping late and missing it.. which should change NOW. The holidays start on the 21st so we've got one week of school left. My goal is to not be late for those five days.. might even be able to do that:). Oh, and my host mum got my current grades sent to her (although we didn't have any tests yet, I think they're just estimates). I reckon I'm doing all right. I've got As in French and maths, a B in psychology and a C in English literature. I really enjoy English, but it is challenging. I like the books we're reading. Our subject for the whole year is supposed to be 'struggle for identity' but all the books we've read so far are quite.. kinky :P. We've read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle. I now have to do a 1100-word essay on The Handmaid's Tale and a 750-word one on The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. We also read Equus.. you know, the play Daniel Radcliffe was in;) the one about horses. Kinky as well. And over Christmas I've got to read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

And I'm going to the Mcfly concert in May in Bristol!! My friend's friend ordered the tickets last weekend:D.

OH, and I also went to the Winter Wonderland in London, but I think I'm going to put it in the next post.. far too many pictures again.

Have a marvelous December;) xxx