June 8, 2023
Dear Adventure Avenue,
We woke up and headed down to breakfast where we ate at the buffet.
Then we took the underground to the Victoria underground station and then walked to the Victoria Coach station to catch our bus to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour.
While I’m not sure I would recommend the Viator tour we took as it was really just the bus to and from the tour, the studio is a must see if you’re a Harry Potter fan.
Warner Bros Studio London
The tour starts off in a room where they explain the background and cultural significance of Harry Potter and then you enter a theater where you hear from Daniel Ratcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson on the screen.
The doors open up and then you’re in the Great Hall. One of the cool things we learned about here was the stone was authentic and not a replica because they knew they would be using the set a lot, so it needed to last.
Lunch
We had a cool interaction at lunch. We had ordered basically 5 entrees: 3 (giant) hot dogs and two burgers and each came with fries.
This girl comes up to my dad with her Google translate open translating a question in French to English, asking how much we paid for the fries. I answered (in French) they were included with our meals. She, somewhat disappointedly, goes back to her seat when my mom has the brilliant idea to give them our extra fries as there was no way we were going to eat all 5 cups of fries. I bring over one to them and tell them they’re welcome to have it. Then one of the girls comes over with a chocolate bar similar to a KitKat and says in French thank you for kindness. Then my mom tells me she’s not going to eat her cup of fries, so I take it over to them and explain in French, and they graciously accept them. It made our day to see them so happy about some fries.
They appeared to be on a school trip (from France) as they couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15 years old.
Second half of the Tour
Backlot
Outside the lunch area/backlot cafe was the outdoor and large sets from Harry Potter. The backlot included the greenhouse with the mandrakes as well as the Privet Drive house and Night bus.
Then you continue inside and see how the masks were made for the creatures, but in particular goblins who worked at Gringotts because next up was another magnificent set: Gringotts Bank.
The original time Gringotts was shown was filmed on location in Australia House, but for the second to last film, they recreated it.
Then you go into a room that’s Gringotts completely destroyed and you wait as the dragon comes to breath fire on you.
After Gringotts is another great set: Diagon Alley. Apparently, they also used the same set for Hogsmeade but just added snow to it.
Then we walked through some models before arriving at the last exhibit: the model of Hogwarts. It was so impressive!
We finished early, as in our bus was going to pick us up at 2:50 and it was 1:45. We looked through the gift shop and then rested on a bench.
We then got on the bus. Our bus driver said it was not going to go to where we were picked up- at Victoria Coach Station but at Victoria Train Station. Then we get near there and we don’t even get dropped off right at the train station but a block or two away.
Dinner
We then met my aunt who was going to meet us at our bus gate until the plan went awry. We met her halfway and headed to a local pub. On our way there we saw a place where Churchill had lived during his life.
We ended up at the Prince of Wales pub. I had my blackcurrant and soda again- delish!
After our drinks, we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant down the road called O’Sole Mio. It was definitely an authentic place as the servers hardly spoke any English, but the food was SO good! The service wasn’t that great either, but it made up for it with the food.
My aunt got an aubergine in cheese appetizer and my mom got a tomato mozzarella salad both of which were good. I had the Hawaiian pizza which was delicious. My brother had a mozzarella pizza, my aunt a veggie pizza, and my parents both had lasagna.
After an affogato with coffee and vanilla ice cream, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed.
Until tomorrow,
A
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