London Weekend for Potter Nerds

This weekend we were in London. We love London, and not just because we can understand the language and all the signs, menus, etc. Though, it's so nice to be in a country where there isn't a language barrier.

We planned this trip months ago, with tickets on the Eurostar train and the Harry Potter Studio Tour in the Warner Brothers' lot just north of the city. All in celebration of David's birthday! Yay!

Although the train turned out not to be the time-saving, aggravation-free mode of transportation we were anticipating, the weekend was a lot of fun.

On Friday, once we arrived (the girls missed school), we walked the neighborhood and headed to St. Paul's to climb to the top. I didn't make it, thanks to my fear of heights or, more specifically, falling, but the rest of the family did and got some great photos.

On Saturday, we spent the morning getting lost in Harrods, including buying a few souvenirs and holiday gifts. Then we had lunch with a colleague of David's near Seven Dials, one of our favorite neighborhoods for browsing. The crowds were in full force -- everyone getting geared up for Christmas -- so we were chased back to the hotel for a quick rest then the train ride out to the studio.

This train ride turned into the most stress-filled hour ever! Our tickets said to arrive at 6pm, but we were late leaving the hotel, the train ride took a lot longer than anticipated and we didn't get to the studio until 6:25. YIKES! I was so worried they'd turn us away -- after building up excitement for the trip for the last three months.

Thankfully, they easily allowed us in, and the tour was everything a Harry Potter fan could want and more. They had crammed so many of the props and bits of sets together in a series of rooms and we were geeking out so hard it was crazy. Every item we ooed and ahhed over. "Remember this from the movie?" and "This looks so much smaller than I thought." And it was hard not to fall in love again with the magic of the books and movie. For me, there was just something about thinking of the actors growing up on these sets for 10 years  that just moved me.

And we all tried butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream, which was a major hit!

We didn't get back to the hotel until late that night, so we slept in Sunday morning, enjoyed a nice breakfast and made our way to the train station, where we shopped a bit more and got back on the train to Paris.

The weekend was over so quickly, but so worth the trip.


Related posts:
All the London details for this trip
More London Travel (this was our 4th trip to London)

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