A huge day in London!
Kate had booked us tickets for Harry Potter Studio with a 12pm entry followed by dinner at Jamie's Italian Restaurant and then the West End Show 'The Book of Mormon'.
We are staying in an Airbnb in Greenhithe so we are close to Kate's friends and of course her gear. Greenhithe is about an hour south of London's center and Harry Potter Studio is the same distance to the north so we were up early and on the 8.40am train into London. Train, tube and two buses later we finally arrived at 11am. Early lunch and discovered that they aren't very strict about the entry time so in we went.
The studio was everything we had hoped for and more. The whole display is the actual sets, costumes and models as used in the films with commentary and interesting behind the scenes facts on televisions and some interactive activities.
As you enter the first thing you see is the cupboard under the stairs, then you enter the Great Hall complete with a real flagstone floor and the Goblet of Fire before you are left to investigate the rest of the studio on your own. The special display at the moment is Book 4 so there was an emphasis on the Goblet of Fire.
We then saw the boy's bedroom, the Griffindor common room, the Weasley's kitchen, Dumbledoor's office, the Potion's classroom, interactive broom flying, wand lessons, the Enchanted Forest complete with Aragog and much more before the halfway point where we sampled butterbeer.
We then went into the outside lot with the Dursley's house, The Knight Bus and the Potter's house at Goddricks Hollow. Back into the second studio we saw Diagon Alley, the workshop for the animals and an amazing 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts which was used for the castle shots. We had an absolutely amazing visit and I would highly recommend it if you are in London.
We then backtracked in to London for dinner at Jamie's and a stroll around Trafalgar Square before going to The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theater. This was Kate's third time to the show and I can see why she loves it so much. I hadn't done a lot of research and the storyline is certainly unexpected and out of left field. It is very funny and definitely not PC with amazing singing and dancing.
Exhausted but satisfied and home and in bed by midnight.
Looks amazing! Would love to visit it one day.
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