Rocks/Stinks: London Edition

I'm a total Anglo-phile.  I love London.  I love the history and the heritage.  I love the accents.  I love the pomp and the Queen and especially the cute little way that Britain can't quite believe that they're not in charge of the whole world anymore.  If I could afford it, I'd spend every summer in London, popping in and out of our little Airbnb flat, riding double decker buses, practicing using words like whilst and fortnight and copse (Go ahead.  Look it up like I had to when someone used it to give me directions), stopping every afternoon for tea, and pretending that I TOTALLY live this way all the time.

And while there are some things that Britain rocks harder than Mick Jagger at a free summer concert in Hyde Park, there are some things that dear Mother England just hasn't quite mastered.  This, my friends, is my Rocks/Stinks list.  London style.

Rocks: Window Boxes

Seriously.  You could sling one of the Queen's beloved Corgis in any direction and hit at least one stunningly beautiful window box.  I mean, these things are EPIC.  Some explode in color as they cascade down off the sill.  Some are simple, relying on symmetry and shades of green and white to create a visual effect.  Whatever the colors and arrangements, they are stop-you-in-your-tracks-and-make-you-not-even-care-that-you-look-like-a-tourist-with-your-camera-out gorgeous.  Or at least that's what they did to me.

 

 

Stinks:  Bathtub Heights

You read that right.  Bathtub heights.  I don't know what it is about flats and hotels in London, but every single one I have encountered has a bathtub that is too high to climb into comfortably.  It's like the tubs are sitting on a platform or something!  And it's not just that the sides are too high.  The floor of the tub isn't flush with the floor of the bathroom; it's higher by several inches.  So you are stepping over the sides but then kind of up.  I don't get it!  

And I imagine that the number of bathroom falls in this city is staggering.  I mean, my legs aren't short; I'm an average height.  But climbing into the tub in London always brings flashbacks of my younger self on the farm, hauling myself over a fence and into a pasture, except without the planks to put your feet on and the soft grassy landing.  Instead it's just me shimmying in my birthday suit over a solid wall of porcelain that would be a more appropriate height for someone in the NBA and then landing on the bathroom equivalent of an ice rink.  

And getting out is just as bad!  There's a huge drop from the tub to the floor as you try to repeat the process in reverse, only this time you're in the buff and dripping wet.  Quite a mental picture, isn't it? 

You can't really tell in this picture how the floor of the tub is a different height than the floor of the  bathroom, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.  The smile on Knox's face clearly indicates that he hasn't yet tried to keep his balance while dripping wet and straddling a porcelain fence.

Rocks:  High Fat Dairy Products

People, let me tell you about the wonders of double cream. This. Stuff. Is. Awesome.  It is spreadable like whipped butter, but it tastes like a delicious, fluffy, rich whipped cream.  

(Momentary aside here: Cool-Whip is not whipped cream.  There is no place for non-dairy whipped topping in my life.  In fact, it shouldn't even be a food.  So if you're trying to think of double cream as some sort of British cousin to Cool-Whip, well, I can't even start to explain to you how un-Cool-Whip-ish double cream is.  In fact, if you think Cool-Whip is food, just skip this part.). 

Double cream is actually 48-60% milk fat as opposed to American heavy whipping cream which is only 36% milk fat.  I know.  It's an obscene amount of fat.  But it's so. Very. Yummy.  And then there's table cream (18%, so not actually a terribly high fat dairy product).  And clotted cream (55%).  There are all these delicious high fat dairy products in London that don't even exist here!  What is up with that?!

Stinks:  The Way the Spellings of Proper Nouns Don't Relate in ANY Way to Their Pronunciations

The Brits have this thing with dropping syllables.  Actually, it's not just syllables.  Sometimes it's entire strings of letters.  Let me show you.  I'm going to give you some names, and I want you to pronounce them.  Like, just go ahead and say them out loud.  Then below, I'll show you how they're really pronounced.  Here we go.  No cheating!

Leicester

Cheltenham

Chiswick

Worcestershire

St. John

Gloucester

Warwick

Cockfosters

And, of course, Thames.

Now, here's how you really pronounce them.

/Les'-ter/

/Chelt'-num/

/Woo'-ster-shur/

/Sin'-jun/

/Gloss'-ter/

/War'-ick/

/Cock'-fost-ers/  Yeah, I know.  This one is pronounced just like it looks.  I just think it's funny.

/Tims/

But, lest we Americans think we're above pronunciation reproach, remember Brett Favre.  Just sayin'.

Rocks:  Fish and Chips

I don't know how they do it, but the Brits manage to take what could be considered a children's menu item and elevate it to something other-worldly.  I love the crunchy coating enveloping the delicate whitefish.  I love the never-greasy fries (known as chips, of course).  I love the squeeze of lemon and the tartar sauce.  And I even love the mushy peas.  I know, I know.  You've probably never heard of that part, but I assure you it's a thing.  It's basically green peas smushed up with some lemon juice and salt.  Simple and delicious.  And they don't give you a heaping serving.  It's more like a little edible wasabi-sized garnish. 

It may be basic pub fare, but fish and chips is still a yummy choice.

Enjoying fish and chips with one of my former students, Michael, who was in London at the same time.

Stinks:  Washcloths

Hand towels are not reasonable substitutes.  They just aren't.  Trust me.  If you're going to London, bring your own washcloths.  Actually, if you're going pretty much anywhere outside the US, bring your own washcloths.  This seems like such a simple little piece of fabric, but, evidently, it's pretty much an American thing to need a six-inch-square piece of terry cloth to wash your face with.

Rocks:  Roundabouts, And A Whole Country Full of People Who Know How to Drive in Them.

'Nuff said.

Stinks:  Doorknobs on Exterior Doors

I'm actually not even sure why the British have doorknobs on outside doors.  They certainly don't perform the same function that I'm used to here in the US.  I mean, they're these giant knobby-shaped things located in the middle of the door that don't even turn!  They're strictly for pushing and pulling, I guess. What's up with that?  It's like they're put there for looks, just to see how many Americans will try to turn them.  Maybe there's a hidden camera set up near each one so that groups of British people in pubs can have a pint and watch a live feed of some Yankee grabbing a doorknob, trying to turn it first one way and then the other, then letting go and staring at it curiously while glancing up and down the street to see if anyone noticed, then trying it again just in case they didn't quite try hard enough the first time, only to give up and give the door a little frustrated kick before walking away in disgust. I can just see them there in the pub, laughing and shouting, "Look! She's bloody well gonna try to turn it again!"

If you look at the front door to our flat, just above the brass mail slot, you'll see the doorknob.  Trust me when I tell you that it doesn't turn.  And whoever heard of putting a knob in the middle of a door, anyway?

Rocks:  Tea

Well, duh.  Stopping every afternoon for a cup of tea with a little nibble of something sweet is a marvelous habit.  And, unless you're at the Orangerie at Kensington Palace or The Ritz or something, it's really surprisingly unpretentious.  I highly recommend it, no matter on which side of the Atlantic you happen to be. 

Completely, unabashedly pretentious tea at The Ritz.  (Notice that the picture isn't mine...because I've never had tea at The Ritz.)

Somewhat-pretentious tea with Amanda and Elizabeth at the Orangerie at Kensington Palace in 2011.

Completely unpretentious afternoon tea at Kew Gardens, near the home of King George III.

That's it!  And in case you didn't notice, there are more Rocks than Stinks.  And I didn't even mention some of my other things that rock like charity shops, cute little towns, and British brands like Ted Baker and Cath Kidston that probably merit posts all of their own.  But I'll get to that as soon as I finish my tea. 

Out And About On Our Own!

If you know me or have been reading my blog for a while, you may think of me as a fearless traveler ready to tackle anything.  I hate to burst your bubble, but I had officially been in London for a week before I had the courage to try to get around on my own.  Until then, I had depended entirely on Josh to get me around.  Our flat wasn't close to a Tube station, but it was a walkable distance to a couple.  Unfortunately, every time we traveled to and from our flat in those first days it seemed that we took a different route or mode of transport, so I couldn't get my head around how to get from place to place on my own for several days.

When I finally mustered the courage to set out without the hubs, the kids and I took the ubiquitous red double decker buses.  I love the Tube, but being able to see where I'm going while riding the bus helps me to get my bearings a little better.  Plus, I just love sitting on the top deck.

Kinley and Knox wait for the bus to arrive at the stop nearest our flat.

You can see from the picture that this is bus stop K which is what Josh always called it.  What I didn't know was that 1) the signs on the bus that list the stops DON'T use the letters as names for the stops, 2) the corresponding stop for getting off here on the way home WAS NOT just across the street as one would expect it to be, and 3) this is just one of MANY K bus stops throughout the city.  But, of course, I didn't learn any of these things the easy way.  I learned them on the way home when I had no idea where to get off the bus.

Here we are wearing blissfully optimistic smiles before our Josh-less journey.

While on the bus, Knox read and Kinley listened to music, trusting me to know where we were going.  Silly kids.

I knew which bus took us to Kensington High Street, but I wasn't sure which one would take us to Hyde Park.  Of course, the stops aren't helpfully named or anything like that.  So I just got off on the High Street with the kids and hoped for the best.  We had to walk several extra blocks, and we took a wrong turn or two, but against all odds, we managed to find our way to Hyde Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground.

Glad to be out if the flat, Kinley was willing to play on the seesaw with her little brother.

The centerpiece of the playground was a giant pirate ship.  Knox was in heaven!

When it was time to go, we found the bus stop where we should have gotten off in the first place, but, again, the stop for the bus going in the opposite direction wasn't just across the street.  That would have been far too easy.  So we walked out of our way (again) and found the return bus.  

We got on the bus, and Kinley and I touched our travel cards to the little sensor thingy beside the driver.  Kids Knox's age travel free with a parent, so he always has to hold my hand as we get on.  He headed straight for the stairs, and the bus lurched forward.  

Bus drivers on double decker buses have cameras so that they can see passengers on the stairs, and I'm convinced that they must get a lot of joy out of stepping on the gas just as we're starting to climb.  Knox, Kinley, and I clutched the handrail and hung on for dear life while the bus sped down the street.  Just when we all got to the top and began scanning for three empty seats, the bus lurched again, and we had to work hard not to land on either a perfectly lovely British chap, a lady reading the paper and trying to pretend that we didn't exist, or a portly grandmother with a very welcoming-looking lap.

We finally fell into our seats and took a moment to pat ourselves on the back for being on our way.  But then came the drama of figuring out where to get off.  Was it Holland Park?  York House?  Where was the big red K on the sign?!!!??  And why couldn't I, a seasoned traveler who's been to six continents, figure this out?!  

Thank goodness Kinley had been paying attention all week.  She spied the general area of the stop and promptly pushed the little yellow button signaling to the driver that we wanted off.  We hurried down the stairs and out the door to begin our walk the rest of the way home.

And I came to a new realization.  Traveling with my daughter is different these days.  She's now old enough to be my traveling partner.  She can notices things that I don't, and she certainly no longer needs me to hold her hand as she gets on the bus.  She's growing into quite a traveler, and, even though she still occasionally enjoys a seesaw or pirate ship playground, one day she'll no doubt be setting out on her own adventures.

I just hope she continues to pay attention to the bus stops when she does.

A Date with Her Majesty the Queen at Royal Ascot

When we were in London in 2011, we happened to be at the train station one day during the week of Royal Ascot, sort of a British Kentucky Derby (though they'd be horrified to hear me refer to it that way).  After seeing all of the people in their race day finery, I declared then and there that the next time we were here for study abroad, we were going.

Here are photos of some of the people headed to Ascot that I saw at Waterloo Station in 2011.

They look smashing, don't you think?

Each June, Royal Ascot takes place near Windsor Palace, and, since the Queen just happens to love racing and even owns horses, Her Majesty is always in attendance.  In fact, she hasn't missed since 1955.  Other races are run throughout the season at the Ascot racecourse, but only one series is known as Royal Ascot.

Before securing our tickets online, I went to the Ascot website to check things out.  Unlike the Kentucky Derby, they have a strict dress code and videos that they make each year detailing what's OK and what's not.  I also consulted a Trip Advisor forum and related blog post written in 2014 by an American first-time Ascot-goer to try to get the real scoop about what to expect.  (Some of the respondents to the forum wrote things that made me want to punch them in the throat, but I digress.)

Josh and I attended the Kentucky Derby with Daddy in 2014, and we had a wonderful experience.  The only drawback was that tickets were $800 each.  That included two days of racing, food, and drinks, but it was still a hefty price tag.  And we certainly weren't going to shell out that kind of cash to take our kids.  So when we started researching Ascot, we assumed it would be a similarly priced.

I'm so glad I have the fond memory of our day at the Kentucky Derby with Daddy in 2014.

But after considerable digging to find out about tickets, we learned that kids under 18 are free!!!!!  And even better, there was a discounted rate if you bought your tickets before March 31.  For £116 (about $183) , we could all go together!  These tickets would allow us access to the Grandstand area which is not as posh as the Ascot-members-and guests-only Royal Enclosure but better than the pack-a-picnic-and-sit-on-the-ground Silver Ring or Heath Enclosure.  (For more about the seating areas, click here.)

Now, the Grandstand is, quite literally, a Grandstand.  There are tiered levels with railings but no seats.  I had read that there would be some benches scattered around but not nearly enough for the throngs of stiletto-shod ladies vying for a spot to rest their aching feet.  We knew that the Queen was due to arrive at 2:00 and that racing began at 2:30 but that the gates opened at 10:30.  We thought that if we got there early enough, maybe we could stake out a bench to use for the whole day. But did we really want to get there four hours early?  In our dressy clothes and heels?  (Well, not the guys, of course.)  In the end, we decided to take the 10:40 train from our neighborhood which would get us to Ascot at about noon.  We'd hope for the best.  

Now for the what-to-wear question.  I decided that I wanted to get another use out of my awesome, one-of-a-kind Derby hat made by Luminata, so we shipped it over ahead of time.  I bought a new dress and shoes to go with it, and Josh and the kids packed dress-code-appropriate options as well.  If we had petitioned the American Embassy for the right to buy tickets in the Royal Enclosure, Josh would have had to have rented a morning suit (grey or black) and top hat.  As it was, Ascot protocol insisted that his coat and trousers had to be the same color and of the same fabric.  I'm not kidding.  It's serious stuff.

                            Here we are in our Ascot finery!

We took the London Overground train to Ascot station which involved changing trains once.  We assumed that the trains would be really crowded with race goers, so I was relieved that some gentleman gave up his seat to spare my high-heeled feet.   ( I did feel a little bit guilty as he was a senior citizen - or a pensioner as they call them here - but he insisted.  Don't judge.  Gotta love British chivalry.)

                                           Kinley doesn't look too upset about having to stand the entire journey.

The racecourse is a festive seven-minute walk from the station with loads of other people dressed to the nines.  

                                              I could decorate my entire life with Union Jack banners.  I truly could.

When we arrived at the Grandstand, we were shocked to see that there were still unclaimed benches right beside the rail of the track! We snagged one (and spent the rest of the day shamelessly guarding it like pitbulls). 

Kinley and Knox stake our claim.  Notice how few people have arrived at noon compared to later pictures below.

Since we had two hours to kill before the Queen arrived, we decided to grab something to eat.  Many people come to Ascot and eat at one of the completely-out-of-our-price-range dining rooms, but I had read that there were less expensive options (notice I didn't say cheap) near the bandstand.  We found a place I had read about that sells what is basically a designer open-faced grilled cheese sandwich and got some fish and chips to share.

Like at sporting events in the US, the food is pricey.

As the day progressed, I managed to embarrass my daughter over and over by stopping people to ask if I could take their pictures using my best British syntax and vocabulary.  "Oooh!  You look just smashing!  Could I take your picture for my blog?!"   Once I even threw Kinley under the bus and told the lady, "My daughter thinks you look simply lovely.  Could I take your picture for her?!"  Kinley was appalled, but she deep down inside she really did want me to take the picture.  I promise.

Some of the lovely fashions at Royal Ascot.  The girl in red, lower center is the one Kinley admired.

After looking around and having a snack, we decided to try to figure out the betting process since it differs from the process at US tracks we've been to such as Keeneland and Churchill Downs.  At Ascot, you place your bets with an actual bookie, and there are many different bookies trying to get your attention.  We decided to make a practice run before the races by betting on the color of hat the a Queen would be wearing when she arrived.  She had worn pink the day before, so I bet on yellow while Kinley had me place her money on peach/apricot and Knox had me place his on turquoise.

Knox makes his choice at one of the many bookies' stands.  The odds are shown in the white boxes beside each option.

Finally, it was time for the arrival of the Queen.  People showed up out of nowhere, and suddenly our lovely view from our track-side bench was obstructed.  So now we had a dilemma.  Do we give up our bench to get closer to the rail to see the Queen or resign ourselves to a view only of heads and fascinators but keep the bench?  Once again, I decided to throw a kid under the bus.  Knox stood on the bench to guard it (he couldn't see standing on the ground anyway since the rail was right at his eye level), while the rest of us got as close as we could.  This, my friends, is why we humans procreate.

Knox took this picture from the bench.

Josh took this one of Her Majesty who rode by right in front of us!  Her blue hat meant that we all lost money, but it made her easy to spot for the rest of the day.

We only got a glimpse of  her as she rode by, but we were thrilled to learn that this hale and hearty octogenarian spryly trotted back and forth from the royal box to the parade ring between each race so we got to see her repeatedly all day!

The Queen consults her race card in the parade ring before the first race.

Queen Elizabeth II speaks with the jockeys who will be riding her horses just before the last race of the day.

There were six races in all, and we bet on horses who placed each time!  If we hadn't bet on the Queen's hat, we would have come out ahead for the day.  Mind you, a big bet for us would be £5 and normally we just put down £2.50, so our losses weren't very big.

Free Eagle for the win!

Josh had put money on The Grey Gatsby (how could he not with an awesome name like that?) and on Western Hymn, so it was a great way to end the day!

After the last race, there is a long-standing tradition of singing 'round the bandstand, so we joined in.  They passed out Union Jacks and little song books, so we waved the flags with vigor and enthusiastically sang (oddly American) songs like "Sweet Caroline," "New York, New York," and "Take Me Home Country Roads" with 50,000 drunken Brits.  It was probably exactly what you're picturing.

And, of course, there had to be a round of "Rule, Britannia."  Even the locals with their songbooks in hand didn't try to sing along with the verse.  But when they got to the chorus, it was English patriotism (is that an oxymoron?) all the way.  If you can't begin to picture it, here's a look.

Before the last song ended, we wearily began our walk back to the train station since we were worried that waiting until the bitter end would mean standing all the way back to London.  We had purchased our return tickets online in advance which turned out to be a good idea since we avoided a long queue and meant we got on early enough to get seats.

We returned to our flat exhausted but it was a perfectly wonderful day and one I hope to repeat in the future.  But next time, I am totally writing the Embassy and Josh is so going to have to wear a top hat.

There's No Business Like Show Business

One of our favorite things to do in London is to attend shows, so we squeeze in as many as our time and our bank account permit!

This summer we started by making a list of shows we'd like to see, and then we prioritized them as Must See, Hopefully See, and Might See.  I started following Official London Theater on Twitter several months ago so that I would know which shows were on during our stay, and Josh regularly checks the Internet for theater updates as well.  

I had read that Bradley Cooper was planning a short run of The Elephant Man, and Josh read that Jonathan Pryce would be appearing in The Merchant of Venice.  Those quickly shot to the top of the Must See list along with War Horse (which Josh and I saw and loved in 2011), Matilda, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Knox has never seen Wicked, and Kinley wants to see Les Miserables, so those are on the Hopefully See list.  And our Might See list includes The Railway Children, Man of Steal, The Phantom of the Opera, American Buffalo, and Bend It Like Beckham.

Our first experience this trip was Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice at the rebuilt Globe Theater.  We knew that the Iambic Pentameter coupled with the hard bench seats would be difficult for the kids to endure, so we watched a short YouTube synopsis video made for kids before we went and rented seat cushions once we arrived.  The verdict?  We all really enjoyed it!  (And getting to see the High Septon do Shakespeare was pretty awesome.)

Groundling (standing) tickets are only £5, but I wasn't up for standing for three hours.  This is the view from Josh and Kinley's seats. 

Knox and I were seated farther up, but our seats had the bonus of built-in backs whereas Josh and Kinley were just on a bench.  We were all grateful that we had  paid the extra £1 each for seat cushion rental.

Next, we decided to check War Horse off our list.  One of the best-kept secrets in London (or any theater city, really) is that many shows offer cheap tickets the day of the show to the first people who show up to get them.  These are called Day Seats, and not all shows offer them.  I'm not talking about the Half Price Ticket Booth or returned tickets.  Day Seats are often front row seats that the theater sets aside for people willing to wait in line early in the morning to get them. There is even a website that lets you know which shows have Day Seats and what time you probably need to get in line to get them.

We got up early so that we could arrive at the New London Theater by 9:00 since the box office opens at 10:00.  We each took a book to read since we knew we'd be waiting at least an hour.

The girl on the left got there earlier and was first in line.  It was just the four of us in line until about 9:40 when several other people showed up to wait.

We ended up getting second row seats for £15 each instead of the published rate of £65 each.  War Horse didn't disappoint, and both kids loved it.  Knox especially enjoyed it since a recent visit to the Imperial War Museum has sparked his interest in World War I.

Next on the list was Matilda at the Cambridge Theater.  This show doesn't offer Day Seats, so we had to suck it up and pay full price.  We decided to take seats in the very back row to lessen the financial blow, and those were £25 each.  That ended up probably not being the best choice since we had to lean down to see some parts of the show and completely couldn't see a few things.  We wouldn't make that choice again.

The next show we planned to see was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  This is another show that doesn't offer Day Seats.  When we went to the theater to buy tickets a weeks ago, the nice lady there told us that they DO, however, change ticket prices at some point during the week.  For example, if sales are lagging, a ticket that might normally cost £69.50 might be just £49.50.  So we checked back on a Saturday just after they had changed ticket prices.  After our Matilda experience, we knew we didn't want the nosebleed section again, so we sprung for front row.  And they had been marked down to £49.50! 

And what a great experience we had!  At the beginning of the second act, Willy Wonka himself climbed out of the orchestra pit and practically into our laps as he stepped over our feet to walk across the front row!  He even spoke to Knox and me!  Such fun and worth every penny.

Next came three grown-ups-only shows - The Audience with Kristen Scott Thomas, American Buffalo with John Goodman, and The Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper.

The doctor from Downton Abbey played one of the Prime Ministers in The Audience.

John Goodman was who we came to see, but that guy from Homeland and Band of Brothers was in it, too.

The verdict?  The Audience was fabulous!  I know that Helen Mirren just won a a Tony for her performance in this show, but I truly can't imagine how she is better than Kristin Scott Thomas.  This was my favorite performance of the summer so far.  Love. Love. Love.

American Buffalo was not awesome.  There was a prodigious amount of cussing (not surprising since it was a David Mamet play), and nothing really happened other than a lot of talk about a robbery that never actually occurs.  Being on the front row was exciting, but not exciting enough to make the play worth seeing.

The Elephant Man was entertaining and enlightening.  (And, of course, shirtless Bradley Cooper is always a good thing.). The only negative part was that the ending is kind of an anticlimactic downer.  (Plus, Cooper starts wearing clothes in the second act.  Major bummer.)

We only have two weeks left to see anything else we can squeeze in, so Josh and Kinley are going to get in line Tuesday morning for Day Seats for Wicked leaving only Les Mis from our top picks.  On with the show!

Muggles at the Ministry of Magic: Our Day at Warner Brothers StudiosLeavesden

Are you a Harry Potter fan?  Did you stand in line to buy the books the day they came out and buy your movie tickets in advance?  If so (or even if you're too young to have been a fan before the last movie came out in 2011), you would love the tour of the actual place where most of the Harry Potter movies were filmed - Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden and The Making of Harry Potter.

We took two other fun Harry Potter tours when we were here in 2011 since the studio tour wasn't yet available.  The first was a guided day trip on a bus that took us to locations used in the filming of the first two movies.  We enjoyed that very much and saw places we would never have found on our own without a car since several were in Oxford and the tiny village of Lacock.

This room in Lacock Abbey was used to film Snape's class in the first two films, before filming moved to Leavesden Studios.

This poster at Lacock Abbey shows still shots of scenes filmed there

This is the cottage in Lacock that served as Harry's parents' home.

This is the real house outside London that served as Number 4 Privet Drive.  I snapped this picture just moments before a resident of another home on this street came out and yelled at our tour bus driver for bringing hoards of tourists to their peaceful neighborhood.

When we went in 2011, there was much more demand for this tour since The Making of Harry Potter wasn't open yet.  This meant that the tour operated more often and was therefore cheaper.  These days, you have to book a private van so it costs a lot.

The second was a walking tour of London sites used in filming.  It was a different kind of fun, and it had the bonus of getting us to other standard London sites - the Monument, Tower Bridge, the Millennium Bridge, etc.

Our tour guide tests Kinley's Harry Potter knowledge.

Our tour guide shows us the site of filming for the Leaky Cauldron scenes in the first two movies.

Our walking tour took us past a tower built to commemorate the Great Fire, commonly know as The Monument.  The Goblet of Fire was modeled after the sculpture at the top.

But today's adventure bested them both.  We spent several hours at Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden to tour The Making of Harry Potter.  It even outdid The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando, in Josh's opinion.  And here's why.  It was REAL.  Well, as real as a fictional world can be.  Real in that the sets we saw were the actual ones used to film the movies.  We walked through the actual Great Hall.  (Did you know that they used real rock for the floors in there?). We gawked at the multiple levels and shocking detail of Dumbledore's actual office.  And we were blown away by the scale and intricacy of the Ministry of Magic set.  But before we could enjoy our day, we had to do some planning in advance.

First, we booked our tickets online about a month ahead.  This.  Is.  Essential.  Do not come to London thinking you'll just book once you get here.  We bought the Family ticket which is for 2 adults and 2 children and costs £101.  We had to book a specific arrival time, and then we had a half-hour window to enter.  

To get there, we took the Tube to Watford Junction and from there followed the signs in the station to the bus stop for Harry Potter tours.  It costs £2 per person each way, and we had to stand the whole way since so many people crammed on there.  The good thing about this was that we were the first people off the bus once we got to the studios.  Josh and Kinley zipped over to pick up our tickets with our voucher, while I took pictures of Knox in front of the chess pieces used in filming.

Josh and Kinley pick up our tickets.

And Knox poses with the chess pieces.

Once inside, we presented our tickets since we'd arrived just in time for our 12:30 time slot.

We waited for at least a half an hour in the queue to get into the tour even though our tickets were time stamped.

We joined the queue to enter a large room where a brief video was shown and we were given a little speech about what to expect (no food or drinks outside the cafe, there are two soundstages with a backlot in between, average time to see it all is 3 hours, etc.).  From there, we were routed into a theater where we sat to watch a montage of all 8 films before being ushered through the huge doors of Hogwarts.

Josh and Knox enter the doors of Hogwarts!

I don't want to spoil the whole thing for you in case you ever do it yourself, but here are a few pictures from inside.  And my top tip is this:  TRY THE BUTTERBEER.  We tried it and loved it at Universal Orlando Islands of Adventure, so we forked over the £2.95 each for it here.  We opted not to get the souvenir mug since we already have one at home.

The set for Harry Potter's room under the stairs on Privet Drive can be seen while you wait in line to start the tour.

Line up the butterbeers!

Compare the set for Number 4 Privet Drive  (seen on the backlot part of the tour) to the picture above of the London neighborhood home used in the first two movies.

Kinley and Knox hang on for dear life on the Knight Bus!

Two final tips: 

1). It took us 5 1/2 hours to do the tour, but that's because Josh and I wanted to read all of the exhibits and information signs in addition to watching the informative bonus feature videos at many exhibits.  The kids didn't want to read as much and probably would have finished faster without us.  But they also were able to waste a lot of time standing in line for the chance to make a green screen video of themselves riding a Nimbus 2000 while Josh and I read exhibits.  (You can buy the broom flying videos, but they're pricey.)

2). Each child is given a little passport when you pick up your tickets.  There is a spot on each page to get an embossed stamp at locations along the tour.  THE EMBOSSERS ARE NOT BROKEN!  There is not supposed to be ink.  It's a 3D embossed image, so don't freak out when it looks like it's not working.  To get the best image, fold back the covers of the passport and just insert one page to be embossed.  Push down HARD on the lever to get a deep impression.

Have a great time!