Connecting from London--Day 2

     Hi, Families!  It's day 2 in London, and the day has centered around going to see the "Making of Harry Potter" sets in Leavesden, England.  This location was a local airfield and factory that made fighter planes during World War II.  After the war, Rolls-Royce made airplane engines there until 1994, when they closed the factory.  Shortly thereafter, the airfield and hangars were transformed into a production set--the one on which the majority of interior scenes for all 8 Harry Potter films were made.  When the film franchise ended, someone got the bright idea to take all of the props and remaining sets from the production days and  arrange them into a "museum" of sorts.  We were able to spend most of the day there.   This is the main entrance to the building.

This is the cool double-decker bus we rode on to get here.  The windows are all covered with Harry Potter scenes, but from the inside of the bus, you can see outside just fine.  From the outside of the bus, you can't see anything inside.  Yes, I did sit up on the top deck--it seemed pretty far from the ground!
         

After we waited in line for an hour, we were allowed to enter Hogwarts through the front doorway!  That was very cool, but also weird, because it didn't open onto the entranceway like in the movies--it opened onto the Great Hall, where the HufflePuff and Slitherins House tables were set up for a meal.  However, the Ravenclaw and Griffindor tables were missing so we could all walk around.  Different "rooms" were stored in the hangars--like "potions" class, the Griffindor common room, and even Dumbledor's office!

Pretty cool!  The set for the Weasley's home and for the ministry offices were there, too.  We got to see one of the moveable staircases, too.

From there we went toward the "backlot"--the place they store things too big to be kept in the hangar.  I not only got to see the Hogwarts express at platform 9 3/4, but I was able to go on board!   Here's a picture of Emily standing in front of it!

After going on the Hogwarts Express, we went to the "BackLot Cafe" for lunch, and I had the chance to try a "butterbeer".  It really tastes like caramel soda with a lot of foam on top.  Richard and Emily liked it, but I didn't.  Too sweet!

On the back lot, we were also able to look at the "Night Bus" from one of the movies.  It is a triple-decker bus that had to have 4,000 pounds added to its undercarriage so that it would tip over when riding down the streets of London!  The police closed London streets for 11 nights so that they could take pictures of the "Night Bus" driving around the London streets.













Emily is standing in front of Gringott's Wizarding Bank.  She wanted to go inside and take out some gold, but she couldn't since we don't have an account there!

And what would a visit to Hogwarts be without a picture of the castle?  This is a miniature of the Hogwarts complex that they used during the movies wherever they needed a shot of the castle exterior.  Therefore, the buildings all had AMAZING detail!   It was an amazing experience overall, and one that made me want to sit down and read all 7 books again from cover to cover.
     That's all for tonight.  It's time for me to go to bed, so I can be up early for our "tour around London".  Shelis, I think we are going to see the Queen's castle tomorrow, and the crown jewels.  Check out this blog tomorrow night to see what we did do!  Good night!