Sazz In The City: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!!

WHOO HOO!!! Its Hogwarts time!!

Its crazy that time has flown by so quickly and its already our last day in London before heading up to Edinburgh. Check-out time from Beaufort House was 11am so we had to make sure we were all packed up and ready to leave by then, even though we didnt need to meet our coach for the Harry Potter tour until 12.30pm. So that left enough time for a fairly leisurely breakfast (make sure no bacon goes to waste!) before thanking the hotel staff, leaving our bags with them for the day and heading out.

Grabbing a cab, we had one surprise destination for G.Squid, before heading off to the coach station - and it mirrored a pilgrimage that I'd also taken about 3yrs earlier. G.Squid had no idea until we were going until we pulled up outside.....Speedy's Cafe!!!

Now, at this point, I would imagine most of you are scratching your heads and wondering what on earth I'm on about. But for the couple of you that do get it - yes, we did get a picture of the door off to the left. And yes. The door knocker was crooked. And no, we didn't see him - he's obviously off solving crimes somewhere! Unlike last time I was at Speedy's, unfortunately this time they didn't have any souvenir mugs for sale - which, given the season premiere a couple of nights ago, was really poor planning on their part! Probably at least a third of the people in the cafe were there for the same reasons we were!

Waiting for Mycroft

G.Squid and famous door plus random customer (also
a superfan!)

Anyway, Sherlock pilgrimage over, we hopped on the tube and headed back to Victoria station (again) then walked the short distance to our good friend Evan Evans' office again to meet with the coach. Although the guy wasn't as completely psycho as Salvatore, after we had all gotten on board the bus (and somehow, remarkably, even though we were among the last to get on, ManpanionTM and I ended up in the front seats!!), he took a great deal of pleasure telling us just how much pleasure he would actually leaving anyone who was late behind. I'm sure his interview with the tour company probably went something like this:

Mr.Evans: Can you drive a coach?
Coachie: Yes.
Mr. Evans: Do you have unresolved abandonment issues from childhood?
Coachie: Yes.
Mr. Evans: Are you a sadistic bastard?
Coachie: Yes.
Mr. Evans: When can you start?

So we were obviously in the very best of hands again today. Unlike our marathon tour from yesterday, there wasn't going to be quite so much driving today, as the Harry Potter studios are only about an hour's drive outside of London. And, like yesterday, traffic was still pretty light. As a result, we actually got to the studios a good 40mins or so ahead of schedule, around 2.15pm whereas our timed entry ticket wasn't until 3pm. But - not to worry!! Gift shop to the rescue!!

G.Squid was almost beyond herself with excitement - and the rest of us were looking forward to the experience too. For those of you not familiar with the attraction, its basically the set where the Harry Potter films were made and, as you'll be able to see from the ton of pictures I took below, its pretty bloody cool! Here's the link to their website: https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/home and a description of what we were going to see:

THE STUDIO TOUR

The Harry Potter film series made Leavesden its home for more than ten years. As the books were still being released while the films were being made, the production crew saved many of the iconic sets, props and costumes that were created especially for the films - just in case they were ever needed later on in the series.

Once filming wrapped on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 in 2010, the production crew were left with a treasure trove of thousands of intricate and beautifully-made artefacts, many of which wouldn't have been saved on a typical production.

The team behind Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter wanted to preserve and showcase these iconic props, costumes and sets so that Harry Potter fans could experience the magic of filmmaking first-hand. Many of the original cast and crew returned to reassemble the sets and record their memories from filming, and on 31st March 2012, the Studio Tour opened its doors.

Set adjacent to the working film studios where all eight Harry Potter films were made, the Studio Tour offers visitors the unique opportunity to explore two soundstages and a backlot filled with original sets, animatronic creatures and breathtaking special effects.

The whole tour took about 3 hrs - and you absolutely needed the whole time as there was so much to see. It was a wonderful experience, seeing up close and personal all these sets and props and, well, memories really, that had become so iconic over the course of the films. Of all the stuff we saw, three were stand-outs for me - 1) that first glimpse of the Great Hall, as the huge doors were opened before us; 2) Dumbledore's office (I could see ManpanionTM measuring up for curtains - he wanted to move in) and 3) the remarkable scale model of Hogwarts that was breathtaking in its intricacy and beauty. I had no idea that many of the external scenes of Hogwarts that were filmed were using this replica model - i'd assumed it was all CGI. Just incredible.

Anyway, enjoy the picture gallery below - and if you ever get a chance to visit, go!! Its a cracking day out (and try the Butterbeer - its yummy!).

Next up - after the Hogwarts Express, its time for the real-life version.....onwards to Edinburgh via the Caledonian Sleeper train!!