Harry Potter Warner Brothers Tour

The Warner Brothers lot is about 40 minutes more or less north of London. One way to get there is the Harry Potter Bus from Golden tours. I think it was over £100 pounds for 4 people so I decided to take the tube since I had my Oyster card to Euston station. We then got off to take the train to Watford. It was very easy and quick as these trains are high speed trains and so quiet. I went to the ticket window and the clerk right away said "Oh, are you going to Watford?" I said "Yes, how do you know?" In his cute little English accent he says, "I can spot a Muggle when I see them" or in translation "you look like all the other tourists who come through here confused and dazed looking". I want to say it took about 15-20 minutes and was about £20 pounds for the four of us. Once you get off the train and head out the station you will see a double decker Harry Potter shuttle bus which is £1.50 round trip.

The Shuttle bus to the studios.

Make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time as they are limited each day.  
http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk. You can not buy them when you get there. I got the digital guides
which include the audio headset and extras but really didn't have time to watch all the extras on it. It's amazing to see all the work that goes into making these movies. Every little detail and the amount of people to make it happen is amazing.  You will see The Great Hall, which you don't have much time in there so take your pictures fast.

The next part you will start your digital guide and can take as long as you want and as many pictures as you can.

Dumbledore's Office

You just can't take pictures when they are doing the green screen room. You can choose flying a broom or in the flying car and they have quite a few rooms set up to do it in.

Being that it was mostly for little kids I didn't do it. And my teens would be too embarrassed to do it because.....well.......they're teens with their parents. So it's fun to watch all the other kids doing it. You can buy a copy but I don't know how much it is. You then proceed to the backlot to see the Knight Bus, Privet Drive houses, Hogwarts bridge and you can buy refreshments.

Hogwarts Bridge

The flying car was popular with the little kids.

My son got the Butterbeer which is like a sweet cream soda with foam on top. I only had a sip of it as it was pretty sweet but I like cream soda and my teen son drank the whole thing.

You will then go 
through all the models and animatronics etc. which is very creepy at times.

It's so interesting to know that these actors spent about 10 years on these sets growing up and filming there. I'm not going to lie to you. I think I liked it more than my kids.
Ahhhh....Diagon Alley.

Even though my husband was never a Harry Potter fan he actually really enjoyed the tour. The greatest thing was the replica 3D model of the Hogwarts Castle at the end. Amazing! 

Came back and ate out at another Italian place down the street I think it was La Locale and then walked around Big Ben and the Parliament in the rain taking night pictures. Some of the most interesting ones as the London Eye was all lit up in blue.

Time for bed.....zzzzzzz.

The HOHO bus in London.

We pre bought our tickets on line which we turned in for tickets at their office. However it's very easy to buy them at the actual stop even with a credit card. You can get off at any stop and get back on. I think it took over a couple hours and my favorite section was "Fleet Street". I just can't stop taking pictures of all these gorgeous buildings.

Sailaway

Goodbye London. It was fun, it was real, it was gorgeous and it was magical. We hope to be back soon because 3 days isn't enough.

Now on to the cruise!

Southampton is about 2 hours south of London.

Food, drinks, sights, history, culture and experiences of a lifetime.

Our Sailaway drinks.

Guernsey, St. Peter Port

The Dining Room.

Guernsey is a small island a few miles from the coast of France and about 80 miles from England. I had gone to the website for this town and printed out a self walking tour I wanted to do which was only an hour and included Victor Hugo's house where he lived in exile for 14 years. But since the map was a little confusing with all the winding streets I decided to shortcut it and go to his house first. I'm really glad I did and let me tell you why. You go up a small winding street and his house is on the left with 2 big trees in front. If you get lost just ask directions and someone will tell you where to go. We got there about 9:55 a.m. And their tours start at 10:00a.m. But....they only do 10 people at a time as they are guided tours. I believe it's £7 for adults, less for students. We got into the 10:20 tour and were told to go  to the garden and then come back. When we came back someone was trying to get in for a tour but the next opening was 12:20 and that was too late as the last tender was 1:30 p.m. So my best piece of advice if you want to tour this unbelievable house is to get there right away.

 Our tour guide was French and at first I thought we picked the wrong guided tour as her French 

accent was so strong. I had to really listen carefully and concentrate on everything she said but she was a wealth of information. This house is amazing and all the stories that go along with it. 

It is 4 stories and every room is decorated extensively and unbelievably eccentric.

I felt like I was in a Dan Brown novel as there were inscriptions and codes inscribed everywhere. At one point she talked about ghosts in the house and at that moment my phone vibrated and powered off. So I turned it back on and then it vibrated 2 more times. The thing is I was not connected to any networks and not getting any messages or anything....weird! There are secret passages, hidden hideaway cupboards and stories about everything.  I was unexpectedly surprised and captivated by

 the tour. 

Victor Hugo's bedroom.

The Ghost Chair.

The solarium where he would write.

You can see the secret panels on the wall.

The stairwell.

His front door.