The Making of Harry Potter.

12/6/12

WARNING If you are a Harry Potter fan and don't want any illusions spoiled you should probably skip this post.

Another early start and I’m not even bothering to talk about the weather anymore. If I don’t mention it, it means It’s wet again (or still as the case is here). At least I’m not in the south east, or in Wales where there has been major flooding - and this is summer. We checked out of the hotel at about 7am, Suzanne and Paige in the car and me on the bike, and headed to Warner Bros Studios to visit The Making of Harry Potter. In a word AWESOME!

My girl looking pretty happy just after we walked through the doors into "The Great Hall"

This was a display of sets, props, costumes, animatronics etc that were used in the production of the Harry Potter movies. It's all set up in studios where they were shot. I must admit to having a tear in my eye when we walked into The Great Hall and Paige was soooooo excited. There really isn't anything I can say that would do this tour justice so just take a look at a few if the nearly 200 photos I took there...

Hagrid's costume

Dumbledore's and Snape's outfits.

Gryffindor common room.

Dumbledore's office.

I always wondered how they made Hagris look so big when he was riding his side-car outfit. Full size one at the front, Hagrid's on the floor behind.

Suzanne and Paige trying Hagrids outfit for size.

One of the hundreds of silicone masks on display. Guess who?

This is Hogwarts. It's a HUGE model constructed for the movies. Every shot you see of Hogwarts during the movies is actually a shot of this model. It's full of fibre optic lights and even has some miniature owls in it. The lighting changes from day to night as you watch. I actually got goose bumps when I walked in and saw it. It was bloody impressive.

After nearly five hours of Harry Potter overload we were on our way to Heather’s in Herts near Watord. Heather is another painty friend of Suzanne’s (and still my favourite face painter in the whole world) for dinner. Who would have guessed that there would be other people there as well? The food was great, the drinks flowed, and the company was brilliant. What more could we ask? After planning an early night we crawled into bed sometime after midnight.

Zoe Thornbury - Phillips and Juliet Eve

Heather Sharp, Suzanne, and Juliet discussing the business of putting paint on people. No, that's not water in Suzanne's glass.

Nina Oats, Heather, and I. Someone said "do something silly".

We left our bike and a ton of gear with a very understanding Heather and will crash there for a few nights when we get back from Paris to prepare the bike. It’s almost there but just needs a few small tweaks. Tomorrow we fly to Barcelona. This will be a holiday because believe it or not, after only nineteen days away, we are all absolutely exhausted. I need sunshine, I need a rest, and I need some Tapas.

I love Barcelona and think it will be just what the doctor ordered.