Ctrl Alt Travel: London Sights & Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour!

Hey Everyone!

It’s been barely a week and I’m already in love with this place. I wouldn’t be surprised if I started having a British accent. Just kiddng. In fact, the stereotype British weather and British food is nothing to be worried about. Admist the double decker buses and the London cabs, I think the best thing I love about this place by far ought to be the architecture. It seems as if everywhere you turn and look, there is a fabulous looking building and you can just imagine a horse drawn carriage passing by. Here’s a sneak peek of what I’ve been up to, but if you want a live feed, be sure to follow me on instagram @roseannetangrs ;)

I was lucky to have taken a morning flight to avoid any jetlag after a 13 hour flight and the next day we scurried to Buckingham Palace to visit the state rooms and actually go in to see what it’s like! I went inside the Buckingham Palace (a rare occasion to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee or 60 year reign). I couldn’t take any pictures whilst there but it was rich, ornate, beautiful and probably reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles in France of which I have yet to visit. The State rooms are only meant for ambassadors or guests of the Queen and we got to walk their footsteps from drawing rooms to dining rooms.

Of course, such a London icon, the Big Ben. Apparently though the name Big Ben has changed to Jubilee Tower now. Did you also know that every swan in England is property of the Queen and if you harm a swan, that means you’re committing treason? Also, if you walk into any British pub, they must give you water if you ask for it by law. Below is the picturesque Picadilly Circus I visited today as well. I just came out of the underground tube (the metro train system here) when I looked behind and snapped this picture! I mean, I can just see the glory days of England back in the day! How nice it must have been to be a lady and look out your carriage and see that on the way to buy a hat or something! Lol.

If you’re a harry potter fan, you’ll be extremely jealous of me for going to none other than the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour! It’s where all the Harry Potter films were..filmed. Including the sets, the props and the costumes! Everything that went into the making of the Harry Potter films! To be honest, I’ve only read 2 books of the Harry Potter series. I’m not very committed when it comes to reading, nor am I committed with TV series’ either but truth be told, I have watched and have loved ALL the Harry Potter movies so coming here was pretty surreal!

The opening was unexpected and awesome and I don’t want to reveal that to you in case you ever visit so let’s just open these doors shall we?

Ta-Da! It’s the Great Hall – where the Sorting Hat ceremony was and so much more. The hall actually doesn’t have a ceiling and is then digitally added later and remember those floating candles? They used real candles at the start but afraid that they would cause a few accidents, they then replaced them with motorised candles and deleted any attachments that would give it away!

To be honest, I am just so amazed at how much detail went into every single thing in creating this movie. They built every single thing (more than we think they would) with hundreds and thousands of props each with their own detailed design for the movie and even more that were created but never were shown. It is just mind blowing really when you visit and see that even EVERY single painting that goes up on the walls was actually painted by a person and not prints. Real oil paintings! Every single one of them!

The sets were also scattered with costumes worn by the Harry Potter stars – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. It was a 10 year gig and they’ve grown so much from the first movie to the last!

The famous Diagon Alley! The actual Diagon Alley where they filmed!

And of course there was a lot of behind the scenes going on as well, especially with make-up wigs and face masks to create the different creatures that you see in the movie. They had to take the different actors and mould fixings of their character on.

But seriously, I think a lot of the credit goes to the architects and designers. You should have seen this massive room covered from ceiling to floor of all the blueprints they did for the sets, costumes and props. It is crazy!

And of course, hate to break it to you, but the Hogwarts castle never existed. To shoot the shots with an aerial view, they used this massive model and then digitally added snow or summer. It was so beautiful by the way.

For a sweet ending to this post, I thought I might show you some derishious pastries!

Including this one we took away from Harrods today. Harrods is an old and very famous department store in London that back in the day was known to bring everything from everywhere around the world. This is the Devil Dog Cake from Harrods we had today and now it is in my tummy.

Goodnight everyone, it’s already midnight here in London! I can’t wait to update you more on my London trip! Let me know if there are any UK brands that you’d like me to review!

Love,
Roseanne