Where do I even start?? This is going to be a very LONG blog post because we were in London for 6 days and were able to do so much there.
We got to the airport entirely too early....like 3 hours early at our gate :). We were told that flying internationally can take some time but it did not. Hahah. So Reese entertained us the whole time by going up and down the moving sidewalks pretending to be a taxi. Emma joined in and we knew Reese was going to bring a lot of fun that we wouldn't have had without her.
Here's the first picture of our trip Hahaha...
When we first got to London, we went to a rental care place and Cade dove into driving on the wrong side of the car and wrong side of the road. It was a little intense and crazy! We drove to the London LDS temple and even though it was closed it was fun to see. We ate at a very American restaurant :) and then drove back to the rental place and took a very long Uber ride to our hotel.
Cade had to get a picture next to his first rental car for not wrecking it :)...
The Tower of London was very neat to see. It is the oldest castle in England where many kings and queens lived and ruled. We saw the Crown Jewels but couldn't take any pictures of them. We also saw the spot where Anne Bolin was beheaded :/.
Then after the Tower of London, we rode a hop on/hop off bus and then visited Westminster Abby and Buckingham Palace. I didn't realize that Westminster Abby is essentially a place of religion and worship mixed with being a cemetery! So many Kings and Queens as well as other famous writers/poets/others all buried there. Hmm who knew??
Buckingham Palace was neat to see. Just with how famous it is. But there wasn't a tour inside or anything.
At night, we got dinner then walked through a bunch of shops and then went to see the musical "Wicked"....one of Cade and I's favorites. This was our 4th time seeing it and we still loved it. But during intermission I asked the girls "SOOOOO...what do you think??" to which Emma replied, "Ehhh." Like she didn't really even care about it one bit! I was shocked. Reese really liked it though.
On Friday we started out with walking to the Shakespeare Globe. We did (part) of a tour before we felt we needed to start heading to the Kings Cross Station.
Now here comes the explosion of all things Harry Potter!!! I cannot write in words how amazing the Warner Bros. Studio Tour was. It was absolutely amazing and mind blowing. I knew we would go and see some props and costumes but I had no idea we would be walking onto/into the ACTUAL SETS. It was so cool!!
We first arrived at Kings Cross Station and took a bus to the studio. When we actually started doing the walking tour that is where all the magic and tears started :).
At the beginning, there are huge giant wands that have traveled the world. So cool. Then you walk in and see the giant dragon hanging from the ceiling.
So they had us sit in a theater room where we watched a short 3-5 minute video with people explaining about the studio and it showed the entrance to the great hall. THEN...the curtain went up and there was the exact great hall--the huge great hall that they actually filmed in. It was soooooo cool!!! They had floating pumpkins and costumes and props all over. We were dying with excitement!!
Harry Potter's costumes (and his double). Harry and Ron's bedroom, some real wands used, costumes from the last movie, and the Griffindor Common Room.
Mirror of Erised...
Entrance to Dumbledore's Office...
Inside Hagrid's Hut...
At this point we thought it was over because you could buy snacks and food and we had had an amazing time by this point. But then we stepped outside to the KNIGHT BUS! It was full size and so cool.
Privet Drive, the Knightbus, Greenhouse with screaming Mandrakes, the flying car, and Gringots Bank. The bank was SOOO cool. They had to build TWO separate banks so they could destroy one of them. Then in the destroyed bank, they had a dragon that looked completely real that came out and charged toward you and breathed out fire! It was amazing.
Walking through Hogsmede...
The Hogwarts castle was amazing. The detail in it was so cool. Amazing how they could use that model for all of the far shots of the castle.
Then it was time to buy way too many souvenirs (yes, Knightbus pillow) and then take the bus home. It was such a highlight of the trip. So glad we could make it happen.
