Greenwich, London

Hello and welcome to the second blog on our adventure with my special guest Mahina who has come all the way from Australia to see the UK for the first time. 

Some things you might have seen me blog about before and others are completely new! So stay tuned and let's see what we got up to! 

If it seems like we got up to a lot of stuff, it is because we did, and I can tell you that I now need another holiday from my holiday!

** Note that this is going to be another co-author blog so sit back and enjoy the adventure

So after picking Mahina up from the airport and then doing the whole Harry Potter thing the first day, that brings us to day 2. 


Day 2: 

For Mahina's Second day in the UK of course we are heading into London. 
As it is her first time in London and her holiday time-frame is very limited, we had to put as much as possible into one day.

To get to London from my house it is a one hour train ride straight in to Waterloo. 

From there I just had a list of places to go and limited time to see them all. So we decided to head out to Greenwich first as it was further out of town and it would be good to get it out of the way as soon as possible. 



Something that I had learned from when my cousin Sarah came to visit is that there is a city ferry that runs from any of the river stops in the centre of London straight out to Greenwich. 

The trade-off is that the ferry is expensive but that you get a good transect of the city on your way out. This worked for me both times (With cousin Sarah and Mahina) as we physically didn't have time to see everything so seeing things like the Tower of London, London bridge, Tower bridge, the Shard, and the London horizon/skyline in general was all possible as we ferried out toward Greenwich. 

So we disembarked in Greenwich (Red dot below on map) and the Cutty Sark (red circle below on map) is the first thing that you see off to your right. I always like to take a left at this point and walk along the riverside so that you get the full reveal of the grandiose architecture of the University of Greenwich.

Above: A view looking through the University of Greenwich to Greenwich lookout in the background.

Below: A map of our Greenwich part of our adventure the dots represent stops that were made.

We walked through the University of Greenwich (pictured above) and then toward the National Maritime Museum where I usually make a pit stop for toilets and water before walking up the hill to the observatory. 



Tudor Palace of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich stands where the Tudor Palace of Greenwich once stood.



It is the Birthplace of King Henry VIII and his daughters Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Built by King Henry VII.

Once we were in the Museum we ended up getting a little carried away and Mahina stumbled upon a display that really hit home to her. 

Mahina did you want to tell us about that?

I got to see for the very first time artefacts and history right in front of my eyes on the discovery of Australia, New Zealand and our beautiful Pacific Islands. 

I loved seeing the school groups there learning about Samoa, Tonga and The Cook Islands. It is not something that we learn about in our own countries back home so to see them learning about our history millions of miles away was amazing. 

I did not know this was even a thing!!
Mercedes told the tour guide I was from The Cook Islands that he was teaching about and he asked me how to say 'Mangaia' so I taught him how to say it properly. 

One thing I live by is that no matter where in the world I end up, I always take with me and represent my heritage.

The history of the place was amazing! 

***

After we pulled ourselves away from all the interesting displays we still needed to head to the observatory and it was already nearly lunch time. 

Below: A photo of Mahina sporting her BTS hoodie in the corridor to the Queens house. She had just found out that they were in London the day before.

BTS
So I am a major fan of KPop group 'BTS' and had I known that they would have a concert at the same time I was in London I would've made every effort to go! But nevertheless I wore my hoodie in support for them and had a bunch of other BTS fans from Germany (I think) come up to me while we were in Greenwich and starting chatting with me! Poor Missy (Mercedes) was just there thinking it was a lot similar to that of a cult haha. 

So we actually did make it to the observatory in the end. 
Here are Mahina's thoughts on the ordeal! 

Royal Observatory Greenwich and the Meridian Line.

Above: View from the observatory out to Canary Wharf (It's like new London... London 2.0)

I did not know Greenwich was located on top of a hill until we got there!!
I whinged and moaned the entire time. Until I saw my first squirrel here, I named him Squizz (miss ya mate). 

Once I was successfully on top of said hill, had taken off all the layers and calmed down. 

I realised we were on the meridan line! '0' The Meridan Line in Greenwich.

A (geographical) meridian (or line of longitude) is the half of an imaginary great circle on the Earth's surface, terminated by the North Pole and the South Pole, connecting points of equal longitude! 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(geography)

So you're in two parts of the world at the same time!!!

Picture stolen from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Longitude_(PSF).png



Also got to see this awesome ship (Cutty-Sark) for more information see https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark .


Back to me:

Once we had seen what we came to see in Greenwich we had to get a move on and back into the centre of London. 
I had never been under the Thames through the tunnel bridge yet so we opted to do that on out way back to the centre. 

I found it quite surprising that we did not have to go down too far to go under the Thames. So it is a wide river but not so deep!!

There was even a section of the tunnel that was narrower then the rest of the tunnel as it had been damaged in the war and had just been repaired/patched up and left like that see below.

"The northern end was damaged by bombs during the Second World War and repairs included a thick steel and concrete inner lining that reduces the diameter substantially for a short distance. The North tower has 87 steps, and the South tower has 100!" 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_foot_tunnel)

Buckingham Palace 

Next thing to see was Buckingham palace, I couldn't let Mahina come all this way without going to visit the queen.

Problem is that once we got there and took the appropriate selfie, Mahina was more excited about the fountain out in front of the palace. 

Mahina:
I was more amazed by the fountain. Like WOW that fountain was amazing! Love my photos here #CedesPhotography.

The gates were also open but we missed the changing of the guard. Flag was also up so does that mean Queen is inside? But yeah... Bucket list item achieved. Who would've thought I would love the fountain more? 

With all the emotion of seeing the Queen out of the way and the long trek out of Greenwich we were buggered. In fact it was so nice sitting in the sun by the fountain that it was hard to get up and get on with the rest of what we had to see!

But up we had to get and so we zombied  off in the direction of Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. Once we got there it was a bit of: take a photos and lets get moving. 

I did not know the relevance of this place. But everyone kept telling me it was a must see. And it was on my bucket list as well so yeah I guess I had to add it in for the photos and memories.

What were my memories of this place? Being absolutely fried, knackered, buggered... all the above. We were about 20k steps in and my poor legs wanted to hack themselves off my body and fall onto a seat to rest. I had on too many layers but whenever I took the layers off it was cold... so the struggle was real by this stage. 
But boom, done! Would I go back? Probably wouldn't go out of my way. But would stop by in passing. I will have to read Mercedes part to learn what this place was all about.

Back to Mercedes...

 - INSERT -
Trafalgar Square is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars with France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square)

Trafalgar Square is owned by the Queen in Right of the Crown and managed by the Greater London Authority, while Westminster City Council owns the roads around the square, including the pedestrianised area of the North Terrace.

***

I guess it is important to mention that we had not had lunch yet and it was long past lunch time. So with Mahina threatening to go on strike it was time to go off and find some grub.  

So we walked up around the portrait gallery and headed to Leicester square and ended up at a little Italian joint out in the 'fresh'(London) air and watched the world walk by... after all we were on holiday!!

 After that we checked out M&M world and the giant Lego store

LEGO!! WOOT WOOT!! Actually this was a good visit to the store as every other time that I have been past the store it is always crowded with lines out the door.


With all that said and done, we were feeling.... to say burnt-out doesn't quite feel like a strong enough word! We decided to muster the strength to get to Westminster Abby and see 'Big Ben' (it was still under construction/refurbishment, so big whoop!) but when we got to Westminster Abby we had an hour to wait if we wanted to go to a church service - basically, get in for free - so we just sat in the park/small green space opposite and waited for the time to go in.

Well of course we took photos too!

Above: Westminster Abby down the side. Look at those nice buttresses! 

Below: I think that this photo is Mahina's all time favourite!

While we were at the Abby Mahina decided that she didn't come this far to not have a good look around so we were actually lucky enough to be there on a day where they open in the evening for a discounted price. 

So we paid to go in! I was actually secretly excited to see where they had put one of my heroes Steven Hawking and Charles Darwin. 

While I was at it I had to find my Mother's hero David Livingstone and well I also stumbled upon o'l Winston Churchill. 

Fun Facts:

David Livingstone was taken to England without his heart... 

"Livingstone's heart had been buried under a mpundu tree but his faithful attendants enclosed his embalmed body in a cylinder of bark which was wrapped in sailcloth and carried it to the coast and then sailed to London, arriving the following year"

(https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/david-livingstone/)

Well that brings us to the end of our London adventures with Mahina! next up we are off to Stone Henge, Bath, and to see the 'final resting place' of King Arthur  

Thanks for reading!!

Warner Brothers - Harry Potter Tour, London *Spoiler Alert*

Hello out there and welcome to another adventure with the Findlaters, however it's just me representing the Findlaters for the next few adventures as poor Kyran has been stuck up in Wales working on his robot commissioning job. But it is ok, this adventure was as promised with our special guest for the next few blogs - a friend of mine from Australia and an old friend from High school!

It's Mahina!!

Above: Mahina and I about to set off on the adventure that this blog is all about!!

***

I guess this is a good spot to say that after so much travel myself (as you would have read in all these blogs) I am going out on a limb and starting my own 'Tour' business.

I think to give it the name tour is a little short. So as you will have seen with other guests that I have traveled with and in these future blogs what I do is be a travel buddy and guide! Accommodation, transport, attractions, great company, good food and help on the fly as well as fantastic photos and photography of everything you do and see!!.

So if you are thinking to do some traveling and are not sure that you want to go by yourself or what to do or how things might work, look me up!! #Findlatertours.

Full disclosure I have not been to every country but I am up for most countries!!

If you want to know a little more about where I have been or what I have been up to definitely look up my previous blogs.

In any case that is enough of that for now lets actually get into what we have been up to lately. Buckle up as this will be an adventurous set of blogs!

***

Mahina is a super mega fan of Harry Potter, so the first thing we did after she got off the plane and had a feed and a shower was to head to the Harry Potter Tour.

I (Mercedes) am not a super-fan but I must say that I did also really enjoy this 'tour'/display but lets get into what it was all about and I will go through everything individually.

Heads up this is going to be a co-author type of a blog so I will see you later on. Mahina will get us started on this wonderful adventure!
HARRY POTTER TOUR

This post contains spoilers — but you should’ve already seen these movies by now. haha!

ACCIO INFORMATION!

Main site: Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

Getting there: If you're driving there is free parking on site. Otherwise you will need to book a shuttle bus. For more information https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/getting-here.

Prices: Tickets must be purchased in advance. Adults are £43.00 each, Children are £35 each (Mercedes: So not cheap, but worth seeing once)


note: "Accio" is the summoning spell in the Harry Potter universe. It brings physical objects to the caster.

JOURNEY BEGINS!

Mercedes
We hired a car for the duration of Mahina's visit as Kyran had run off with our car, so away we go!

As you enter the parking you will need to show that you have pre-booked tickets. Once parked you immediately see giant chess pieces from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and you can commence geeking out! There are also a series of large posters with newspaper headings and wanted posters from the different Harry Potter movies!


Above: The entry tickets
Below: Mahina trying to contain her excitement


Mahina Introductions:

G'day! Let me introduce myself!
My name's Mahina (everyone calls me Minaah). 28 years young, 1990's kid and a Pisces. I also went to highschool with Mercedes. I will be featuring on the next few blogs of Mercedes so get excited!

Above: Me in the Dark Forest

Everyone knows that Harry Potter and I go hand in hand. You walk into my home and you will see large Harry Potter posters (like the one in the photos we have taken) in my lounge-room. My home itself is very Harry Potter-esque including a room under the stairs lol.

I made sure to get plenty of sleep on the long journey over from Brisbane, Australia, as it was first on my agenda. A few hours off the plane and I was surrounded by my people and crying tears of pure Geek happiness.



I can't stress this enough:
DO WATCH ALL THE MOVIES BEFORE YOU GO!

Time of tour: We went at the 2pm time slot. I would however recommend for anyone to go as early as possible due to crowds.

Duration: They say it goes for about 3 hours, which surprisingly is true as we left just around the 3 hour mark! As there is soooo much to take in you could easily spend a lot more time here though.

DON'T FORGET TO FULLY CHARGE YOUR CAMERA BATTERY AND MAKE SURE THERE'S ENOUGH SPACE ON YOUR PHONE. PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ARE ALLOWED IN MOST AREAS.



Ok Back to me (Mercedes): I think that it is important to add to what Mahina has already said. There are no rides etc.. This is a tour of the sets, props and everything Harry Potter movie-making related.

It is a big tour! It is a lot of walking and standing and reading and appreciating.

You buy tickets for a certain time slot and that is when you get in.

We arrived an hour early as we were too excited to go and see everything and we did not want to miss our time slot due to traffic.

It was a nice day - the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold yet, so we just sat out in the sun and took the time to catch up on each others lives.

When it was our time to go in, we picked up our tickets using our reservation confirmation. You then walk from the ticket office down a long corridor that eventually turns and opens into a big gathering point were you queue to get into the display. This is also where you are fed back out into when you have finished the tour.

So we got in line to get into the tour as they were only letting people through in groups. A gaggle of muggles! But we did not have to wait long as we were quickly let into a room and then into a cinema type room after a quick briefing.

Once in the cinema room there is a short film with the main actors and crew introducing the display and reminding you of how long it took to make all the movies and how much detail went into everything. This was no exaggeration as you are about to find out.

Then when the short film is finished the screen goes up and you are presented with giant gates (See below) and then the doors open and *bam* you are let in to Great Hall.




The transition from the movie theatre to the great hall was a shock! I guess you expect to be slowly lead through the display, but to walk into the room that makes everything that much more magical in the movies was amazing. On a side comment though the room was a lot smaller then you would have expected. I guess that this is as a result of the room being a lot lower. But this was still impressive nonetheless. We were there as they were getting ready for a Halloween special so instead of the candles that you are used to seeing dangling from the ceiling we had pumpkins!




You don't get very long unfortunately to take in the grandeur of the great hall as you are quickly encouraged to move into the next room where the rest of the tour continues.

This is so that each tour group can get the full WOW of walking into the empty great hall as you so often see the children in the movies do.
Once in the other room you are free to wonder at whatever speed that you like for the rest of the tour.
So in no particular order here are some of the things that we saw along the way.

Below left: The model of the roof for the great hall
Below Right: At the front of the great hall, as you would expect to see the teachers at the beginning of term - introducing new teachers giving announcements etc..


Below: Some of the costumes that were worn at different times throughout the filming. You realize how small they people were/are - so tiny!




Below: This is what I was super really interested in and could have spent all day looking at and learning about. The costumes and hair and make-up etc. there were Harry's scars and all the different wigs that the actors wore. There were wardrobes of dresses that were specifically made. There were hat molds that were used to create all the different hats that were worn throughout. There was facial hair and feathers, full head masks and then there was the animatronic side of how some of the things moved!!

All amazing and very fascinating!






Below: Some of the foods that were seen on the table in the great hall at different times
 




Above: Animatronic Hagrid
Below: Animatronic werewolves





Amazing!!! It is all very amazing... Anyways I should probably let Mahina say something again before I continue rambling!

***

Apparently you need to know what Hogwarts house you are in and here is Mahina to explain this to us.... She thinks i'm a Slytherin but maybe I am a Ravenclaw...



HOGWARTS SORTING HAT
If you are not sure which Hogwarts house the Sorting Hat would put you in? Let me help.

GRYFFINDOR
COLORS: Blood red and mustard yellow
CHARACTERISTICS: Gryffindors are brave, chivalrous, daring, valiant, courageous.
GRYFFINDORS YOU KNOW: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Prof. Dumbledore, house ghost Sir Nicholas

SLYTHERIN
COLORS: Kale smoothie green / Silver
CHARACTERISTICS: Cunning, determined, ambitious, resourceful, accomplished, innovative
SLYTHERINS YOU KNOW: Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, the Dark Lord himself, Merlin...

HUFFLEPUFF
COLORS: You know what it is - "black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow"...
CHARACTERISTICS: loyalty, tolerance, patience, hard-working, friendly, dedication
HUFFLEPUFFS YOU KNOW: Cedric Diggory, Nymphadora Tonks, Newt Skamander

RAVENCLAW
COLORS: Navy blue and gold
CHARACTERISTICS: Wisdom, intellect, cleverness, sharp-mindedness, logic, creativity
RAVENCLAWS YOU KNOW: Luna Lovegood, Gilderoy Lockhart (note from Mahina: My personal favourite character lol), the wand guy... Olivander. ***
There you go I hope that helped you work out where you should be!?

Alright lets get back to some more things that we saw along our tour.

Above: The Hogwarts Express!

Below: You actually get to board the Hogwarts express and as you walk through the carriages each is decorated differently from each movie I believe! Here is Harry and Ron eating all the weird candy!



Here is a video of the moving things around the spell classroom display:




Above: The actual night bus

I guess the story is that there was a lot to see and just when you think you have seen it all you are in an open area where you get to eat and try the butter beer and you think that you have reached then end you have not. There is still the 3-deck night bus and the house and all the designing behind it all left to see. But there is more about that part of things from Mahina later on so I will skip over that and let Mahina say a few things again.

MAHINAS PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS

It's hard to summerise what were my top 5 highlights. But if I look back at my videos and photos and think of how it made me feel at the time, I will try to list them below. In no particular order;


Entering into the Great Hall! When you live all the way in the land 'down under' and you've traveled an extensive journey just to go to the world of Harry Potter. Entering into the Great Hall is when my heart truly jumped straight out of my chest. It is a surreal experience.


Seeing HUFFLEPUFF in the Great Hall lol. As a proud Hufflepuff seeing my house in person at Hogwarts, in the Great Hall was a very proud moment and I was sad that I wasn't dressed in proper Hufflepuff attire. You will also notice the theme colours of this blog is Hufflepuff themed lol.


Pivet Drive. Just when I thought it was finished, I saw there was an outside section and my heart once again started beating way to fast haha. If you are a fan, this area will be the same for you!

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” ― Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone


Trying Butterbeer! This was also on my 'before i'm 30' bucket list. Want my verdict? You will have to try it yourself haha! (more info on Butterbeer later on)



The massive Hogwarts large scale for filming. I had no words. I still have no words. It was right at the end and the whole experience was surreal for me and I wasn't expecting this bit at all. As soon as I saw it my heart stopped and my eyes started to well up, and I needed a moment to cry. I thought of the 12 year old me that first saw Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the cinemas with my cousin. I thought of my life from that moment till now and was so proud of how far I've come and the achievements I've made for myself to be able to see this in person. The 12 year old me never ever thought I would make my bucket list come true, but there it was right in front of me. It is a special memory for me. Take some time during this place.


Mercedes' spoiler notes :P
ButterBeer:

Some sort of ginger beer with cream on top, kind of reminded me of the 'spiders' that we use to make as kids. Which begs the question where is the vegan butterbeer?



Anyway I think that Mahina has already mentioned the giant model of Hogwarts that you walk into just as you think that the tour is done and it really does hit you and leave you a bit winded. I imagine as a Harry Potter mega-fan (like Mahina *cough* *cough*) you would pee yourself as it is everything.

For me as an artist it really hit me for the shear magnitude and detail of every aspect of this massive model. Amazing! Wow! How many people did it take? How long? (it was probably on one of those signs that I didn't read :/)
What added to the whole model display was the Harry Potter theme music which really brings you to the movies and makes your knees a little weak!

***

Well I guess that is the end of the blow by blow of the Harry Potter exhibit in London here are a few extra photos that I didn't work in there but I am sure you know what they are and a Dos and Don'ts from Mahina.



Mahina's DO'S AND DON'TS

Do only go once you've consumed all the books and sat through all the movies. Also if you are a highly creative person and into special effects then do tag along with your fellow wizard or witch!

Do try it all! Board the Hogwarts Express train, knock on the door at Pivet Drive, try Butterbeer, take a moment to reflect at the massive Hogwarts model itself.

Don't promise to buy your kids a wand from the souvenir store at the end of the tour. I wouldn't bother taking anyone under 8 along as well.
(The wands were super expensive and there was a lot to see)

Don't expect a theme park experience. You get to go on the sets, see the actual costumes and the props. Try out the animatronics and get to understand the fine attention to detail that went into taking the story off the page to on screen.

Don't be afraid to cry! You are surrounded by your people! Fellow geeks, wizards and witches. There is no judgement there. So if you feel like you need to cry, then by all means you go ahead and cry.

CONCLUSION
From Mahina: So, all in all, its an amazing place. There's so much to see and do that it's impossible to take it all in. I was constantly pinching myself and in awe of everything around me. I would definitely go back either alone or with a fellow HP fan like myself. It felt comfortable moving around the place and the staff were really nice. If you're a HP fan and you've never been to the tour, you really do need to make it a bucket list priority! Even if you're not, you could still get a lot out of it if you're a fan of things like movie-making, technology and art.



From Mercedes: From the point of view of 'It's a movie' It was really well put together. There were a lot of cool things both from a fan's point of view and just from a movie making point of view. I really enjoyed it I would have like to spend some more time there but also I would have liked to have more energy to spend time there. It is a lot of standing up and walking around so you wear out sooner or later. A little overpriced as well, otherwise I would definitely go back and see it again.


Well that brings us to the end of this blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading it.

There are a few videos that we have made both in this exhibit and throughout the rest of our journey so when we get around to editing those and posting them I will let you know.


Next blog will be of what Mahina and I got up to around London and then out to see the country side.



"I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. 'Never be ashamed,' my ol' dad used ter say, 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.'"

— Hagrid, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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