14th November Harry Potter & Twilight

Today I went off to see the Harry Potter exhibit at Warner Brothers studio, about an hour and a half out of London. This was the only thing I had booked to do in London. I really wish Jess had been with me though because she would have loved it! It is a must see for Harry Potter fans. At the studio you get to see some of the spectularly detailed sets, the stunning costumes, props and animatronics, the special effects and amazing creatures that were created for the films. First we got to walk into the Great Hall where the Hogwarts feasts were held. Dumbledore's office was great with the penseive in the cupboard as well as the Gryffindor sword and the magnificent telescope. Walking along Diagon Alley was awesome, it was all there...Ollivanders wand shop, Flourish and Botts, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Gringotts Bank and Eeylops Owl Emporium. I got to try some Butterbeer, visit Privet Drive and see the Night Bus and Hagrids motorcycle. Probably the most spectacular thing for me was the hand sculpted 1:24 scale construction of Hogwarts castle. It was built for the first movie and took 86 artists and crew to construct the first version which was then rebuilt and altered for the rest of the films. Apparently to add up all the man hours that it took to make and rebuild the model would be 74 years!!! To show off the lighting to full effect a day-to-night cycle takes place every four minutes. When I walked into the room where the castle was the lighting was in the night cycle which added to the mystery...it was breathaking!! I then went to the shop...bought some chocolate frogs, some sherbet lemons for Jess and a few other bits and pieces, then I headed back to the bus for the trip back to London. I was really glad I made the effort to come out here to see this, it was well worth it!

I wanted to go back uo to Leicester Square and take some photos of the crazy people camping out for Twilight, but when I got there the red carpet was out and being laid and barricades were set up around the square and people were already standing inside them. I wandered around the square and then stopped behind a barricade near where the podium was where the 'celebrities' were going to be interviewed. A large crowd was gathering behind me and then the security and police came along and said we had to move, they wanted a clear path for people to walk. There was lots of room inside the barricade in front of me and there was a couple next to me whose two young daughters were inside the barricade. To avoid being seperated the Dad lifted the Mum over the barricade, then he moved the barricade so there was a gap he could get through, the crowd behind me began to push and before I knew it I was swept up and inside the baricade too. Then security rushed forward and re-closed the barricade. I couldn't believe it. I had to stand there a while waiting for some 'celebrities' to turn up...not that I recognised many of them when they did. I had a conversation with a police officer who was saying to one of his colleagues that he didn't know who these people were. When I told him I was Australian and didn't recognise them either he told me that there were thousands of people waiting back down the street who would love to be in my position now...we laughed! There were people from the UK X-Factor, some olympians and three British actors who appeared in the Twilight movies. Then the BIG stars arrived...Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stuart and Taylor Lautner. I took some photos...well quite a few photos, it was hard to photograpgh with them moving so much and competing with the cameras in front of me, but I got a few snaps! Not sure what the current relationship status is between Kristen and Rob but her body language was interesting, she was very much leaning on him! In the past when I have seen Kristen Stuart interviewed she seems very uncomfortable and tonight was pretty much the same...and I didn't like what she was wearing, a black lace jumpsuit...the boys looked sharp! It was getting pretty cold when it finished up about 8pm and then the stars were going in to watch the movie, me and the rest of the crowd headed back home...grateful for another unexpected London experience!