We managed to get out of the Travelodge early, underground to Euston station, and then a train to Watford. We each had about 3 Hobnobs for breakfast. We got to the WB studios around 9:40 and our tickets were for 10am, so we ate at the Café. We each got a Belgian waffle with bacon for less than 5 quid each! Then we were in the studios. We walked through all the sets, props, details we missed in the films, and had a really great time. It was fun to look in the shop windows on Dragon Alley, walk through Privet drive, and take a good solid look at each of the elaborate props created for the films.
Then we saw all the drawings, renderings, and whitecard models. We heard the guy in front of us turn the corner and yell "Oh ____!" (explitive). Around the corner was the full model of Hogwarts. It was pretty awesome.
We also enjoyed seeing all the animatronics (the Monster book of Monsters!), the costumes, and my favorite set was the Ministry of magic. Those fireplaces and offices were just as amazing in real life as they were in the film. Tom rode the night bus, we walked onto the Hogwarts Express (running through the 9 3/4 barrier, of course). It was all very cool.
From Euston station on the way back into London, we walked to the British Library to see their special collections. It was absolutely pouring down rain and in the 4 block walk, we got completely drenched. We were wearing our raincoats but shoes and trousers were quite wet. We only stayed in for less than an hour and when we left it was sunny again. We checked into our new hotel (Doubletree Hyde Park) literally a block away from the BYU London Centre, so it's fun to back in the home neighborhood.
At 5pm, we walked over to a big British Pub around the corner called the Churchill Arms. Hilariously, it was a Thai restaurant in an old English pub. We met up with my BYU friend Elizabeth who knew about the place. It was fun to meet up with her. She married a Brit three years ago and moved here. We had a great visit. And then we headed to Piccadilly Circus for our play for the night: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
We've done great picking a great assortment of productions to see. They've all been completely different so you can't even compare them. Today's was a highly stylized choreographed play about a boy with autism navigating difficult situations he's facing. It was so compellingly done. It was fascinating and we enjoyed the experience.
Observations from London: I have seen only three Kebab places in all of London since being here and two of them are within a few blocks of the BYU London Centre! And everyone seems to vape. I keep thinking they're holding a pen or a car phone charger and then they smoke it.
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