Back to witches and wizards and magical beasts

Previously: Sara and I went to Stonehenge and Bath, and had an incredibly nutritious lunch of scones and chips. 

Warning: this post is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally photo-heavy. But it's worth it. Trust me.

The day after we went to Bath somehow turned into a nothing day. We both woke up late, and decided that we should finish watching North and South before we did anything else. Eventually, we figured that we should do SOMETHING besides sit on the sofa all day, so we drove into town and had a late lunch before wandering around the shops for a while. I'd been planning on getting a new between-seasons coat while I was in England, so technically we were on the look out for that. Me being me, I came home with a pair of raspberry patent heels. FAR more important than a stupid coat!

I mean, seriously. 

We headed home via the supermarket to procure pizza and cider, and had dinner in front of Doctor Who before spending the night watching Prisoner of Azkaban. It was low key and relaxing and fabulous to not be running around all over the place for a change.

The next morning, we were up bright and early and on the road before 10am. Frankly, I'd been excited about our final destination for this particular day since about JULY, and it didn't disappoint. We started off with a trip to Windsor, because if we were going to spend all that damned time on the M25, you can bet your arse we were going to break up the trip.

Parking was a monumental bitch, as you can imagine if you've ever been to Windsor, but finally we found a parking spot and headed into the castle. After parting with a small fortune, we headed inside. And honestly? The public areas were a lot smaller than I remembered them being when I was a kid. It didn't help that the chapel was closed because it was Sunday, but I remember there being far more to see and do than just the state rooms and Queen Mary's doll house. *shrugs*

I'd also forgotten about the almost-constant low flying planes en route to land at Heathrow, which must be nice and relaxing for the queen!!

Once we'd exhausted the possibilities at the castle and decided that we didn't need a stuffed toy corgi from the gift shop, we wandered back into town for a spot of lunch before stopping at a supermarket to procure some snacks. Then we hit the road and basically flailed our way up the M25 to our final destination: The Harry Potter studio tour.

It.

Was.

AMAZING.

I mean, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven when I went to Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And sure, this didn't have awesome rides. But it WAS non-stop amazingness from basically the moment we walked in the door. The very first thing you see (besides giant photos of the cast, and half a Ford Anglia coming out of the wall) is the Cupboard Under the Stairs.

From there, they show you a short film, and then you head into the Great Hall. If you're planning on going, I'd highly recommend going on your birthday, because of reasons.

I could happily have stayed in the Great Hall for another 20 minutes or so because it's so amazingly detailed, but there was tons more to see.

The first half of the tour is smaller sets, like the Gryffindor Common Room and Dumbledore's office, lots of costumes, and a ton of fun props, like the Horcruxes, Hermione's Timeturner, quidditch supplies, and the Triwizard Cup.

DanRad is tiny. Seriously. 

It took us at least an hour to get through it all, and it was marvellous. It's astonishing how much detail was created for props that get a couple of seconds of screen time.

Then you head outside to some of the exterior sets - Number 4 Privet Drive, the bridge at Hogwarts, and the Potter's cottage from Godric's Hollow. There's also the Knight Bus, which is pretty fabulous, and some more of the big chess pieces.

You can also get butter beer, which is pretty delicious in small quantities but is quite likely to make you feel sick if you drink more than a few sips.

The second half of the tour is all about the animatronics and the models that they used, and it's pretty damned fascinating.

From there, you get to walk up Diagon Alley, which felt oddly like returning to Wizarding World of Harry Potter (even though when I was there, it was only Hogsmeade...):

And then it was onto the last major stop, which was my absolute favourite - the scale model of Hogwarts that they used for all the exterior shots. It's absolutely ENORMOUS.

See those people over there on the right? Yeah. ENORMOUS. 

I could happily have stood there staring at it all day, because it's utterly astonishing. The lighting slowly changes from day to night, and all the lights in the castle come on.

How could we not take a terrible selfie?! 

Eventually, we dragged ourselves away from the magnificence that is Hogwarts and headed towards the gift shop. The last room you pass through is filled with wand boxes. There are over two thousand of them, and they bear the names of all the cast and crew, which is pretty fabulous.

Hell, even the gift shop was magical. I spent rather more than I'd planned, but came out with a Ravenclaw t-shirt for myself, and a wand for Little Miss A (Totally worth it).

Eventually, our wallets rather lighter than planned, we headed back to the car and drove back to Portsmouth. We wandered down the road to the pub for dinner, and spent the rest of the night watching Goblet of Fire. Because really, what else would we do after such a Potter-tastic day?!

Next time, we acquire a couple of small children and head to the zoo. 

K xx

Thirty one

My birthday this year was a fairly low key event. It seemed appropriate - it's kind of an unwritten rule that once you're past 30, you stop having birthday celebrations with all your friends (because it's too freaking hard to organise, as I mentioned in my video on Thursday!) and start having small family celebrations instead.

So that's what I did. And in typical fashion, I took photos of what I ate rather than who I was with, because that's how I roll...

Just like last year, we went to Donovan's for lunch. Although this year, we were minus C, Paulie, Em and Matt and their brood. Ness came with us, though, so that made up for it! The food was delicious as always:

Asparagus salad with fried buffalo mozzarella

Four Tastes plate - pea and mint arancini, dry cured Wagyu beef,
heirloom tomato salad, and smoked salmon

Ness and I couldn't decide what to have for entree, so I got the asparagus salad, she got the Four Tastes plate and we shared. This is why you take your BFFs to fancy birthday lunches - they're always amenable to slightly ridiculous plans!

This year's main course was the same as last year's because why mess with perfection?

Chicken and mushroom pie of amazingness

And then dessert. Oh my word. I actually went onto the Donovan's website the day before my birthday to scope things out, and knew immediately which dessert I was going to have. Because how could you pass up on something that involved both chocolate AND doughnuts?!?!

And yes, it was just as amazing as it looks. The full description from the menu is as follows: "Layers of chocolate crémeux, salted caramel, raspberry gel, rice crispies and fresh raspberries with cinnamon doughnuts". Frankly, I have no idea what approximately half of that means, but it was to die for.

And fret not - the multiple spoons on my plate were because Little Miss A had ordered the same dessert and we knew there was no hope in hell of her getting through that on her own! (Also, I'm STILL impressed that I managed to avoid putting my arm in the chocolate sauce)

As for shiny things that I received in honour of turning 31, we have (amongst other things) the following:

A new watch, given that I managed to smash the winder off my old one on a plant stand(?!?!?!?).

A new ring, which kind of makes me want pretzels every time I see it.

New ankle boots.

And a parcel of nerdiness from C. I'm pretty excited about starting the book, and I'm already wearing the Tube map socks, because OBVIOUSLY.

So there you have it. 31 may have been a little quieter than 30, but that's totally okay. Because I got to spend my birthday night watching Pitch Perfect, and you can't get much better than that!

K xx

Movie Monday: Elizabethtown

Look, I KNOW this is a movie that people very strongly either love or hate. But I think it's one of those movies that grows on you. The first time I saw it, I sort of liked it but I wasn't quite sure. But the more I watch it, the more I realise just how fantastic it really is.

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Reasons why Elizabethtown is awesome:
1. Orlando Bloom. It's nice to see him doing something that doesn't involve wearing elf ears or shoes with giant pilgrim buckles on them!

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2. The soundtrack. It's phenomenal. Especially for roadtrips.
3. Kirsten Dunst.
4. The world's most ridiculous shoe.

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5. Drew arriving in Elizabethtown to see the entire town pointing him in the right direction.
6. Susan Sarandon.
7. Epic phone conversations.
8. Last looks.

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9. Alec Baldwin explaining how much $900-odd million is. Genius.
10. Drew's ridiculous suicide machine.
11. Louisville pronunciation lessons.
12. 60B. And missing it.

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13. The car trying to eat Susan Sarandon.
14. Judy Greer. She's brilliant in pretty much everything ever.
15. Drew offering condolences to everyone when it's his father who died.
16. Paula Deen is in it. Seriously.

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17. Samson.
18. Chuck and Cindy.
19. Ridiculous urns.
20. The video that makes the kids behave.

21. The giant papier mache eagle.
22. Setting fire to the hotel. WHOOPS.
23. Dresses in which good things do not happen.
24. Roadtrips. I loves me a good roadtrip.

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25. Tap dancing to 'Moon River'.
26. Lowering the coffin into the grave. It's horrific and hilarious all at the same time.
27. Manic pixie dream girl.

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Plus, the following quotes:
- "I think I've been asleep most of my life."
- "Is there such a thing as partial cremation?"
- "I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember."
- "Trust me. Everyone is less mysterious than they think they are."
- "If it wasn't this, it'd be something else."
- "So you failed. Alright, you really failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you’re still smiling."
- "I'm gonna have to call you back..." "Okay, just dial HELL and I'll answer."
- "We peaked on the phone."
- "What is that word...? Whimsical!"
- "Some music needs air. Roll down your window."
- "Did I miss 60B??? DID I MISS 60B????"
- "Because we have a moment here, let me tell you that I have recently become a secret connoisseur of 'last looks'. You know the way people look at you when they believe it's for the last time? I've started collecting these looks."
- "I want you to get into the deep beautiful melancholy of everything that's happened."
- "A few days after Mitch died I was walking through the yard and I saw our neighbor who was a very good friend of Mitch's, Bob, and he saw me coming through the gate, and he said, "I am so sorry for your loss." And I knew that he needed to feel that loss, too, and to share it, and I wanted to help him. And he put his arms around me, he cradled me, and his embrace tightened. Finally, here was somebody who truly cared. And then, I felt something else. Some-thing huge. Let's just say it, let's just say it. A BONER!"
- "By the way, I didn't say 'million,' I said 'billion.' A billion dollars; that's a lot of million."
- "Sadness is easier because it’s surrender. I say, make time to dance alone… with one hand waving free."

- "Do you ever just think "I'm fooling everybody"??" "You have no idea."

So. Have you seen it? And if so, are you in the elite club of people who think it's brilliant??

K xx