[Europe Trip] Day 4 - London (Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour, Regent Park)

28th July 2015 (Tuesday).

Our final day in London. It was also our most anticipated day: Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour!!!

We took tube to London Euston and transferred to the Euston Railway station (the Oyster card can be used for the train). When we were looking like lost puppies, one conductor shouted to us "Harry Potter Studio, platform XX!" Were we wearing a sign, or were all tourists there for the same purpose?

The train journey took about 30 mins, we were lucky to take the express train. That day was very cold, and we had to wait at the bus stop for the shuttle bus just opposite the station for 20 mins.

The bus came!

After a short journey, we arrived at the studio.

We verified our confirmation email and gotten our tickets, and we went to queue to enter. The Harry Potter music surrounded us and we could feel the excitement.

We were lead into a "cinema" to hear some introduction and rules. Apparently, it was school holiday, thus there would be a special event where there would be real and fake chocolate props in different areas of the studios for us (actually, the children) to guess. And apparently, it was a kid's birthday, so she would open the door to the magical world.

Part 1: The props

The Great Hall

Other parts of the magical world. Even though the pictures were static, but the props could be moving on it's own (i.e. self-stirring pan and cauldron, anyone?)

The Diagon Alley!!! It was so cool to walk through the alley.

Mid-point

Platform 9 3/4 (and studio shop)

Butterbeer and food. The ice cream was fine, but the butterbeer was out of this world. We suspect that it was salted caramel ice cream (extra thick and smooth) and soda.

Outdoor area

Part 2: Background stories of effects and props

Studio shop

That marked the end of the tour. What was very memorable about this "field trip" was the courteous manner exhibited by both the bus conductor and passengers. The passengers would greet the bus conductor: "Good morning, how do you do?", "Thank you for the safe journey". The bus conductor would also greet us back, "Hope you girls enjoyed your trip to London"...etc. This left me a very good impression of London.

We went back Oxford Street for some more shopping as we didn't have enough time and energy yesterday. I also needed a trench-coat (too cold!!!) and shoes (it fell apart).

The last place we went to was Regent Park, which was nearby our accommodation. We saw people sitting on the benches in the park reading books. It was very relaxing.

On the way back, we felt hungry and ate our dinner at Pret A Manger, which can be seen everywhere in London. It wasn't exactly cheap, but it felt good to "eat clean" once a while.

We went back to the house (and on the way picked up some food from the Tesco :p ), we need to wake up very early on the next day.

[Europe Trip] Day 3 - London (Portobello Market, The British Museum, Burger & Lobster, SOHO/Oxford street)

27th July 2015 (Monday).

It was a working day for Londoners, and for us too if we were still in Singapore.

It felt pretty surreal seeing the Londoners rushing for the tube, while we were... welfie-ing.

We wanted to go to the Borough Market, but unfortunately the full market was opened from Wed to Sat. We were in London from Sat evening to Wed wee morning, so we missed the chance. To compensate, we went to the Portobello Market, turned out it was pretty quiet too. We got some wary glances from the locals, perhaps because they rarely see tourists going on a Monday morning? 

 We saw some bookstores.

and ate our breakfast there.

After which, we went to the The British Museum. we took tube to Russell Square station. If you happen to be at the station, you will notice that everybody crowd to the lift. Please follow. Do not ever attempt to take the stairs. We foolishly took the spiraling staircase, and climbed up 175 steps. The stairs seemed hopelessly never-ending and was very stuffy.

After we caught our breathes, we walked to The British Museum. We noticed this ancient building called Hotel Russell. Turned out it's built in 1898!

The British Museum was, in comparison to the Natural History Museum, much more solemn and less interactive. It was also filled with buses of tourists. Thus, it was less to my liking. That said, it has marvelous collections of  historical pieces, and mummies.

It's lunch time, and we went to the raved Burger & Lobster at SOHO (36-38 Dean St, London W1D 4PS, United Kingdom) for our most expensive meal. My friend could not understand why i got a whole lobster when it'll be messy to eat, and i couldn't understand why she took the bread set when it's the same price. Review of my whole lobster: it's tasted just like the other shelled creature from the sea, i.e. prawn or crayfish.

We went shopping at the SOHO / Oxford street area. It's more window shopping since everything was expensive. It is only at Primark (14-28 Oxford St, London W1D 1AU, United Kingdom) that we bought some stuff. 

Last words before i close this entry: Please prepare enough time and leg energy to conquer the oxford street. It's no joke.

[Europe Trip] Day 2 - London (Natural History Museum, London landmarks, Dorset Cafe)

26th July 2015 (Sunday).

We woke up early to visit the Natural History Museum as we expected a queue from online reviews.

We satisfied our stomachs with cheap and absolutely delicious breakfast from the Dorset Cafe (27 Melcombe St, London NW1 6AG, United Kingdom). We happened to chance upon it on our way to Baker Street Station. Highly recommended!!! The chicken was so tender and savory. *heart eyes emoji*

My friend commented that the bacon was very fresh too!

It rained when we arrived at the Natural History Museum (Well, it's London) via Gloucester Road Underground Station. We expected a queue, but didn't expect such long and snaking queues. According to online reviews, the queue at the side gate (i.e. not the queue starting from the tube station) was shorter. Thus, we followed the advice and found the queue rather fast-moving.

We went in the museum within half an hour and were awed by the beautiful interior architecture.

(Note: This was taken much later in the day, thus the museum looked very crowded)

I would highly recommend Natural History Museum. Learning is made interesting in this museum. Visitors can interact with the displays, and the explanations are in layman terms. There is also a showroom where visitors could explore the types of insects that could be found in  a house. 

The whole level 2 is devoted to chemistry (i.e. oxides, fluorides, metals...etc.), can you believe it! Seeing is believing, it would help if we learnt chemistry with something like this.

Speaking about metals, there is a corner on precious metals and stones, where the security is tighter than the rest of the museum.

Lastly, there's a comprehensive and elaborate exhibition on dinosaurs as well, which is the highlight of the museum and thus, required queuing.

It continued raining after we came out of the museum. 

We found out that the tube is closed. (It is common that the tube is closed due to heavy rain, and London rains a lot... please be prepared to take alternative transportation) and we took bus to the Gold Mine Restaurant to eat the famous duck rice. It's fat and fabulous. p.s. Just order the duck rice will do.

After which we visited the famous landmarks such as the Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Tower bridge...etc. 

It was a gloomy, rainy and cold day, thus not really the best time to sight-see. My friend almost got depression from the gloomy weather. This is the only time when we see sun, and we were so happy.

A side note, the rain in London is different from Singapore. In Singapore, you have time to prepare for the impending rain, which is usually heavy. In London, you can't tell if it's going to rain from the sky, as it was almost always gloomy. The rain could just drop suddenly and last between 5 seconds to much longer. It is best if you always have a windbreaker on. However, as the rain is usually light, and it rained so frequently that we became accustomed to it.

Lastly, as a Harry Potter fan, what's going London without visiting the King Cross Railway Station?

  

(of course, there's much more to King Cross than Hegwig and luggage)