BigWeather's Blog

Awoke at the standard 6a or so and packed, wrapping up just before breakfast at 7:30a.  Our taxi arrived at 8:30a and it quickly became apparent that not only did the driver not speak English but he wasn’t interested in putting up with my French.  Fair enough.  Michelle and I rode the hour mostly in silence, watching the city pass by.  We got one last look at Notre Dame as we crossed Ile de la Cite.  We saw a poster in northern Paris advertising the UPR, a right-wing French party, and their support of a Frexit from the EU.  Ugh.

Arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and whip out the credit card (as our hotel had said that credit was no problem and we had done our darnedest to spend all of our paper so we didn’t have them going home).  He just pointed at his card reader and said “broken”.  Eeeep.  I had 30 euros and was trying to figure out what to do.  I asked, in my broken French, if he could have another driver charge the fare and give him cash.  Apparently he wasn’t keen on that but luckily Michelle was able to get 40 euros from an ATM so we could settle.  Phew.

Stood in line to check-in only to have the automated kiosk ask us to go to customer service to finish the process.  Stood in line there for a bit before a guy waved us to him.  He chatted with us a good fifteen minutes as he sorted things out, he was in his 30s and former French military.  We talked about traveling (he liked to go places out of his comfort zone, like Japan, and had also gone to Scotland, etc.), his prior career doing IT programming, etc.  His supervisor stopped by and asked him why he was so laid back in his chair, the guy responding that he must need a new chair and some whisky or some such.  I’m not sure if he was just stalling while some security checks were run or something or if he was just chatty but it was quite entertaining.

Sailed through security pretty quickly, looked around for something for Addison to no avail, bought some bottle water, and made it to our (quite remote, in an odd saucer-like structure) gate.  There was a group of Playstation demo stations.  Boarded shortly thereafter (around 11:20a) and took our seats at the rear of the plane (same row, opposite side as the trip over).  A French lady and her young girl were across the aisle.  Though she was occasionally a bit fussy she was really well behaved in general.  Due to the headwind it was about an hour longer than the flight over, about eight and a half hours.

Despite that the flight went fairly quickly as I spent the time (until the battery on the Surface died) choosing pictures for the blog.  Thereafter I watched a bit of Solo and passed the time watching the progress on the in-flight map.  Michelle slept some and watched a couple of movies.  Food-wise we had some pasta with tomato sauce (and olives, blech) with the usual accompanying gang of roll, butter, Laughing Cow cheese, salad, and an apple crumble.  Later in the flight we got a small container of chocolate ice cream.  Finally, just before landing we had a barbecue hand pie snack.

Landed in Chicago about 2:30p and, after visiting the restroom, suffered through re-entry to the US.  Long line for the kiosk to scan our passports followed by a long line to get our passport looked over by a human.  Then proceeded to board a bus to transfer to terminal 3 (we had arrived at 5), whereupon we had to go through scanning our bags.  A particularly rude and annoying woman behind us was making snide comments about the people ahead of us taking too many bins, taking too long, etc.  Then when Michelle was taking out the Kindles (as it clearly stated anything larger than a phone was to be removed) she gave Michelle some lip.  That was it, she and I shot back and told her to chill the heck out.  Sheesh, first rule of airports — be patient and find your happy place, you’ll need to go there often.

Anyhow, past security we had some time to get some bites to eat.  Michelle and I grabbed some Chinese food and I chased it down with a Starbucks frappe which was quite tasty.  Boarded our plane for Raleigh at about 6p, right on time.  On board we sat next to a nice lady who had been traveling around the Mountain West (Glacier, Yellowstone, etc.) with her son and husband.  I also spent a good amount of time watching small towns and larger cities pass by below, including Lexington, Kentucky.  As we passed over the Appalachians I could see fog in the valleys.  Really neat.  Landed at a bit past 9:30p, grabbed our luggage, and waited for Addison to arrive around 10:30p and take us home.

It was a very interesting trip.  Our first trip with just the two of us since… well, other than a brief trip to the mountains a few years earlier, 1996 or so and our trip to the UK.  It was a bit more relaxed than I expected it to be, despite the compressed time frame (just eleven days, two of which were pretty much just travel).  We saw a bunch of stuff, including a bucket list item in Mont Saint-Michel and many “exhibition” type things like the Tolkien exhibit, Harry Potter tour, and of course the Paris museums.  Bayeux’s cathedral and Notre Dame were absolutely stunning.  Despite not seeing many of the monuments of either major city (as we’d already seen them on prior trips) we did get a feel for both and ate as local as possible including regional dishes.  Hamilton wowed us both, and we’ve since began afternoon tea time as time allows.  In all a busy, but yet relaxing, trip.

Woke up closer to 7a and went down for breakfast at the Hotel Prince de Conti in the basement, a charming space.  While they had eggs and bacon I opted for just doing croissants and pain au chocolate (chocolate-infused croissants) with strawberry jam and tea, though Michelle did have some eggs and bacon.  Headed back upstairs briefly before heading out for the day’s sightseeing.

We walked the short distance to the Seine.  There were several boats parked (berthed?) next to each other.  We were surprised to see that they had plants and small trees to create patio spaces complete with tables and chairs.  Crossing the Seine via the pedestrian-only wooden plank Pont des Arts we saw a large collection of locks surrounding a lamp post.

As the entire bank of the Seine at this point was dominated by the massive Louvre we were there immediately.  We still had a decent walk, however, to the famous glass pyramid that was the entrance to the museum.  From there we could clearly see the Carrousel Arc de Triomphe, not to be confused with the much more famous one on the Champs-Elysees.  There was also a bride getting photographed adjacent to one of the nearby fountains.

A long line had already formed but after about thirty minutes standing in the chilly morning air we got in and past the security check then… got to stand in another line for about thirty minutes to get our tickets via automated kiosks.  Sadly only two of the four were working so it took a while.  I passed the time chatting with a gentleman from Melbourne, Australia who was traveling about Europe (Ireland, UK, France, and Denmark) with his family.  In the lobby was a circular staircase with an elevator that rose in the middle core area — really neat.

Tickets in hand we actually entered the museum proper a little past 10a.  We started on the top floor as it was blissfully quiet due to not having any of the major works housed in the Louvre.  Room after room was filled with Medieval art and objects such as helmets, swords, shields, religious objects, and the like.  There was a huge banner thanking the public for contributing to buy King Francis I’s “Book of Hours”.  Wow, we thought, that must be spectacular!  We wandered about the floor trying to find it, complicated by on-going renovations (a common theme on this trip) that blocked direct access.  Still we persisted and there it was — all couple of inches by couple of inches of it.  Despite its size it was still really beautiful.

The crowds increased as we went down a floor and went through some Persian and Greek antiquities.  Next up was Winged Victory (Nike of Samothrace), a Hellenistic original (rather than Roman copy) marble statue, which stood prominently over the grand staircase.  After a few more large rooms (one containing a beautiful marble statue of Athena) we came upon the gallery displaying the Louvre’s star attraction — Mona Lisa (or de La Jaconde as the French call it).  It was, predictably, quite crowded.  Rather than wade to the front Michelle decided seeing it in the distance was enough for her and we moved on.  I’ll say this, though — the new gallery is a lot better than the one it used to hang in when I saw it in 1988, allowing for far more people to view it at once.

We wandered through a few more galleries packed with paintings we recognized (like The Coronation of Napoleon or Liberty Leading the People) in search of the last major attraction, the Venus de Milo.  Despite (or due to?) lacking arms the statue is quite beautiful.  As we were at peak people saturation we decided enough was enough and we still had quite a bit to see during the autumn-shortened day.

A bit after noon we left the Louvre through the underground shopping mall adjacent to it.  Michelle stopped by the Fossil store (as ours all closed) but nothing interesting was to be found.  We emerged onto Rue de Rivoli and walked east to Cafe Musee where we ate lunch at a little past 1p.  Michelle had a ham and cheese panini while I had a “mixte” — basically a baguette (in this case a very long one) with ham, cheese, and butter (yeah, I know — though not that bad!).  We also shared an order of fries.  Michelle had a scoop of vanilla with chocolate sauce while I had a scoop of strawberry (sweet) and lemon (very tart).  Plastered all over the news was the death of Charles Aznavour, a French singer, at 94.

About 1:45p we continued on down the road until we got to the park with Tour Saint-Jacques, a tower from a sixteenth century church that was destroyed during the French Revolution.  I took some pictures before we moved on through the park (Michelle even saw a giant rat) and turned south, crossing Pont Notre-Dame onto Ile de la Cite.  It was here that we got a good look at some gorgeous round towers of the Conciergerie — a fourteenth century royal palace turned Revolutionary prison for a bit — and the very top of the Eiffel Tower way off in the distance.  We emerged in the courtyard before the Cathedral de Notre Dame.  Not the most impressive cathedral in my mind (heck on this trip alone Bayeux had it beat) but the imposing facade of the two Gothic towers never fails to impress.

Inside is where Notre Dame wows, however.  In addition to an interesting series of sculptures depicting the life of Jesus as well as the normal altars, relics, etc. Notre Dame has the amazing Rose Windows.  It is hard to capture just how beautiful they are, particularly when the sun filters through them and splashes parts of the cathedral in color.  I tried to capture it, however, taking picture after picture.  Very beautiful and awe-inspiring.

We left Notre Dame right at 4p and headed south again, via the Petit Pont – Cardinal Lustiger, to the Latin Quarter.  After a short distance we arrived at the Musee de Cluny, home of the Musee National du Moyen Age (National Museum of the Middle Ages).  The museum was built in the 1500s on top of the ruins of a Roman bath.  As the museum was being extensively renovated so the entrance fee was greatly reduced to four euros each.  There was a small room displaying seventy items or so from their collection, mostly ivory or gold including a gorgeous rose done in gold.  There was also an exhibition on the evolution of the mythology around unicorns.

The crown jewel of the museum was also on display, the six tapestries known as “The Lady and the Unicorn” that were made around 1500.  The first five tapestries related to the five senses with the last (and most famous) one showing the lady, her companion, the lion, and the unicorn in front of a blue tent.  All six tapestries had a red background and were covered with animals such as foxes, monkeys, and rabbits.  It was amazing how great the color was.

After buying a magnet and a pillow case we left the museum at about 5p and headed for the hotel.  Along the way we passed a used bookstore and a grocery store with its basement dedicated to wine.  There was a small place (plaza) with an old-timey metro sign, one of the newspaper stands, and a cart selling candies.  A short distance later we were back at the hotel where I lined up a taxi to the airport for 8:30a and we napped a bit until just past 8p.

We dithered between multiple restaurants but finally settled on Pizza Cesar on Rue Mazarine.  It was fairly small with tables close together.  A lady next to us was speaking French a mile a minute.  Michelle and I ordered bruschetta for an appetizer — it was excellent.  For our main course Michelle had a four cheese pizza and I had a ham, cheese (mozzarella), and egg (though I never found it…) calzone.  Not bad.  For dessert we each had a slice of lemon meringue pie that was very good.  Could’ve been a little tarter, perhaps.  They had a drizzle of caramel that had been fire-hardened that was both impressive visually and tasty.

Left just before 10p and headed back to the hotel to off-load pics (but not save to the cloud as the upload speeds were total crap), blog a bit, then bed around midnight.

 

We awoke around 6:15a and were downstairs for breakfast right at 7a.  Same breakfast as the day before — fried egg, two strips English bacon, baked beans, and toast.  Yummy!  The host at Luna Simone was so polite and it was a joy to see him interacting with the guests.  Hope they are still around in 22 years if we again visit!

Headed back to the room and finished packing then lugged the two large pieces of luggage down the floor and a half of stairs to the lobby by 8:15a.  Reception hailed us a cab.  It came rather quickly.  The driver was a delight and couldn’t be more English if he tried.  Gave us a good-natured ribbing over European dominance at the Ryder Cup and mentioned that we were the last fare of the day for him as he was going to be home by 11a in time to watch golf all day.  Said he came in for a few hours mainly to get some beer money for Monday, the day he plays golf with his mates, gets piss drunk at the public house (pub I guessed), then spends all day Tuesday regretting it.  He was happy to see Tiger making a comeback as well.  We also talked a bit about the NFL and that it was becoming more popular in the UK, and that ten games a year were played in London now.  He said, however, that he hadn’t really followed it since the 80s when Chicago won it and Perry was playing.

He dropped us off at London St. Pancras International shortly after 8:30a.  We had to wait until 9a to line up for departure on our 10:24a train to Paris Gare du Nord.  At 9a we scanned our tickets and sent our bags through the scanner.  The security lady decided to check one of our backpacks and she was very thorough, emptying *everything* and using some kind of residue detecting strip or something.  Then it was up to us to re-pack everything.  What a pain!  Better safe than sorry, I suppose.  Waited in the terminal a bit for the train to begin boarding, which it did from platform 8 right around 10a.

The ride was pretty uneventful.  I slept and blogged mainly while Michelle slept.  Thankfully, this time around we were facing forward.  A screen did state that the Chunnel was 50km long or so and the speed record for the Eurostar was about 330km/h (so, around 200mph).  Arrived at Paris Gare du Nord just before 2p (time went forward one hour between the UK and France).

Once there we got Michelle a scone so she could take her medicine.  It wasn’t great but that wasn’t the point so that was OK.  There were quite a few beggar ladies from the Balkans milling about the terminal asking for money.  We then went to stand in the long (but thankfully fairly fast moving) line for the accredited Taxis.  An unaccredited fellow tried to get us to go with him but we’ve seen “Taken” — no thank you!  Our taxi driver spoke little or no English and was quite brusque, and I’m not really sure he knew where he needed to go (a stark difference from the Black Cabs of London which have strict exams on navigating London).  He did get us to our hotel, Hotel Prince de Conti, though.  In doing so we went by the Centre Pompidou as well as seeing Notre Dame in the distance to our left.

Check in went smoothly, room 32.  Thankfully there was an elevator for this hotel!  The lock on the door was a bit of a pain, requiring two tumblers to fall.  The room itself was nice, ample size with a nice sized bed and a decent bathroom (though not a shower — rather a tub with a hand-held sprayer).  It overlooked a charming courtyard and had walls covered in padded fabric designs.

We immediately headed out for Musee d’Orsay as it wasn’t open on Mondays.  Our hotel was in a quaint neighborhood called “Monnaie” on account of the nearby Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint), founded in 864 AD and the source of all of France’s euros (each country mints euros).  It was quite quiet, it being Sunday afternoon, and the majority of the numerous galleries (sparse affairs with only a couple of pieces) were closed.  We passed the Institut de France, a cultural center with an impressive dome and a quaint adjacent park.

Emerging from the labyrinthine streets we came upon the Seine.  Walking along the Left Bank for a few blocks we were soon at the Musee d’Orsay.  The line was quite long but moved at a fair pace.  We had arrived just before 4p and stood in line for 30m or so.  Once in we made a bee line for the cafe by 4:15p.  We both had ham and cheese baguettes while Michelle chose to finish with a chocolate muffin and I with a lemon cake slice.

The building itself was grand, being converted from the Gare d’Orsay, a rail station built in 1898.  I had previously been there in 1988 just a couple of short years after it opened (in December 1986) and enjoyed it very much.  One impressive feature of the building was the beautiful clock at one end.  Sadly I don’t think the building is as impressive as back then as some building had apparently been done and added some more modern elements to the beautiful building that I found a bit at odds.  Some renovation was still on-going (a common theme on this trip, it appeared) with many lesser works not on display.

There were still quite a few on display, though.  Near the cafe was a sculpture of a polar bear that we both really liked.  As time was short we headed up to the top floor and breezed through Gauguin (never been a fan) to the Van Gogh gallery.  I’m always impressed by his use of color and the way everything flows (at least in his later period).  Several famous paintings were on display (no, not “Starry Night” — that’s in the Met in New York City, though “Starry Night Over the Rhone Arles” is in the Orsay) including the painting of a church featured prominently in a Doctor Who episode, “The Church at Auvers” — though the painting didn’t have the wounded inter-dimensional being in the window that the episode did!  Also present was his famous self-portrait.  We really enjoyed a painting of a couple of people lounging against a hay bale.

Next we went to a grand ballroom preserved from the hotel that succeeded the train station.  Inside were displayed several metal sculptures.  Additionally, there was an incredible view north across Paris and we even caught a glimpse of Sacre-Coeur!  We then descended to the lower floors where I enjoyed some Egyptian and Arabian inspired art (popular around the turn of the century, particularly with the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in the early 1920s).  Michelle was decidedly less enthused.  As closing time neared we headed to the bookstore, bought a couple of magnets, and left the museum about 6p.

Returned to the hotel around 7p after a leisurely stroll along the Seine in which we admired the booksellers’ stands which folded up tight at night.  We rested a bit but I got a headache.  Finally about 10p we realized we really needed to eat so headed out to Bistrot Mazarin nearby.  Not before we walked past the Paris mint with its posters about Mickey (Mouse) in France.  The bistro was a quaint place playing 80s music like Ray Parker’s “Ghostbusters”.  Michelle had a ham and cheese omelette and I had the beef bourguignon, a beef stew with carrots, potatoes, and pepper in a red wine sauce.  It was fantastic!  For dessert we each had a chocolate mousse and it too was incredible.  Walked back to the room about 11:30p where Michelle did crosswords and I blogged and then turned in for bed.

We awoke a little later than normal, but not too late as we were downstairs for breakfast around 8a.  Glorious, glorious English breakfast as opposed to the dreadful affair at the adjacent Lidos Hotel.  A fried egg, two pieces of English bacon (pretty much country ham, a bit on the salty side), and baked beans.  Add on to that two pieces of white toast, butter, and strawberry jam and some breakfast tea and it was a damn fine start to the day!

On returning to our room we watched a bit of “Lovejoy”, a 1980s British mystery show starring Ian McShane, a favorite actor of ours.  We then departed and  walked through the quiet Saturday morning streets to Pimlico station and took the Victoria line all the way to Euston.  We got a train to Watford Junction shortly after 10a, a trip that lasted only about fifteen minutes or so and had no stops.  Once in Watford we waited a few minutes for the shuttle bus to the WB Studios in Leavesden where the Making of Harry Potter exhibition took place.  We arrived there a bit past 11a and stood in line to pick up our tickets.  They had three giant chess pieces from the first movie out front.  Once inside we saw a few costumes from Fantastic Beasts as well as a trailer for the upcoming movie before walking down a long series of corridors decorated with footprints a la the mischief managed map as well as quotes from the move such as a personal favorite of ours: “We could all have been killed — or worse, EXPELLED.”

The corridors ended in a lobby area with the entrance to the tour, a massive shop, and a cafe.  As we’d not eaten lunch yet we decided to go for some food.  Michelle had a jacket (baked) potato with cheese, I had a steak and cheese panini with boiled potatoes.  For dessert Michelle had a chocolate milkshake that wasn’t that great and I had a lemon drizzle cake that was quite great.  We also bought a couple of bottled waters as our prior ones were empty.

We briefly looked through the shop, bag checked our backpack, and got in line for our 1p tour at about 12:50p.  While we were in line we passed the under-the-stairs set of Harry’s bedroom at the Dursleys; there were even small toy soldiers that I never noticed before.  Once through the line we were led into a room surrounded with TVs high up on the walls that were showing posters from all eight movies from all around the world.  A short time later a video played covering the rise in popularity of the books, how the film got green lit, then the crazy success and premieres.  Once that was over they opened a door on the far side of the room to reveal Hogwarts’ great hall.

The great hall was impressive.  It was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins, cakes, and candies.  Around the room were many costumes including Harry, Ron, and Hermione as well as the main teachers of Hogwarts like Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall and other characters like Hagrid.  There was no ceiling to the set, however, and we’d later learn that they used CGI to provide that (as well as the effects like clouds or floating candles — which were first implemented as physical but the wax dripped on the actors!).

As another group was about to enter we were escorted to the “big room” where the majority of the sets, costumes, props, etc. were.  We were free to re-enter the great hall if we wished, but after that group had moved out.  First we saw costumes and the place setting from both the Yule Ball as well as the great chocolate feast.  There was also a scale model of the great hall’s ceiling to be used in conjunction with CGI to produce effects.  A display of wigs (including Luna’s) and other practical effects was neat too.

Next up was the Marble Staircase that would change position at whim.  This was pulled off by having the wheeled supports painted in key green so that it appeared to float in the air when moving.  Some of the frames had key green as well so CGI could be used to make the picture appear to be dynamic.  The Gryffindor Dormitory was surprising in its size — so small and, by the latter movies, with beds far too small for the growing actors.  The next set was a multi-purpose one — having served as several classrooms including potions and defense from the dark arts.  They had another of Alan Rickman’s Snape costumes there.  Real shame that we lost him so early.

Hagrid’s hut was neat and crammed with items.  There were a pair of interesting doors — a vault door from Gringotts Wizarding Bank (the locking mechanism was actually practical, not CGI!) and the Chamber of Secrets’ door with its awesome snake motif.  We saw the nested chests that held the real Mad-Eye Moody as well as his coat.  The Weasley family kitchen was predictably chaotic and featured many of the costumes of the family.  Around the bend was the set for Malfoy Manor, with the great table surrounded by many costumes.

It was at this point (and time, 2:15p) that we grouped up with a few others for our “Behind the Seams” tour.  Just above this meeting spot hung the tapestry depicting the Black family tree, complete with the burned-out Sirius’ portrait.  Sadly a good portion of the tapestry was lost after filming as it was placed outside to make room for other stuff and got exposed to the elements.  Two guides met us and led us through the courtyard (which I’ll describe later) and to a pretty nondescript room.  Inside, however, were some neat things — two racks of costumes worn in the films as well as some other shelves of hats, gloves, concept art, and the like.

After the gentleman and his assistant donned gloves they proceeded to discuss the process from initial concept to drawings to implementation and even alterations “in the field”.  They showed us several costumes like Voldemort’s robes which were made of very light silk.  Due to the clingy nature of the material Ralph Fiennes wore nylon stockings under them.  We also saw one of many coats worn by Mad-eye Moody (having seen one previously), all subjected to identical weathering process of burning with a propane torch and such.

We were told that a famous Parisian hat-maker had made the hats worn by the Beauxbatons.  The Botany instructor’s robe had tiny snails clinging to it but we’d learn that the back of the costume was light-weight breathable material as otherwise it was too hot for the actress and the back was never shown on camera.  We finished our visit by being able to try on actual house robes worn in the films.  Michelle chose Gryffindor and, while I’d normally be a Ravenclaw, chose Slytherin as that is Genetta’s.

After returning to the “big room” we continued our self-guided tour.  The Ministry of Magic’s floo network was really impressive, as were the offices.  One office in particular, Dolores Umbride’s, had me involuntarily shiver — I hated her in the movies so much.  They had a few of her outfits, the plates with cat pictures on them, etc. and all in pink.  Her quill was there too.  The “Magic is Might” monument prop was pretty impressive as well.  There was a display of some of the vehicles — Hagrid’s motorcycle, the Gringotts roller coaster car thing, and the Weasleys’ car.  That was neat as it was on an armature with a small piece of the Whomping Willow and another armature held another large branch trunk of the tree.  The armatures moved both back and forth and CGI was used to add all of the smaller whipping branches.

Next were a batch of artifacts from the film — the Tri-Wizard trophy, the egg that opens up with the mermaid clue, all of the Horcruxes, etc.  Really neat to see the real props.  A wall was covered with Quidditch banners as well.  The next major set was the Gryffindore Common Room.  A neat thing about all of these sets was the exterior — pipes, rebar, plaster, symbols.  Almost like a geode, a very ehhhh exterior and inside the amazing sets used in the film.  There were yet more costumes worn by the main actors of the series to be found within, as well as the famous “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry (remember this…).  The Invisibility Cloak was there too, one side of a fancy material and the other done entirely in key green to have Harry effectively disappear on camera.

After seeing the Griffin Stairwell (which in the movie twisted around to reveal a spiral staircase) we came upon Dumbledore’s Office.  It was really impressive, more than one story, with plenty of books and of course the Pensive.  Also on display were costumes worn by both of the actors to have played the role in the original movies.  Perhaps neatest of all was the Sorting Hat sitting on the shelf.

With Dumbledore’s Office visited we were done with the “big room” finally, and on to the Forbidden Forest.  This was enhanced a bit for Halloween with flashing “lightning” and spider props.  I was a little disappointed to learn it wasn’t the original set (which was long gone) but rather reconstructed by the same craftsmen using the same techniques as the original.  One cool thing we learned was that the Patronus was a vest of high intensity lights strapped around a dog (with CGI being used to make it look like a deer).

Stepping out of the forest we emerged at the train platform (9 and three-quarters) with the locomotive and cars used in the movies.  We walked through the cars and peered into the passenger compartments, each made up to look like it did for one of the movies (including costumes, props like the chocolate frogs, etc.).  A newspaper from the movie with the headlines “Terror at the Quidditch World Cup” was there, complete with a key green circle upon which the CGI to have one of the animated pictures would be placed.  A display case contained maps and books including, if I’m not mistaken, the awesome map used in the movies.  Mischief managed!

Leaving the platform we bought a magnet at a small stand then emerged into the “back lot” where the tall skinny purple Knight Bus sat in addition to the Dursleys’ house and the rickety bridge at Hogwarts (which did not appear in the books).  The Dursleys’ first floor was as appears in the movies but the stairs ended in scaffolding and such at the second floor.  On the wall in the hall hung a “Headteacher’s Award” presented to Dudley Dursley for “always eating his lunch”, haha.  While I was taking pictures of Michelle on the bridge some “Death eaters” came out and dueled visitors in a wand battle.  We skipped eating at the eatery there which included drinks such as Butterbeer.  Puke!

Stepping back inside we entered a couple of rooms stuffed with special effects props — heads, puppets, models, etc.  Particularly neat were multiple Dobby puppets, a Hagrid head that an actor would wear on top of his own shoulders to make Hagrid appear the proper height, the mermaids and Krumm-as-shark as well as the dragons from the fourth movie.  Speaking of Dobby, there was a neat exhibit where we could wave, move around, etc. and it rendered it as if Dobby was doing it in real time on a nearby monitor.  The book with that was alive with teeth and everything was there as well.  The second room had a wall covered in various hats used in the films.

Just beyond those rooms was a huge treat — the Diagon Alley exterior set.  We walked down the cobblestone street and admired the shops all around including Ollivanders Wands, the apothecary, and Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, complete with the statue of the man tipping his hat.  It was extraordinary to see the care that went into making the storefronts as “lived in” as possible.  The light in the set varied from blue to orange to white, each change radically altering the mood of the set.

Next up was a room dedicated to the concept art and scale paper models used to help visualize the movies.  The work space of one of the artists was presented as well, complete with easel and the like.  I was struck by the beauty of several of the pieces of concept art.

Finally we came upon the last room of the tour, a large room that contained a massive 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts that was used for all of the exterior shots throughout the series.  The detail was amazing and, like with Diagon Alley, the light varied to show the model in various times (morning, evening, midday, etc.).  It took dozens of craftsmen forty days to construct the model.  We started roughly at turret level then walked down a ramp and around the model before emerging at the bottom.

Our tour over we were deposited in the gift shop (of course, that is the way with all museums and attractions!).  As we had to haul anything we bought back on the plane it’d have to have been something extraordinary to make it worth the effort.  Sadly, most of the stuff for sale wasn’t anything that extraordinary so we bought a magnet and a guide book and headed back to the cafe where we had lunch.  Michelle had a chocolate muffin and I had a Starbucks “frappe” — wasn’t quite like the ones back home.  Still it hit the spot.

We stepped into the chilly evening air a bit past 6p and caught the bus back to Watford Junction, this time riding on the upper deck.  We managed to quickly catch a train back to Euston around 6:50p or so and, once there, took the Northern line south (I know!) to Waterloo, arriving at 7:30p or so.  Wow, Waterloo Underground station was sprawling compared to the others we had seen.  We had intended to go to the London Eye after the Harry Potter tour but it being so late (it closed at 8:30p), it being a fair walk (and our feet were tired from standing / walking all day), and dark made us scrap that plan and just go for dinner.

Michelle hadn’t had fish and chips yet and that was a must-do for a trip to England.  So, we went to a small fish and chips place called Fishcotheque.  Cash-only, but we had just enough.  Michelle had the cod fish and chips while I had a very excellent beef and onion pie with French fries.  Quite excellent.  After leaving and heading back to Waterloo we passed the Wellington, a pub / hotel that we almost stayed at that was located right on the tracks.  Dodged that bullet!

London fairly hopped that Saturday night, tons of people dressed to the nines and going to clubs and pubs.  We dodged them all and took the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus then Victoria down to Pimlico (as we didn’t want to deal with the busy restaurant area between Victoria and our hotel) and enjoyed the short walk back to the hotel.  Once there, we watched Medium and enjoyed a bit of tea, offloaded some pics, and went to bed.

 

Woke up at 6:45a and reluctantly went to our continental breakfast.  Even prepared for it it managed to disappoint.  Finished packing and checked out of the hotel and left the two large bags and one backpack (leaving us with only one) with our hotel for the coming night, the adjacent Luna and Simone Hotel.  We got to Pimlico Underground station a little early, about 9:20a, and waited (mostly) patiently until 9:30a and the beginning of off-peak travel to buy off-peak day passes for just under thirteen pounds each.  Took the time to research some dining options for our day trip to Oxford.

Yeah, Oxford.  Again.  I was still feeling miffed about missing the exhibition on Wednesday and had considered just not seeing it at all but it was pretty much the reason this whole trip happened in the first place.  So, we dutifully rode the tube back up to Oxford Circus via the Victoria line then Padding rail station via Bakerloo, arriving in time to catch the 10:22a train to Oxford.  It was uneventful and, yes, arrived in Oxford almost exactly one hour later, further reinforcing that the train attendant on Wednesday didn’t know what was up — thirty minutes, indeed!

We walked back across Castle Mill Stream via Hythe Bridge and went into a part of town with narrow streets and the like to The White Rabbit, apparently known for serving the best pizza in Oxford.  Surely the internet wouldn’t steer me wrong!  We had to wait around a few minutes for it to open, whereupon we took a seat and looked over the menu.  It being a pub, we had to order from the bar (as well as get some tap water from pitchers there).  We ordered an appetizer of dough balls with garlic butter as an appetizer, Michelle a cheese pizza, and myself a pepperoni (spicy!), ham, mushroom, and onion pizza.  We timed it perfectly as about five minutes after we got our food a lady came in seeking to eat there for the twenty-eight in her group.  Yikes!

Our lunch finished, we headed through the center of Oxford (after seeing an older lady and a younger man get into it over his cycling in an area that she did not feel he should be) to the Weston Library across from the Sheldonian Theater. We arrived perfectly on time for our 1p time slot. After presenting our tickets for the Tolkien exhibition we proceeded down a small hall, the floor of which the map of Middle-Earth was projected.

Turned left into a mid-sized room which contained the entirety of the exhibition. I was a little disappointed by the size of it at first, but that very quickly faded as the number and quality of the artifacts on display was extraordinary. There was a wall with many different versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in numerous languages, along with fan letters from well-known people including the singer Joni Mitchell. Opposite that was a display of items from his earliest years, from living in South Africa prior to his banker dad passing away when he was four, to Birminghamshire (UK) now that the family was quite poor and his mother passing away when he was twelve, to his years living with a priest. I was particularly struck by his mother’s penmanship — it was absolutely beautiful and apparently that (and her love for language) stuck with him throughout his life.

On the flip side of that were items related to his college life at Exeter College in the early 1910s, including notes from the headmaster that he was “v. lazy” and in danger of losing his scholarship. He made a good number of friends there, but sadly they all went off to World War I and few made it back. A picture of the freshman class of 1911 (which graduated just as the war began) was sobering — they highlighted those that died in the war and it was over half. Terrible. It was during World War I that the beginning of many of his later writing happened.

Returning from the war he taught at Oxford. They had many items from his study as well as his watercolors and colored pencils that he used to do so many great illustrations. He married the love of his life, Edith, and had several kids. In a move that made any parents visiting the exhibition feel decidedly inadequate he wrote a beautiful letter with water color art and stamped from the North Pole from Santa. Therein Santa would describe the crazy goings-on in the North Pole, often of his elves and a friendly polar bear fighting off goblins that would steal gifts intended for kids.

It was during this time that the “Inklings” were formed, a group of people interested in writing and literature. Their number included not only Tolkien but also C. S. Lewis. They’d meet weekly and discuss their work, offering a friendly audience and constructive criticism. Tolkien taught Old and Middle English literature and was particularly known for his courses on Beowulf. He felt that the 1066 Norman conquest had cut short the potential for a great Anglo-Saxon epic and busily started constructing a world from the ground up that could eventually serve as the basis for one.

There were numerous artifacts on display that showed this construction, from early sketches of fantastic locations (many of which would make it into his writing) in a sketchbook he called the “Book of Ishness”, to language trees, samples of Elvish, Dwarvish, and others, etc. What was interesting to me is to hear just how much of his writing was coming together all at once — the Silmarillion actually pre-dating most all his other thoughts despite that work ending up not being published in his lifetime.

Creating stories for his kids, like “Roverandom” about one of his son’s lost dog, eventually lead to his classic children’s tale “The Hobbit”. He penned the famous opening line “In a hole in the ground lived a Hobbit” while bored grading papers in the 1920s then did nothing with it for years. He also, early on, drew the Thorin’s map (the one with the pointing hand). In the mid-1930s he sent it to a publisher and the publisher was so taken with his illustrations and jacket design that they used those as well. They didn’t expect much but it ended up becoming a world-wide phenomenon.

One wall of the exhibit was dedicated to showing the original watercolors of many of “The Hobbit”‘s illustrations. “Conversations with Smaug” was incredible, I’d never noticed some details like the black lines coming out of the door behind Smaug or the scattered bones of other adventurers that had dared to try and steal from the great dragon. Watercolors of the Great Eagle in its nest and Bilbo riding with the barrels (with the Dwarves within) down the river were beautiful. I’ve seen the book’s original dust jacket my entire life but seeing the original, with publisher’s notes like “ignore red” (as it was deemed too expensive to add another color) was another thing entirely. There were also some pen and ink illustrations like the trolls and even the front page of the submitted manuscript (minus the “by J. R. R. Tolkien” byline as he had forgotten to add it, so the publisher scrawled it on).

Another area was devoted to the Silmarillion and Lost Tales (neither published in his lifetime). Highlights here were the pen and ink and watercolor designs used for the various houses of Elves and the like. Nearby was Michelle’s favorite part of the exhibition — completed crosswords (in impeccable penmanship) with the surrounding newspaper absolutely covered in beautiful doodles — both geometric and lace-like.

There were a couple of free-standing displays showing off various maps related to “The Lord of the Rings”. They were done on graph paper and very much “working maps” — he was very careful to ensure that the characters did not travel farther than possible each day, even inventing his own Hobbit units of measure based on toenails. Yeah, guy was a bit obsessed! As he’d need to correct areas of the map he’d draw corrections on small bits of graph paper and then tape them on to the original. We could even see a few burn marks on the maps from his pipe.

This detail included not only maps but also he made a timeline of what all of the various factions of his story (Orcs & Enemies, Allies & Friends, Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, the Company) were doing each time, at the same time, so that it all lined up. There were also illustrations of some of the locations in LotR as well as the original jacket designs (though meant to be one book it was too large to publish as such). There was even a note by a young reader who read the first bit of LotR and was asked to give feedback by the publisher. The reader noted that it was a bit slow (very true) but the appearance of the Black Riders greatly intrigued them. Also at that point the book was called “The Magic Ring” — thank goodness he fixed that.

The last thing in the exhibition was a poster map done in the late 1960s by Pauline Baynes for LotR. It was extraordinary, colorful but with that style that only the late 1960s could deliver. I resolved to hunt down a print of that poster map some day.

I was struck as I left by the enormity of what he had created. In this day and age of Game of Thrones, The Wheel of Time, and the like it is considered normal to create worlds whole-cloth with meticulous detail and use that as the foundation for story telling. He didn’t have a blueprint to follow. Just a love of the epics of old, an interest in maps and languages, and illustration. In doing so, he created the modern Fantasy genre, led to its popularization (would Dungeons & Dragons have happened? Game of Thrones? I think it unlikely), and one could argue did create the epic for England that he felt the Normans had robbed them of.

Leaving the exhibition about 3p we bought a couple of things as well as checked out a remarkable tapestry map from the 1500s showing many towns in central England. There was also an “exhibition” — this one just a glass case like a trophy case — looking at various Kings and Queens of England and ailments that killed them and whether they’d have been fatal today. This included Henry VIII (morbid obesity and diabetes), Elizabeth I (smallpox scars from youth led her to use lead-based makeup throughout her life — which caused her to lose her hair and also damaged her skin), George III (madness), etc. Interesting.

We then headed south at about 3:30p to near the Radcliffe Camera and the adjacent Oxford University Church. In a corner of the Cathedral was a room where officials had met since 1320 which was now a cafe, Vaults and Gardens. Outside was a patio, surrounded by hundreds year old graves, overlooking Radcliffe Camera. We each got afternoon cream tea (house blend) which came with a raisin scone and raspberry jam and clotted cream. We also got a slice of lemon drizzle cake and also chocolate fudge cake. The chocolate fudge cake was average, at best, but the lemon drizzle was moist and just tart enough. The tea itself was excellent as well, as was the scone with jam. It was really neat to have tea in such a historical location.

Once we finished we walked past Christ Church and into the adjacent Christ Church Meadow nestled between the River Cherwell in the east and the River Thames in the west. We did a clockwise circuit all the way around it, enjoying the cows and punts and massive trees as well as still waterways chocked with green vegetation and reeds. Also saw some Canadian geese, apparently introduced to the area — who the heck did that?! I did my customary finger gun “pop pop pop” at the little bastards. Hate them.

As we came around to the west side of the meadows we got back on to Oxford’s streets at Folly Bridge. As it was evening a gentleman was wrangling punts with a pole as he was being hailed by one of the many river boats on the Thames.

Walked up St. Aldate’s and past several important buildings: Christchurch Cathedral, the Oxford town hall, and Carfax Tower — the only remains of a medieval church.

We then turned west toward Oxford’s castle mound (remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle, of which only a tower remains — dating back to the Saxon times) before returning to the train station, our feet hurting a bit, just before 7p. We quickly boarded the train to Paddington (carefully getting the one that only stopped at Reading and Slough) and were back in London just before 8p. A couple of Underground hops later and we were back in Victoria station.

It being a Friday night the pubs were full and people drinking with their friends spilled onto the sidewalks. We decided to try a (of all things) Mexican restaurant, Loco Mexicano, on Wilton Street. It was OK, I guess. A bit expensive (but that’s London). Not offensively bad like the Mexican we had in the Adirondacks in 2011, just soulless. We had two appetizers, chips and salsa (the salsa being more of a tomato paste like texture) and Cajun mushrooms (mushrooms stuffed with cheese, breaded, and fried). The mushrooms were good, at least. Michelle had the pulled pork enchilada and I a spicy beef burrito — though my meat looked exactly like pulled pork and tasted it too, so I suspect that it was. Probably a good thing, the universe doing me a solid.

Left the restaurant at a bit after 9p and walked the short distance to the Luna and Simone Hotel, our lodging for the next two nights. Check in was quick, room 8, and on the landing between the first and second floor. Excellent, I thought, not many stairs to carry luggage up (there being no lift)! My happiness faded when we went up a half floor and there was no room 8. Ugh, that’s right, the first floor is the second floor in America. Room was nice, a little bigger than the one at the Lidos Hotel and it was nice to have one bed rather than two singles. The bathroom was larger too, though the sink and I didn’t get along too well, it splashed everywhere!

Blogged a bit, off-loaded pics, and watched TV (Medium first, then the series (they don’t call them “seasons” there) premiere of the Graham Norton Show). We had put in for tickets for the Graham Norton Show taping but were never contacted. Probably for the best, it filmed at just past 6p on Thursday and we were just getting out of Hamilton at that time. After Graham turned off the TV and went to bed, just past midnight.