Richmond and Harry Potter!

 9/10: Our place was a 5 minute walk from the train station, and we started the process of unpacking and settling into our new home for 2 weeks. Bob and I did the usual routine of a grocery run and dinner making; fortunately there are two local grocery stores close by in addition to an Amazon fresh. This was so fun to experience and then take the kids to grab a few items and walk out after scanning the app. Their faces were hilarious! You really feel like you’re stealing.

9/12: Off to Warner Brothers Studio to see where HP was filmed! We originally were going to take an Uber, but Bob figured out we could take two trains and a bus that would get us right where we needed to be. In the end, our journey on public transit cost us a total of $15 instead of $100. Yikes. This was another instance that affirmed to us that we should travel as the locals do instead of what we normally do in the States!

Simone helped to open the doors to let us in.

Through to Platform 9 3/4!

The Weasley house made perfectly to 1/9 scale.

All the letters flying about in the Weasley house were individually hanging from the ceiling.

Dobby! He was a VR character, but they made wax creatures

 so the actors could have a visual to talk to.

Gringotts bank - this pic does not do this space justice. The goblins were SO real. It was absolutely incredible.

Reaching for the cup in Bellatrix's vault

Hogwarts made in miniature scale used for a lot of the filming. This was SO impressive. Everything was made perfectly in such tiny proportions.

We spent 4 hours going through the studio, which we thought would be more than enough, but we could've spent a few more hours. My main takeaway was complete astonishment with the process of making the HP series. The level of detail with set making, costuming, makeup, and special effects was incredible. I would love to spend more time reading and learning about the producers and creative minds that created these movies, including Stuart Craig. We saw a model of his office where he would start with blank pieces of paper and sketch how scenes would be created. My non-creative mind is blown away by people who can do this!