Get the wand! You will use it more!

So said a very wise mom to her child at the Making of Harry Potter studio tour today. Given all of the magic that was surrounding us, I think she made the right choice. A couple of years ago, there was a Harry Potter exhibit in New York. Props and costumes were displayed. I went and was suitably impressed. I also noticed that the actors and actresses are not that much taller than I am, which did surprise me. I sort of assumed that this studio was the end place of that traveling exhibit. My lovely roomie Jessica thought this was an amusement park, like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. Turns out we were both wrong. This is the actual set used to film the movies. It is a sort of behind the scenes tour. You can see props, costumes, conceptions, and even some of the special effects. They even had a giant model of Hogwarts. As the lights went down in the room, the lights in the castle came on!

This tour gave us an appreciation of not only how many people were behind the scenes, but the incredible amount of detail and imagination that went into creating Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the fact that they would display a quote from the book, and then show how that quote had come to life. It is fun to imagine what it would be like to live in a world of magic. 

I wonder which house I would be in. I know I would have an owl. 

Roomies on the Hogwarts bridge. Very symmetrical, guys. 

I am beyond sorry to say that we are nearing the end of our trip. While the beginning of this trip seems like a long, long time ago, I feel very much at home and could stay for quite a bit longer. I have been busy tying up loose ends, both for my class and for me. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. In the morning, I am heading to Harrods and Camden for a special surprise, and then we are going to the London Eye and the Globe tomorrow night. Friday I am off to Dublin, and Sunday is our last day together. Buckle your seat belts. It is going to be a busy 5 days.