- Iglesia
- Prepare for finals
- Start writing blog
Holy freakin' Hogwarts! I lived about 20 lives this week. And this list certainly doesn't do the week justice. So, with no further adieu let's see where this post takes us.
ATTENTION! Many of these sections will come complete with theme music as they will enhance your reading experience. Just press play and enjoy!
The London Dungeon
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| Sat right in front of this. Obviously not an attraction for the weak at heart. |
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Me holding a severed wax mold of my hand.
(For the record my hand was pinky-up. Nothing but the poshest for England) |
Ya know, it's quite weird to think about a country that displays its gruesome past quite vividly. But I guess that's tourist money for ya! In the end I would highly recommend anyone to go see this place. Very well done and very "educational".
Fortunately I was able to capture part of our own torture on video!
London Eye
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| Doesn't look like an eye to me. |
Finally got to ride this little (big) contraption.
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| Big Ben don't look so big after all. |
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| Happy dear ol' me on the eye. |
There honestly isn't too much to say about this ride. All it is is a big Ferris Wheel famous for being famous. In other words it's iconic to London and I would have been linched by everyone back home if I didn't ride it.
Kenilworth and Warwick Castles
Two of our first stops on our way to Stratford was seeing historic Kenilworth and Warwick Castles. Now these were the legit types of castles that we picture when we were playing our imaginary medieval games. Everything such as towers, drawbridges,suits of armor, and motes around the castle are such things that made up these timeless creations. Take a look!
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| Feeling noble. |
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| Of course a perfect place to enact Romeo and Juliet. |
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| Nothing like stormin' the castle. |
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| Just happiness. |
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| The entire majesty. |
Now onto Warwick.
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| A change in time, but nonetheless timeless. |
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Battlements! There happened to be an attack on the castle while I was there.
And it's a darn good thing I was there. |
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| After the battle it was once again safe to roam the castle. |
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| Just take the beauty in. |
The time finally came to when we arrived at Stratford. For those of you who know not of this place then let me inform you that Stratford is where Shakespeare was born and all that jazz. It's also home to the Royal Shakespeare Company of which we were lucky enough to see two shows of;
As You Like It and
Hamlet.
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| The main man himself. |
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| The main man himself, but in crypt form. |
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| Let's just say a few tears were shed. |
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| Guess the acronym. |
Soon enough we left Stratford, but not without first seeing one more palace on our way back. Now this next place I couldn't have been more roused by. This was none other than Blenheim Palace, the place where they filmed Kenneth Brannagh's HAMLET.
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| Me at the gate where Hamlet first saw his Father's ghost. |
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| See? |
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| But I think the girls will appreciate this photo a bit more. |
Well, the crew and I eventually made it back home to London and we of course needed to take a nice break from all the hustle and bustle that our trip was heir to. So we took the night off and awaited for out next trip the very next morning.
Brighton Beach
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| Finally some sun! |
Brighton Beach was like being back in America. And by America I mean California or Florida. There wasn't too much that we did here, but it was good to see the coast and enjoy the Fish n' Chips.
But there is one thing I got here that will stay with me for quite sometime. This involved me combining two of my greatest loves and display them together. Let me show ya!
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| Two great loves together as one. |
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In honor of Kingdom Hearts 3 being recently announced and of course the always great
Brigham Young University. |
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for. I give my report on the magical;
Harry Potter Studios Tour!
(If there's any section to listen to the music on, it's this one)
What better way to spend my last Saturday in England than by a tour of the Harry Potter Studios. Just let the photos do the talking.
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| And it begins. |
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| We had to fight these chess pieces to gain entrance. |
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"Checkmate!"
And of course I won. |
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| "Flying car 2, now with wings!" |
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| All the peeps. |
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| I look mad because the Sorting hat put me in Hufflpuff |
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| You could even see the toy soldiers he used to play with! |
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| Entrance to the great hall complete with ominous armor. |
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| I guess they used taxidermy after he died. |
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| Gryffindor wins! |
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| Hogwarts newest student. |
Quick story! The tour guide showed us Daniel Radcliff's first set of robes during his first year and made mention of how tiny he used to be. At which time I quickly shouted out "He's still tiny!" The tour guide then responded "That's not very nice. But that's true and I am laughing quite a bit on the inside." Haha, Daniel Radcliff is short. But whatever, refer to next photo;
Moving on!
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| A very stretched out image of wand dueling! |
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The bridge where many Hogwarts students no doubt made-out.
Looks like we were about to do the same. |
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Man, these photos make me look short.
But I guess that's part of the magic, to make us feel more like Daniel. |
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| Getting wasted off of Butter Beer. |
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| And of course. |
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Diagon Alley!
Let's go shopping! |
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| Words...cannot describe.... |
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| only tears can.... |
Now of course there were more pictures taken. But thanks to the heavy amount I had already taken my memory filled up and I relied on another's camera to capture the rest. However, such photos will be displayed in good time.
But this experience was, dare I say it, magical! Other things I got to see were the Gryffindor common room, Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore's office, the Burrow, every single prop you can think of (Sorcerer's Stone, Invisibility cloak, Tri-wizard Cup, Firebolt, Gordric Gryffindor's sword, just to name a small few), every single bit of costume you can think of, and of course countless animitronics like Dobby, Aragog, the Basalisk, and many of the dragons.
Anyhow, this tour took up the entire day and I was left to take painful steps outside of the studio and make my way back to Kensington. But it was dream come true and as Harry Potter once said; "I LOVE MAGIC!"
The End
Congratulations everyone. You successfully managed to reach the end of one painfully long post. Normally I would like to keep them shorter if possible, but this week just had too much leave out. But that being said I still left out about 1/3 of everything that happened. So consider yourself lucky!
But not only is this the end of the post, but being the end of my time in Europe. I do in fact leave on Friday. Thankfully it doesn't hurt as much knowing that my first stop in the states will be in the land of my inheritance; New York City!
However, this will not be my last post. I will post again in New York as a wrap up of my trip and perhaps one when I get back to Utah. But whatever I do from here I know one thing, as Harry Potter almost once said; "I've had enough adventure for a lifetime."
In every magical way,
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Tanner Percival Wulfric Brian Spear
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