WHERE'S THE BLOG? Wednesday June 26th, 2013

We are having sleep issues – Britt and I are still messed up from LA and being up at the wrong times, and then the flight didn’t help..  I was up doing bloggy things, letting these days pile up isn’t cool – but we’re away from facebook and stuff all day, and I’m such an addict that I play on there and other things on the net, instead of recapping the day.  So anyway, Tuesday night I was headed to bed at 2am our time, and then Patti comes in the kitchen and is surprised to see that I’m up.  She and Britt have been up since 1am – so of course I have to go in there and chat.  We have a little party in their room, and then Dana comes downstairs (who was awake – we didn’t wake her)..   we did wake up Lauren.  But Thomas slept through it – he’s like that.  He sleeps through the night, even when the night is like a 2 hour nap that isn’t really a night.  J

So after our late night, we’re then up at various times -  4..5..6... At 6:30 I notice Lauren walking back and forth by the door.  I’m half asleep and foggy, so it’s creepy.  Like that scene in Sixth Sense when the ghost walks past the door in the hallway – just enough to know that a form passed, but not enough to know who or why.  She needs shower instructions. It is kind if weird – first of all it’s higher than an American tub (not the reason she needs help) – but you have to step UP into this thing.  The edge of the tub goes up to your hip – but it’s not any deeper than our tubs, just elevated.   And there are two different water outlets - one has a spigot and had a flexible shower head attached and the other is shower head and has weird little on/off valves.  The one on the left is the only one that turns on water, and it doesn’t seem to have a reason that it creates hot or cold water – like I turn it all the way on, guessing that the more you turn, the hotter it gets, but it really doesn’t.  And the other side also turns, but doesn’t do anything when you turn it (that I can tell), but there is a little red button sticking out of it, and if the water is too cold, if you hit that a few times the water heats up again.   There isn’t a shower curtain, the door is like a swinging glass door—water gets everywhere in this place, especially after 5-6 people have showered.  It’s a sloppy wet mess in there.   The upstairs bathroom is divided into two rooms, the one on the right is the toilet, and the other room is the shower and the sink.  You have to know what you want to do when you go in – can’t just go in for a shower and decide, oh I need to go to the bathroom first.  It takes some planning.

Two different rooms...

Weird swinging door (hard to see)

The other bathroom that we have is downstairs and I call it the little toilet under the stairs.  Its in exactly the same place as Harry Potter’s first bedroom at his Aunt and Uncle’s – it’s super small (quaint).  The rest of the place is nice – 2 story, 3 bedroom – I was rooming with Lauren, but when it’s time for bed I always find myself in Dana’s room.  She loves me.  I haven’t heard her complain once about me being in her bed or taking covers, or waking her up, or snoring, or putting a pillow in her back… nope, not once.  Many, many times. 

The potty under the stairs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We should take pics of the places that we stay BEFORE we destroy them, they’re pretty cute.  But now I’m afraid, all you see is our debris everywhere. 

We eat the food that we bought (it’s so nice to just have a little something before we head out) -- we have our bagels and fruit – and we all get ready, taking turns using Britt's bang straightener (it’s so tiny) you wouldn't want to do anything else with it. Like half the size of a normal one – and it stinks.  We have a couple of theories – one is that it’s just so small and cheap that it’s going to stink and burn up.. the other is that when Britt’s medicine exploded in the bag, that it got all in the workings of the straightner and now it cooks every time we turn it on.  Either way, it STINKS – like it smells like dead fish cooking in the hot sun on the beach.. I had written the blogs, but I write them and then the other step is to upload and get the pics in there and I didn’t feel like doing it the night before, so I post the Monday/Tuesday blog and we're off.

We have to catch the train to Watford for the Harry Potter Warner Brothers tour. It's a direct train out of Euston (which is the station right around the corner from us), and we want tickets instead of using our Oyster cards.  The cost is 9£ but if you have a group ticket it's only 6£, we each get two tickets, one for there and one back, but they all look the same to me. This isn’t like a tube station that we’ve been navigating, this is a direct train, so we have to find the right platform (like Harry Potter)  We head to platform 18 (not 9 3/4) for the train.  It leaves at 9:24... And it's 9:24.  The woman who sold us the tickets says that the train is delayed so we may be able to catch it, but we’re not so confident in our platform seeking abilities, so we ask what happens when we miss the 9:24.. We can catch the 9:34.  So that's good. 

We get there and we're actually surprised that our train is still on the tracks! Yay for late trains. We find seats together, all sitting and facing each other.  And we get announcements that the train will be delayed... It's now 9:34 and people keep coming on.  So now we have the 9:24 and 9:34 people.. 9:45...  Still sitting...there some garbled announcement about a freight train being horribly late or something that has delayed every other train.   At 9:50 we get an announcement that this train that we’re is going to a different place now - so we all have to empty the train and go back to the main terminal to see what train we need to transfer to.  They don’t just tell us what train we now need to take… hmmm.   But Brittany asks the lady who is telling us to get off the train what train.. it’s a little disconcerting to just be taken off a train and not told what our alternatives are..  And there is a bit of a time element because we have timed tickets at the Harry Potter tour. She tells us to look for the 9:54 to Watford, and we find the info on the train schedule board and now head to platform 10.   We have 4 minutes to get to the train.

 

This train is expected to hold everyone who would have traveled from 9:34 on... And it's packed.  It's 9:55... We get an announcement that it will be 5 minutes late.  And 15 minutes later we're still here.  I actually sit on the floor - I wasn't sure how long the ride was, but thought 30 min...and more and more people just cram on. I miss our comfy fancy seats that were all facing each other on the other train.   The locals are handling it well, I hear things like "classic" and discussions about how this is expected; business men are calmly calling the people they’re supposed to be meeting and just explaining that the train is late.  And it certainly does take us back to the last time we were here and depending on the tube to get us to the airport. The tube was down and we were basically scoffed at by the train people for thinking we could rely on a train for transport.  This would be an entirely different scene in America – a train that was supposed to leave at 9:24 being delayed, then cancelled, then diverted, and now delayed again?  People would be blowing tops left and right – but here, situation normal, stiff upper lip, stay calm and train on (and all that).

While we’re on the train (waiting and later riding) there is a mother daughter sitting close to Patti, Dana and Britt, and mother kissed the daughter’s cheek like 6 times..or 20, depending on who is telling the story, and they’re standing.  The mother keeps stroking her daughter’s arm and then the daughter would turn around and kiss her mother… I heard this story and didn’t understand the big deal – seems like the mother is just comforting her daughter… I’m picturing a young girl, about 6-years-old…    But oh NO!  The daughter is like TWENTY!  And they said it was weird, they were practically making out with each other.

10:16, and we're moving!  Next stop Watford.  With everything we went through, it seems much longer – but really only about 40 minutes late.  We get off and learn that Thomas, Lauren and I  have the wrong tickets in hand.  We're such tourists.  I swear we had examined the tix to see if there was a difference.  It’s a mad rush of all those people that were crammed onto our train, all trying to squeeze out of 3 turnstiles, and then we are gumming up the works – the gates won’t open, so the ticket guy calls us over to the gates that are open for wheelchair access -  the trained eye of the ticket collector spots the difference immediately – “wrong ticket”… so Dana (who is through the gates and now swimming upstream to get back to us and get us a ticket hands me another other, that I hand to him.. “wrong ticket”.. ERGH!  So then Dana just fans the tickets out like cards, like “pick a ticket, any ticket that will let us through” and he just looks at that and laughs and says, “go on..”.  He could tell that we had the right ticket somewhere.  So when we thought about it later, they probably alternated – one there, one return (for one person) so when I handed them out, every other person got the right ticket.

We still have to find and catch a shuttle to the studio – and we're waiting for the shuttle to HP with everyone else who has also been delayed – everyone is from different countries and we chat --  we have an 11 entry, but they say to be there 20 minutes early. There are people from Australia who are at 10:30 entry and it’s now 10:50.  So we feel pretty good – they have to let us in, right?

 

 

 

The bus is a double decker, all made up in Harry Potter decorations on the outside, really hard to miss.   We get there and Britt checks us in – we are right on time.  Checking in at 11, and ready for an 11:15 entry time.  The guy taking tickets at the entry starts talking to us in what sounds like a fake American accent – it took us all off guard, and we were sure that he was making fun of us, “Hey, ya’ll talk like ME!” – where you from?  The more he says, the more we realize that he’s not faking it – and then he makes us guess where he’s from.. Memphis?  Atlanta?  Yep!!  

We see a short little movie first – actually two of them, one in the entry way is about how HP has had a global impact, and the other is about the behind the scenes people.  It’s told by the three stars and it’s nice, that even though their faces are in front, that it’s really all those people behind the scenes that made it happen, and this place is really about showing off their work.  Everything in the place are actual sets, props, costumes, models, etc that were used in the filming.   The movie screen lifts up and the front doors of Hogwarts are revealed – it’s pretty cool, we’re in the front hall of Hogwarts… the doors open and it’s the grand dining hall!   The real deal – full scale – the table is up front, the house tables are set, even the house points tally machine is up front. 

 

 

Everything is really amazing, but the things that really stood out were Dumbledore’s office, again full scale, actual set and we get to walk about in it – with the pensive and all the portraits.  We see the mirror from the first movie, but I didn’t see what I wanted in it.. Ron’s house was there, and it had an interactive element.  You touch a screen that had the iron, the knitting or the pots and pans on it, and they would animate just like in the movie.  They had the family tree mural from Sirius’ house, the green chimneys from the ministry of magic, the wall of portraits, Umbridge’s pink office, DIAGON ALLEY, the bridge from Hogwarts, the Knight bus, the full scale exterior of Privet Drive, Hagrid’s motorcycle, the full model of Hogwarts that they used for all the movies… and we get some butter beer.  The only thing they didn’t have that Britt really wanted was a Dobby doll.  We learned a fun fact to share – that when they needed Hagrid to stand next to people and look really tall, that they used a body double (not surprising, although I thought that there might be some forced perspective used because many times we can see his face).  The interesting part is that they made a robotic copy of Robbie that the body double wore – it looks just like him, and they used remote controllers to operate his facial expressions,  

Hagrid mask

We head out – and we see this picture that we’ve been making fun of all trip.  It’s an advert for the studio tour and it has really bad actors standing there like mentally challenged Charlie’s Angels (that trio pose), pointing in different directions in awe… we knew that we had to try and recreate it.. I’m not sure that I have a copy of it available right now (I think its on Dana’s camera, and I haven’t transferred those over yet).  But it’s worth the wait.   We did one inside the tour, and then again as we leave we see the poster on the back of the bus, so we pose with the other posers.

 

See the people in the poster behind us?

We want food – and we eat a place in Watford – (The Flag).  We find a table and order at the bar.  Thomas really loves this part, you pre-pay, no waiting on service or the bill or leaving tips stuff.   Lauren gets the “The US of A Burger” and it’s so American it’s scary.  We all have this all the time in the states.. it has hashbrowns, British bacon (like a ham), onion rings, “yellow sauce” (according to Lauren - which they just call “burger sauce”)…and Emmental cheese..( from Switzerland btw) --  can’t even get the “American cheese” part?  We get a good laugh out of it – and just about the image that they have of what an American burger should be.  Hashbrowns?  I get my first English breakfast, and we are all very happy.  

 

We get the train back to our tube stop – and we are laughing the whole way.  I promise you that this will NOT be funny to you.  It’s not funny to half the people that are here – but Patti and I cry with laughter and I can’t even tell you why.  There is this sign/symbol that has a baby on it, and it’s just an icon, an outline similar to the “men” and “women” that we see on restroom doors, but the baby has their arms straight out on both sides.  I don’t even know how this got started or why it was funny at first, but I imitated the “baby” pose and said, “like a baby” in a weird voice – and in doing that I kind of touched Brittany in the face (she might use the word, “hit”, but she’s not writing this).  She is annoyed.. and Patti and I are CRYING we’re laughing so hard.  I think that we’re tired.  But now it’s become funny just because Britt thinks that it is so NOT funny – and all Patti and I have to do is do the pose or say “like a baby” and we’re off…   I told you.  But it had to be documented.   I think that we’ll be saying it for years.  Poor Brittany.

 

We’re taking the tube to Buckingham Palace, and our path takes us through Green park.  It’s a great day to just sit and hang outside, and there are these cool cabana chairs all over the lawn that you can rent and do just that.  They look SO comfortable, but I’m afraid we’d just snooze if we sat in them… “like a baby”…  we get to the palace, and Britt is disappointed that you can’t walk up to the guards like you used to.  They’re well behind the big iron fence, but we hear music and it seems that we’re just in time for a parade… it looks like all the guards are marching in.  Later we look it up and it’s the horse trainer parade – they do it every day at that time.

From the palace we walked over to Westminster Abby – the line seemed long, but it moved quickly.  We didn’t get to go in it last time, so it was something I wanted to be sure that we did.  And we attended a service there (kind of) – a service was in session, and we sat for some of it.   Before I realized that we weren’t allowed to take pics, I got a few of the interior, with the arches and the unknown soldier’s grave.   We all agree that it looks bigger on tv, the walk way doesn’t seem nearly as long as it does in the weddings and funerals that we’ve seen.   Just like all English churches, we’re walking on the graves of people that have been buried in the church, and there are tombs every where, lots of dead monarchs.  We pass through the “quire” and Patti loves that they spell “choir” like “quire”.. just like it sounds, duh.… We get free audio tours with the entry ticket (cool) and while we’re walking around listening, Lauren gets approached by some weird guy.  I’m right behind her, and I’m not worried because he’s dressed in clerical robes and obviously works in the Abby, but he’s smiling and giggling to himself and to Lauren and  then asks her, “who are you with” –When she refers to me, he says “carry on” --   it was just weird.

 

The Abby is right next to Parliament (and Big Ben), so we walk in that direction and we’re going to cross the bridge and let those that haven’t, go up in The Eye (it’s a HUGE slow moving ferris wheel that lets you see the city).  Patti and I get silly asking each other what time it is (with Big Ben hovering over us) and we take a pic and do a Vine video of it – we think we’re pretty cute sometimes and we try to document it.   Dana, Britt, Thomas and Lauren head off to get in line for the Eye and Patti and I wait down below.  We did it before and it’s cool – but we didn’t need to pay to do it again.  We just have fun people watching as everyone gets pics – we’re in a great place to get yourself with Big Ben in the background across the Thames.  And we see lots of people dressed up for an event (found out later it was their prom).   After about an hour the others find us and talk about the people they were in line with – Britt always has line issues, no matter what one she gets in, it’s the trouble one.  And these people were holding up the line, so Dana tells them to give the guy their ticket – so then the man who worked at the Eye thought they were together.

Waiting at the bottom

We look at the map and we think that we can take another bridge across and be really close to a tub stop that we want.   It works out much better than we thought because the bridge is a pedestrian bridge and really cool looking.  

 

 

As soon as we get to the other side we ran right into the theatre where Spamalot is playing!  We’re going there tmw night, so it’s perfect, now we know exactly where we’re going!   We are brain dead, tired and hungry – there seems to be a long strip of places to eat, but none of us are in a mental place where we can make a decision.   Finally we decide on this little Italian place, and even pick out a fancier Italian place for the next night when we come down to see the show.   The food was really good – I had a lasagna, Thomas, Lauren and Dana all had pizza, Patti had a calzone, and  Britt had something yummy too… it’s not the kind of food I pictured us eating in London, but it’s really authentic Italian, the pizzas are made just like the ones we had in Italy and it’s just a really nice comforting meal.

We head back home on the tube and Patti hands me the key.   Because I had luck with it once, I’m now in charge of opening the door.   I don’t know what I do, I just put in the key and twist and turn things – but this time I got the door open SO quickjly – like it was almost like I knew what I was doing (don’t be fooled).   

We’ve been wanting to do laundry (one of the main reasons that we get apartments) but we haven’t been able to get it to work – well, we can’t even get it to power on!  So, I’ve been emailing our host to ask about it, and he had texted back while we were eating to say that he would be over at 9:30 to show us how to work the machine.   He gets there, and he’s so nice – I’ve never had a bad experience with our hosts – and he can’t get it to turn on either.  I tell him that I’m kind of happy that he’s having an issue too, so we didn’t feel like idiots, and he admits that he was thinking, “who can’t work a washing machine?”… he says it’s something with the power supply, but he reworks something and we have power!  While he was working on things he asked where we were from and where we’re going (she says he’s a native Londoner and he hasn’t been to half the places we’re going) -  we also talked about the train delays, and he agreed that oh yah, that’s normal.   While he was here, the kids skyped with their mother (hi Amy!) – and I don’t blog because I’m crazy tired.  Tonight we’re going to sleep well!  We have to.

Daily step and mileage total (thanks to Dana’s pedometer):  21,264 steps / 8.95 miles