Allison's Wonderland

You know how when you go on a vacation or a road trip you have certain things the trip was all about?  Whether it is, "All we did on that trip was fight, or all we did on that trip was sleep."  Vacations just seem to have themes.  Well, my trip to Prince Edward Island with my Gram and Aunt, was all about, #1, THE FOOD, and #2, THE BATHROOM, or as they say in Canada, "The Washroom."  I guess that makes sense since when you eat . . . you know . . . there's always a reaction to every action.

Boldt Castle

Alster Tower - My Favorite building

 After the terrible situation of loosing the wallet, which ironically involved the bathroom, we girls were ready to see some sights.  We got to Alexandria Bay a little later than we had hoped, but we were still able to see the gorgeous Boldt Castle.  It's this beautiful home on Heart Island (even shaped like a heart) in the middle of the St. Lawrence river.  Unfortunately it was abandoned during construction due to the death of Louise Boldt, the wife of

The Power House

George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria, New York who was building the house for Louise.  The house fell in disrepair and has finally been reopened to the public.  The castle is gorgeous but is still unfinished and holds lots of graffitti from people who made their way to the house before falling into the New York Bridge Authority's hands.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day of 80 degrees and me, Gram and Auntie had a blast scoping out the place.

On the Ferry Boat

Once our tour was finished, we took a ferry back to our car.  After all the sight seeing and drama of the earlier morning, we were starved.  We headed into Gananoque, Canada where we were staying for the night.  On the crossing from the U.S. into Canada we had to go through customs.  We pulled up to the little booth where they ask you all these questions and all three of us fell speechless at the absolutely GORGEOUS border patrol agent.  I wanted him to write his number in my passport he was so dreamy.  Once we pulled away Grandma says, "Wow was he handsome!"  He even got a little flirty with the little 82 year old woman in the back seat.  I guess Gram still gots it.  :)

Gananoque Sunset

Gananoque was such a quaint little town.  We settled for some Irish pub fare at this place called Stonewater Pub and Irish Eatery.  I got the fish and chips but wish I would've had the Guinness Beef Stew.  My Aunt's was absolutely wonderful!  That was the beginning to our amazing adventure of food.  We stayed at this little Best Western which was quite cozy.  While my Aunt and I were scoping out the place, as we like to do, we were followed by this middle aged man.  We tried to loose him by going down random hallways and finally traipsing our way back to our room.  I wasn't that scared, but my Aunt freaked me out by the way she was acting.  We didn't want no rapists up in here!  We had a good night sleep even with the thought of a crazed-middle aged man on the loose.  Gram, me and Aunt like to live on the edge.  You know how we do. :)

After eating our continental breakfast from the hotel, a stain on the tablecloth of our trip which was all about food (yes the food sucked that badly), we headed to Quebec City.  Once we left Ontario and entered the province of Quebec everything changed.  There were absolutely NO signs in English.  Everything was in French.  The KFC was even changed to PFK for Poulet Frite Kentucky.  In French they place the adjective after the Noun.  Needless to say we were a little out of place.  Remember how I said our trip was all about the bathroom as well as food?  Well, Grandma was starting to feel breakfast making it's way to, well you know, so we had to stop.  We find this podunk gas station where there are more cows than humans.  I don't know what it is about French speaking people but they seem to hate EVERYONE.  When we stopped at this gas station I felt like I was an alien because everyone was just staring and giving the most hateful looks.  Grandma had run inside to the bathroom while Aunt B. was pumping gas.  I dilly dallied my way into the gas station only to find Grandma NOT in the restroom.  It was a single restroom so I had no idea where Grandma had gone.  I go outside and tell my Aunt B.  When we go back to try and find her we see that someone has occupied the restroom.  Aunt B says, "Mom are you in here?" only to have a very angry Quebec' woman come out and give my Aunt a dirty look.  My Aunt explains, "Oh I thought you were my mother" only to get another dirty scowl from the woman. I guess she didn't know English.  By this time my Aunt and I are getting a little worried as to where the little 82 year old could be.  It's been about 20 minutes since we last saw her.  She's not in the car, not in the restroom, and not in the gas station.  That's when the door to the men's restroom opens and out walks an older gentlemen followed by my Grandmother.  My Aunt and I started dying laughing!  I guess in my Grandmother's race for the bathroom she flew into the closest bathroom, ignored the urinal and did what she came to do.  When you gotta go, you gotta go no matter what gendered bathroom you're in. 

Road Tripping

Trip Itinerary

After all the events of England, I was thinking it was time for a vacation.  What would be better than a road trip with my Grandma G and Auntie B?  Nothing is what I say. :)  I drove the 9 1/2 hours up to New York State to leave the next day for Thousand Islands, New York.  My Aunt, GMA and I planned a trip that took us from NY to Quebec up to Prince Edward Island, down through Maine, ending with Cape Cod, and Newport, RI.  Needless to say, I was very excited.

My Grandmother is a nut in every way shape and form.  I love her to absolute death because she is sincerely one of the kindest most generous giving women I have ever known.  Her and my Aunt however, have some of the tinniest bladders known to mankind.  After an hour on the road both of them needed to stop to pee.  I guess if I'm honest, I had to go as well, but that is only due to the fact, I had a huge cup of terrible Wal-Mart coffee back at Grandma's House before we left.  It wasn't really worth the calories, but what can you do?  We stopped at a nice travel plaza just off of the I-90 at 9:30 in the morning.  Grandma made sure to bring in her wallet as they have a Tim Horton's inside where donuts and coffee could be purchased.  Mistake #1.  After we left we decided not to indulge in Tim's and to head back on the road.  Mistake #2.  After being on the road for quite sometime my Aunt Kay calls up at about 11:00 all in a panic. By this time we're about an hour 1/2 from our previous rest stop and were about to head onto I-81 North to the border of Canada and New York.  Let me just preface the situation by saying we were headed into Canada.  In order to get into Canada you need either a passport or an enhanced Driver's License.  If you are have neither one of these things you will not be allowed into the country. 

Tim Horton's at the Travel Plaza

My Aunt Beverly answers the phone call from my other frantic Aunt.  While we were gone, My Aunt Kay was suppose to be looking after my Grandma Genie's house, watering plants, making sure no burglaries happen, you know that kind of thing.  Well, the only thing my Grandma and I could decipher from their short phone conversation was something terrible had happened since my Aunt Beverly was all in a panic and said, "Oh well we have to turn around.  We have to go back.  There's no question.  Mom turn around!"  Well Grandma and I got all in a tizzy at that moment because we had no idea what was happening.  I thought someone had died back in Niagara Falls.  After my Aunt Beverly got off the phone she tells us that Grandma Genie's wallet was left in the bathroom stall on the back of the toilet an hour 1/2 away.  We all started to panic because not only did my Grandma have 1,000 dollars worth of cash in the wallet (500 Canadian, 500 American) she also had her enhanced driver's license.  If we didn't get that wallet back, our entire vacation would be ruined.  Grandma wouldn't be able to go into Canada, and even if she were able to, she'd have no money, no credit cards, and no form of identification.  It was a complete disaster! 

First thing my Grandma did was start to cry.  I was very upset so I wasn't the best comforter at the moment.  We were all on edge because like I said our entire vacation was going to be completely ruined.  My Grandma was driving at the time and her nerves were completely shot she almost took us right through a red light!  My Aunt made her switch to the passenger seat, because she was seriously unfit to drive.  Well, as we were turning around I got on my cell phone and called the lady who had Grandma's wallet.  My Aunt Kay had given us the number as Gene Hershey ( the wallet finding lady) had called the house and left a message.  My heart was pounding so hard as I called.  When she answered I told her my name and who I was.  She responded by telling me she had the wallet and once she got to Massachusetts where she was headed for a funeral she would mail it.  Oh dear dear dear!  That wouldn't work I told her.  She informed me that she did not want to leave the wallet at the travel plaza because she didn't trust the people that worked there.  I mean she is a very smart woman as the people who worked there were a tad bit sketchy looking.  They also probably only made minimum wage and what person wouldn't want a free $1000 in their pocket. 

Sad little Walletless Grandma

After speaking with her for awhile we decided to meet up at a McDonald's off of the I-90.  As we waited our nerves were raw, we were cranky, hungry and I was very annoyed.  I wanted to be really mad at Grandma, but she's just too sweet to get angry with.  So I did what any normal person would do; I ate.  I got me some McDonald's comfort food which consisted of a double cheeseburger, and a medium fry.  It was a little piece of heaven in our walletless world.  After finishing my lovely fattening meal, Gene Hershey pulls up in her chariot and halo (A red Dodge Ram, and a little hat on her head) and handed us the wallet.  She seriously was an angel!  Angels do exists and they are located on the I-90 in Western New York!  My Grandma hugged and kissed her.  When she tried to hand Mrs. Hershey a wad of money she wouldn't take it.  She just said, "I hope someone will do the same for me if I'm ever in that situation," and that was that.  We had the wallet, we had our dignity, and we had the open road ahead of us.  It was off to find the next adventure, and we had only been on the road for 3 hours.  It doesn't take long for the three of us biddies to get ourselves in trouble. :)

I normally try and shy away from drama.  While growing up my girlfriends and I were never really on the dramatic side.  I was always involved in theater, so I had drama in that aspect, but as to life, I relatively tried to stay drama free.  With that being the case, sometimes drama just finds you and you have to push through it no matter how awkward and dramatic it might be.  That's how my exit from England played out.

Cliffs of Cornwall

I was on my way back from a lovely vacation in Cornwall. I had spent several days there and was just on a nice peaceful vacation high.  You know the kind I'm talking about. As I got closer and closer to Gerrard's Cross I started to feel more and more uneasy about going back to the house where I worked and lived.    The family was getting back that morning and I was suppose to be ready to work early the next day which was Monday.  My uneasiness started to get worse, and that's when I got a text message.  It was 9:00 at night on Sunday and I had been traveling for about 4 1/2 hours.  Cornwall was about a 5 hour drive from Gerrard's Cross if not more, so I only had a little ways left to go.  The text message I received was from my host day telling me that they had been talking and said if I wanted to go ahead and extend my vacation I was more than welcome to, they just needed me that Friday night (which was the night before I left) to babysit their girls.  My first reaction was, "well they don't want me at the house.  They just don't want to pay me for the week."  Which was probably true since the day after I was suppose to babysit the girls I was leaving the country to go home  So what exactly would I need 70 extra pounds for?  Now I may have been wrong, but that's what I assumed.  I also did NOT want to spend my last night in England babysitting.  My host Mom even told me that they wouldn't be able to take me to the airport the next day so I would have to take a taxi, which I more than likely would have had to pay for.  Whenever they had gigs they normally got home at around 2 in the morning and were always a little tipsy from the evening's happenings.  Meaning they were not going to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to get me to the airport.  After my vacation in Cornwall I was drained of money so extending my vacation wasn't an option.  I didn't even have the money to pay for a taxi to get me to the airport.  I felt sick about the whole thing.  I felt so uncomfortable in the house after many events that had happened during the summer and I did not want to spend my last week living in it.  That's when I called up my friend Tayla.

Tayla's host family was gone for two weeks, so I called her up and asked if I could stay for a night.  She agreed and that's where I slept.  After discussing with Tayla and Margot the next morning about what I should do, I was determined to go to the house, pack up my bags, and come back to Tayla's.  She said I was more than welcome to stay.  I gave myself a deadline of when I was going to go to the house.  Tayla's house was only about 20 houses up the road from where my host family lived so I would be able to lug all my luggage back up the hill to her place pretty easily. My deadline was 1:00 pm.  I rehearsed what I was going to say over and over in my mind.  I'm the kind of person that if I don't rehearse it all just turns into a splotchaty old mess.  I had made up a lie in my head which went something along the lines of my Dad wasn't able to pick me up from the airport on Saturday due to being out of town, so he was going to pay the extra money to change my ticket so he could pick me up on Tuesday morning.  It was a lie, and I knew it was wrong, but I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings in the process of leaving.  Little did I know I would do just that.

I marched myself down the road and got that panicky stomach in throat feeling on the walk down.  I hate that feeling although I don't know anybody who actually likes it.  As I stepped up to the front door my heart started beating faster and faster in my chest.  I sat there for a moment, took a deep breath in and opened the door.  The first person I came across was my host Mom.  I smiled and acted all fake and terrible like I would normally do just to keep the peace in the house.  The first thing she asked was,

"Did you get Phil's (my host dad) text message?"

 I replied with, "Yes I did, but I wasn't able to respond back because I was out of credit.  Sorry about that." 

She smiled sweetly and then said, "You could've extended your vacation.  We just really needed you for Friday night."

"Actually I need to talk to you about that.  I think I'm going to grab my stuff, and stay with a friend tonight because I switched my flight to Tuesday morning."

"You what?"

I couldn't lie.  I just couldn't.  I'm such a bad liar.  "I switched my flight to Tuesday because I just feel like I really need to go home."

While talking this over my host Mom and I were standing on the stairs.  After I said I was leaving early I hear my host Dad say, "Hi Allison," all awkwardly from the office.  He asked me what was going on.  I then repeated everything I had just said to my host Mom Mindy.  I told them I was leaving early without letting the cat out of the bag that I absolutely did not like living there.  It wasn't until my host Dad asked me why I was leaving early that the diarrhea of the mouth happened.  I wanted to keep everything nice and simple without anyone having hurt or hard feelings, but it just seemed like that wasn't going to happen.  So I just started to spill . . .

"Phil, to be honest I don't like it here.  I never have.  I feel very uncomfortable in the house and I feel like you guys don't like me at all."

"What makes you think that?" Mindy interjected.

"Well the fact that you told me I was the worst Au Pair you've had . . ."

"Oh, you're not the worst au pair."

"and the fact that the one night I came home early from London you were talking about me.  After you guys came back from Egypt you seemed very angry with me about how I cleaned and I just get the impression that I'm not what you wanted in an au pair."

"Well we had to tell you we weren't satisfied with your cleaning after Egypt.  We left you for 10 days and it looked like you didn't do anything." ~Phil

(That was the week they left me for 10 days with a list of 2 pages of chores starting with cleaning out the oven and fridge to wiping down all the floorboards and washing windows inside and out.  I worked for about 4 1/2 hours every day.  Read my previous blog entitled "Boiling Point" to get a better idea. :))

"I understand you were not satisfied, but that's exactly what I'm saying.  I think it would just be better if I left early.  Since you needed me Friday and it's only Monday I wanted to give you a little bit of notice so you could find someone else to babysit for you Friday night."

"Well you better get started Mindy.  You need to make phone calls so we can get it covered.  When did you start feeling this way Allison?"

"I've felt this way for awhile now.  I'm just the kind of person that likes to keep the peace and not really complain so that's what I did.  I did what you asked me to do but I was very uncomfortable and very unhappy."

Just a running for the door

Meanwhile, while were having this extremely awkward conversation where I wanted to crawl in a hole and die, the 10 year old runs up the stairs and gives me a huge hug and says, "ALLISON we missed you!"  Dagger in the heart.  I had a hard time getting to be friends with the girls in the beginning but towards the end of my stay I really felt like we were getting along and that they started to respect me.  So it did make me sad.  Her Mom piped up and told her that I would be leaving and not staying anymore.  That's when the 10 year old asked me if I didn't like them and why I was leaving, making it even more difficult.  Mindy even said how they were all looking forward to having me home.  Which I find not really true since I would only be there that Friday night babysitting for them which wouldn't give me that much time.  It was a completely awkward situation. 

I said, "Well I guess I'll go pack up my stuff now."

Silence.  You could hear the crickets chirping.  My host Mom than said with that crazy look in her eye she would get, "You must have been talking about this with other people getting yourself all riled up.  This didn't just happen.  You've been talking.  I can tell"

I just looked at her and said,"  No I really haven't been.  I've just been unhappy for awhile now."

"How come you didn't say anything?  Maybe if we would've talked about it things would've been different." said my host Dad.

What would I have said that we could have talked about to make things different, I thought to myself?  "Oh hello I hate living in this house because I feel like a slave.  You're children don't respect me, you come home drunk and talk bad about me."  I mean seriously how would that have helped?  They thought I was so happy being there, and I guess I could see how I gave them that impression.  When I was in the house I was always smiling and had a good attitude, but that just means I'm a good actress. :) 

Packing up my room

I went into my room and started throwing things in my suitcase as fast as I could.  I just wanted to get the heck out of there.  It took me about 30 minutes to pack everything up.  While I was doing that my host Mom started to make small talk.  I just wanted to leave and did NOT want to talk anymore.  The 10 year old came in and started talking to me as well which I didn't mind as much.  After I hauled all two of my huge suitcases down the stairs my host Dad offered to drive me somewhere.  He then asked me what they could do better for the next Au Pair.  I was just honest and told him that I felt like a hired on cheap maid that just babysat on the side.  I said if you want a maid you should advertise for a maid and not an Au Pair. He said they would take that into consideration.  I didn't even get to say goodbye to my host Mom because she went to take the dogs for a walk.  Probably best though because I could see how angry she was at me while I was packing up my stuff.  Scary! 

I awkwardly lugged my huge suitcases out the stone driveway while Phil and the two girls waved goodbye.  It had to of been the most awkward thing I think I've ever done in my life.  Did I make the right choice?  I don't know.  I often thing about them and if I did do the right thing.  I don't regret it and I'm glad they finally know how I felt the whole time I was in the house, but I do wish things could have ended on a better note.  The next day I got a message from my host Dad saying how confused they were about the whole thing, but I didn't know exactly what was so confusing.  I mean I was flat out told that I was the worst Au Pair they ever had, so why would it be so confusing?  I wouldn't change anything.  If I had to do it all over again I would because the people I have met in my experience in England and the places I've seen were priceless.  I just wish my exit wouldn't have been so dramatic.

Thanks to everyone who helped!  Tayla, Margot, Anna, and especially David - Taking me to the airport and helping out a little lost soul! :) 






 

Royal Shakespeare Company

shows on Broadway and now several on the West End, and I honestly don’t know which is better.  The West End is cheaper so that’s a plus, but I just don’t know.  A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to visit Stratford-upon-Avon to see a production done by the Royal Shakespeare Company of "The Tempest."  Obviously being Shakespeare's birth place I thought it wouldbe good. I only paid 5 pounds for the tickets since I was 16-25.  Woot woot! I thought, “Hey for five pounds I'll sit through anything.”  I like

The Tempest

Shakespearebut I'm not a crazy fan or anything.  The show was absolutely phenomenal.  I went by myself so I didn't have anyone to pass judgments withand critique, but If I’m honest, it was the best Shakespeare I've ever seen. The actors were spot on and everything was just genius. That was before I saw a production of “The Taming of the Shrew” at Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

My Pin :)

British Museum

wasn't impressed.  It was off to the Globe Theater for me after perusing Egyptian, Nubian, Greek and Roman sculptures and artifacts.  I had purchased five pound tickets again to stand in the yard, as they call it, for two and a half hours.  Now I was excited because it was at the Globe Theater, but if I’m honest, I was just kind of eh about it as I was seeing the musical “Blood Brothers” that evening as well which I was more excited for.  It was my little theater “me day” in London.  Once I got to the Globe, I headed straight to the gift shop to find a pin. The pin I found was absolutely gorgeous! Love it! I’m a little obsessed with my pin collection.  After my spectacular find I made my way into the yard. Lucky for me I got a spot right in the center which was right next to the ramp where the actors would exit and enter.  I was also around a bunch of short people. Love me some short people when I have to stand!  I also talked to a nice couple from New Zealand who let me read their 4 pound program. People are just so nice sometimes. :) The play started off with a little band playing old timey

Inside the Theater

instruments as all Shakespeare shows normally do. Love that bit. Then this drunk guy sporting an England football hat and face paint starts making his way through the crowd being totally obnoxious. He was shouting and pushing people.  He then started shouting, “Get off me!” while being followed by a security guard and steward.  We were all thinking to ourselves " oh great". He ended up coming on stage followed by a security guard. He started to take a pee on stage and once the security guard grabbed him he peed on one of the poor people who had paid to watch the show on the front row, he then barfed on stage and passed out.  Meanwhile we're all thinking it was real.   People were gasping and wondering what the heck was going on!  It wasn't until the other actors dressed in their Shakespearean garb came out and started interacting with him, that we realized it was all part of the show. It really was genius though. I stood there with my mouth agape at how great these actors and actresses were.

Petruchio (Simon Day)

Katherine & Petruchio

After the Globe Theater, I was off to the Phoenix Theater to see the Musical, “Blood Brothers.”  I knew absolutely nothing about the show, other than it was about a pair of separated twins.  I had never heard the music, never read about it.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Although it’s one of the shows that gives away the ending at the beginning.  Both brothers start the show off dead, so I knew it wasn’t going to be a happy ending.  I’m a happy ending kind of girl.  Needless to say at the end I’m sitting in the theater bawling my eyes out.  The only downfall of the show was the narrator.  It was supposed to be a very serious moment in the show and he would come in and break out into song in his little Men In Black skinny tie and suit.  He just reminded me of David Hasselhoff, so I would start to snicker  myself.  He had an amazing voice, but I couldn’t get past his David Hasselhoff look alikeness.  At intermission I was a little freaked out because I went outside with all the smokers to get some fresh air and to try and get internet on my phone.  This scary black dude just comes up and starts randomly talking to me.  I

David H Look alikw

tried to look very busy on my phone but he wouldn’t get the hint.  Finally I just walked inside.  YIKES!  Creepers every day!  The Phoenix theater wasn’t really located in the nice part of the West End either.  It was like in the corner by a bunch of weird sex shops.  Despite the sex shops and weird scary black men, my day and night at the theater was a huge success.  I think that’s one of the major reasons I’m going to miss London is for the fact that there’s quality theater right at my fingertips.  I get a weird high from going to the theater.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to see one more show before I leave!  Wish me luck! 

You know those moments in life where you become so excited you feel like an 8 year old child all over again?  This was one of those moments for me.  The moment consisted of visiting the Harry Potter Studios in Watford, England.   Now I know for some there are mixed feelings about all things Harry Potter, but after reading the books I fell in love.  I use to be an anti-Harry Potter enthusiasts who had nothing to do with the books and nothing to do with the movies.  Not due to the fact that there was witchcraft and wiazardry involved, it was due to the fact that everyone was hyped up about it and I don't like to go with the crowd.  It
wasn't until my friend Josh DeVries had started making wands for all of my friends that I wanted to see what all the Harry Potter hype was about.  Now I know this sounds absolutely stupid, but these wands were

The Wands: Mine is the Bolt at the top

seriously legit and I wanted one. So Josh said the only way I could get a wand was if I read all 7 books.  Not just one, but all 7.  So I buckled down, swallowed my pride and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  After that I was hooked.  Wand or no wand, I could not get enough of the books.  After I read each individual book I would watch the corresponding movie.  When I heard that they were opening up the new WB Harry Potter Studios in London in the spring of 2012 I knew that if I was in London for the summer, it would be on my list of places to see.

My friend Tayla and I shared the same birthday which was August 5th.  She was turning 20 and I was turning 25 so we decided to give ourselves the birthday gift of the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  She was just as into it as I was.  It cost us about 45 pounds a piece which was more than half of my wages for a week's work, but it was sooo worth it. Tayla and I called up Taxi Tom, who is a taxi driver, but not really.  He drive's his own car around and isn't actually licensed.  We've decided that he does it just because he's lonely and wants someone to talk to, because he will  talk your ear off.  He is a very interesting character and I wish I had a picture to show you but I don't.  Oh well.  He only charged us 26 pounds for the round trip which was a price we would have never gotten from a regular taxi driver.

So excited!!!

We pulled into the parking lot of the studios and were already blown away.  Our tickets were for 6:30 and we arrived around 5:45 just to be on the safe side. Had our Starbucks coffee beforehand, checked

Harry's Room under the stairs

out the gift shop, then stepped in line to have our Harry Potter experience.The anticipation wasseriously killer.  While in line we were able to view Harry's little bedroom under the stairs.  I'm not exactly sure how they filmed in there as it was such a tiny space, but I guess they did.  Upon
entering the huge double doors we were taken into a theater.  Tayla

Jumping for Joy!

and I were squealing with delight and we made some lady and her three kids smile.  She said she wanted to walk around the studios with us if that's how excited we were going to be about simply

The Great Hall

sitting in a theater.  My favorite part of the whole tour was after the film ended.  A lady walked out in front of the screen and said, "Welcome to Hogwart's".  The screen lifted and we were left standing in front of the doors to Hogwart's.  It was so very cool.  We were practically jumping up and down for joy.  Once the doors opened we were in the Great Hall of Hogwart's where the children ate their dinner, the sorting hat ceremony was preformed and lots of other epic scenes from the movies were filmed.

"Welcome to Hogwart's"

Gryffindor Common Room

As we walked around we saw the Gryffindor Common Room, the potions classroom, Dumbledore's Office (which was one of my favorites), all of the Horcruxes, Hagrid's Hut, The Ministry of Magic, Voldemort's Costumes, and much much more.  I was in Harry Potter heaven.  Like for real.  We learned so much about movie making and what the actors had to go through.  I loved it.  We then walked out to the back lot where we saw #4 Privet Drive (the residence of Harry Potter) the Knight Bus, and the little car that they drove in the second film.  After sitting down and relaxing a bit, (as walking in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe can be exhausting) we went to the makeup section.  This was pretty cool as well.  They had several different wax figures of Dobby and other character's throughout the movie.  We were able to walk

Hagrid's Hut

right through Diagon Alley which was "set ready" as they said.  Meaning they were able to just pick up and film right then and there.  So cool.  The last little surprise was a complete huge replica of Hogwart's.  It was a model, but it was what the film makers used while filming Harry Potter.  They would film the characters on green screens and then miniaturize them and put them wherever they needed on this huge model.  It was, for a lack of better words, impressive.  We had to of course get our pictures in front of the huge structure.  Upon leaving the Studio tour there were wand boxes of every single person who was involved in the film making.  I had to find my favorite actor's which were Snape (Alan Rickman) and Emma Watson (Hermione).

Snape's Wand

We had such a great time looking at all the Harry Potter stuff.  I did feel like such a nerd, but whatever.  YOLO.  :)  We met up with Taxi Tom at around 9:30 and that's when he started saying some really weird stuff.  Oh Tom.  What a nut.   I'd tell you, but it'd be too long to write and this post is already long enough....:)

The Ministry of Magic

Driving on the Back Lot

The Knight Bus

#4 Privet Drive

Dobby!

Diagon Alley

Hogwart's HUUGGEE Model

Shows ya Just How Huge

Waiting for our Taxi

Dumbledore's Office

The Horcruxes

Potions Classroom