Ever since we moved to Italy I've been wanting to take Georgie to London for the weekend to see a show. When she became obsessed with theatre around age 9 my motivation to make it happen doubled. But then I saw her 10th birthday on the horizon and knew I wanted to celebrate it in a BIG way, so I waited another year.
When I thought about a girls trip to London it just felt right to have my Mom with us. But she couldn't fly all that way from home for only a weekend! And if she was coming Isaac and Juliet couldn't miss seeing her...?! ( Can you see how the trip keeps getting bigger and bigger?) So we all flew to London...for 5 days. And loved every minute of it! From Wicked to a bus tour to Warwick Castle we covered every kid worthy thing near the big British city! Here's a tour of our trip!
No, this is not London. This is Joeys birthday that we celebrated with the Joneses over a mustache cake just a few days before. Take note. Okay onward and onward.
Gaga arrives!! There was a countdown going on for days before!
And just a few days later she boarded another plane with us headed for London!
No trip to London is complete without a red phone booth shot!
We were lucky enough to make it to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross train station on the first day. Isaac bought Harry Potters wand there. We ate fish and chips after Kings Cross and then caught an Uber to see:
Wicked!
It was FANTASTIC!! And a million dreams coming true!!
We all LOVED it!
The next day wasn't any less busy. We boarded a tour bus that took us to Warwick Castle, Oxford, and Stratford-Upon-Avon all in one 11 hour day.
Our tour guide claimed to have an original envelope used in the filming of Harry Potter.
Isaac and G were pretty excited about that!
Here's Juliet in front of Shakespeares house. Did you know that Shakespeare brought over 1600 words into the English Language? My Mom and I were both motivated to read/understand/learn a little more about Shakespeare after visiting his home town and museum.
We ate Cornish Pasties...yummmm....
Tied with Wicked as our favorite "London for kids" experience was Harry Potter!!
This Studio tour was a lot better than I expected it to be. The kids were in Heaven. Georgie picked up Harry Potter after Christmas this past year. Within 4 months she had read all 7 of them. Like millions of other kids, she became obsessed. Joey and I jumped on the bandwagon and brought Juliet along. JOey and Juliet are currently reading them together. They're currently on #5. Isaac begrudgingly loved the movies. I've been listening to them on Audible since about the time I realized G was loving them so much and I wanted to be able to talk to her about them. We've been giving Isaac a hard time about not joining the cool kids club.
While you wait in line to enter the studio you get to see the bedroom under the stairs.
Pretending not to like it "toooo" much.
And then you watch a short film about what you're about to experience. The front doors of Hogwarts in the short film quickly become the real front doors of Hogwarts...and then you walk through them into the great hall. It really was magical.
Juliet loves Dumbledore.
This interaction made G and Juliet feel like real witches.
Juliets body language says it all. There were so many "round the corner" surprises on this tour. You round the corner and BOOM! There's the Hogwarts express, and you can climb aboard and see the real train cars used in the movie.
He's not pretending so much anymore.
Gaga on the bridge!
Hi G! Romantic magical bridges look good on you!
The flying car.
Juliet was REALLY excited to see Buckbeak!
This was the biggest "round the corner wow factor" of all. It sounds cheesy to say this about a movie set but it literally took my breath away. The whole thing was so well done. I couldn't help but think while we were there how cool this whole thing must be for J.K. Rowling. To have your wildest most vivid, dearest dreams brought to life. How absolutely remarkable.
The Griffindor Common Room...excellent!
Riding the Metro is fun!
Farewell Hogwarts!
Hello London Bridge!
We ate dinner here, The Victoria Pub, a classic pub restaurant that entertained customers such as Charles Dickens and just happened to have Fish and Chips and Toffee Pudding to write home to your mother about, unless your mother is with you. In which case you take a picture to memorialize the occasion before you walk away. Magical Evening!
This one is out of order but it's a picture of the lovely lawns of Christ Church college in Oxford.
Farewell London! Memories were made here!
Ice Skating!
