|
Europe 2016: Wimbledon and Watford
posted : Saturday, September 10, 2016
Weather was supposed to be fantastic in the morning but progressively get worse as the day goes on.
So it's lucky I scheduled my visit to Wimbledon in the morning! Wimbledon is at South West London (SW19 yo) so the tube ride took almost an hour, followed by a bus ride. But I just missed the bus and the next bus was due to arrive in 20 minutes, so I ended up walking instead as I was running late for my tour.
After missing stadium tours in Melbourne (nobody else interested) and Paris (not open), finally get to visit a grand slam stadium! Like every tennis fan's dream come true. Find myself nodding to fun facts given by the tour guide and responding to quizzes lol. Tickets also don't sound too expensive actually so I might actually come here one day for a match. Heh.
Can't remember which entrance this was but basically the meeting point for the tour la. Next to the gift shop and museum.
First stop, Court No. 1. Final preparations for the tournament in a couple of months.
Henman Hill where spectators who didnt have access to the show courts gather to watch the big screen.
Court 18 is worth mentioning for the historic longest ever match.
More outside courts.
Interview room is pretty iconic too!
Centre Court! Grass is covered unfortunately.
THE roof.
Dropped by the museum for a bit before heading back to central London, and up next on my itinerary is Borough Market. 
The men's trophy
The women's, a.k.a the Venus Rosewater Dish
Unfortunately at this point I realized I didn't bring out enough cash :/ I had the habit of only bringing out what I needed for the day and on this morning I forgot to pack the cash I needed and only had whatever left over from the day before which wasn't a lot. So had to ration a bit. Of course there's credit card option but there's always a good chance they don't work because sometimes they need a PIN and I don't know mine =.= Either that or ours don't even come with a PIN in the first place. And my place is a bit out of the way to return and grab more cash (plus I wasn't really keen on spending more on the obscenely expensive public transport)
Pretty nice place.
Think it's a bit late, some stalls starting to close.
Artisan food stalls.
My lunch, not very photogenic but very yummy.
So long story cut short I found a lot of things I wanted to try in Borough Market but had to limit myself sigh. But it's a nice place to visit la.
The other agenda for the day is Harry Potter Studio Tour! Originally had this scheduled for another day but as I was arranging my plans the night before, went over to the website to book tickets and realized that most slots are full. So had to hastily settle for a 5.30pm slot the next day and hope that 2 hours is enough (it closes at 8). Not too easy to get there too, the studio is actually at Watford and first had to catch a train from London Euston to Watford Junction, then a shuttle bus to the studio at Leavesden.
Here we go!
Who doesn't recognise the cupboard under the stairs?
First major set, the only permanent set actually, because they realise they obviously need it every year so they did a proper one with proper flooring and all.
Professors.
More costumes on display. Pretty elaborate.
Gryffindor boy's dorm.
Gryffindor common room.
The Burrow's kitchen
Umbridge's cats lolol.
Another iconic scene - Platform 9 3/4.
Smaller than I imagined! Hogwart's Express.
Asked someone to help me take this.
Butterbeer! There's a tankard option I think which you get to keep but didn't go for that - what would I be able to do with a tankard anyway?
Knight Bus!
4 Privet Drive
The second studio! First big set was Diagon Alley.
They call this the crown jewel of the Archi department - a scale model of the castle. Which they do use when they need to film scenes from far.
Very very detailed. Impressed.
Props details are amazing. Apparently each of the wand boxes have a different name, even though this scene appeared like for a few seconds only.
Won't be posting all photos here obviously - the rest are in FB. As in Wimbledon, was nearly hyperventilating by the end of the tour. Totally fanboy-ed the entire day. Highly satisfying.
Grabbed one of the quick meals from Sainsbury's for dinner. Hahaha. And called it a day.
|
