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London Part 2

Welcome back. This week I will conclude my segment on London by reviewing three of my favorite attractions in greater detail.

1. Tower of London

The Tower of London is the oldest fortress in Europe. Begun in 1066 by William the Conqueror, the original structure was comprised of the White Tower and the remains of a defensive wall left-over from a thousand-year-old Roman fort. Over centuries, the Tower of London expanded into a massive fortress surrounded by two outer walls and a moat.One of my favorite features of the tower is that tours are given by the tower guards or Yeoman Warders, who are former British armed forces personal who live and work on the grounds.

The Beefeaters, as they are nicknamed, will tell you the about the many functions of the fortress as it served as a royal place, armory, treasury, mint, records office, zoo, prison, and the site of numerous executions. The site also features many exhibits ranging from a collection of royal armor, to medieval torture devices, to a history of the tower’s most famous prisoners.

Fun Fact: Seven ravens are kept at the Tower of London. Legend has it that if less than six are kept at any one time the Tower of London and England will fall.

The Tower of London is located on the River Themes next to iconic Tower Bridge. I would highly recommend visiting the viewing platform located at the top of the drawbridge for a skyline view of central London.

Wimbledon

Tennis fans may want to head out to the London suburb of Wimbledon, the site of the Grand Slam Tennis Tournament. Every summer thousands of tennis fans descend upon the quiet suburb for the two week tournament held at the All England Tennis Club.  The rest of the year, the club offers tours of the famous grass court complex and access to a museum dedicated to the origin and evolution of the sport of tennis. On my visit I got a chance to see the Men and Women’s singles trophies that are loaned out to winners after the tournament. Sadly, the tournament started just a day after the end of my visit to London, but I did a chance to see the practice courts where players were starting to warm-up before the tournament.

 Warner Brother’s Harry Potter Studio Tour

As a big Harry Potter fan this was arguably my favorite London destination besides the Tower of London. Located about an hour outside of London in Leavesden, the Warner Brothers Studio was the main filming location for all eight Harry Potter movies. The studio sound stages feature hundreds of sets and props used for the filming of the movies. Most notably the tour features sets of the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts Express, and 4 Privot Drive. Additionally, the tour gives a behind-the-scenes look at how the movies were filmed. I learned that many of the scenes featuring Hagrid used smaller sets to make the half-giant appear larger and that and a giant wearable animatronic head was even used for some scenes. The highlight of the tour was a room-sized scale model of the Hogwarts Castle, which was used for all of the exterior shots in the movie.

 

Fun Fact- Most of the pictures in the movies featured members of the film crew.

 

 

 

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London#Restoration_and_tourism

http://www.britainexpress.com/articles/London/tower-of-london.htm

https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/the-tour-experience/about-the-studio-tour

Pictures

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Aerial_Tower_of_London.jpg

http://yeomenoftheguard.com/cyw.yg[1].JPG

http://travellingmoods.com/tower-bridge-bascule-bridge-in-london/

http://content.rolex.com/is/image/Rolex/tennis_wimbledon_0002_1680x10701418816383804ULB?wid=1680&hei=1070&qlt=85

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/4/4d/GreatHall.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120812171638

https://movies4kids.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/exclusive-reveal-of-the-hogwarts-express-at-warner-bros-studio-tour-london-1.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109071/Incredibly-detailed-model-Hogwarts-Castle-used-Harry-Potter-film-revealed-time.html

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2015 at 7:16 pm and is filed under Passion Blog. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.