Living in Munchkinland

We woke up on our last morning of London and packed our apartment. We had an hour to spare before leaving for the airport, so we walked over to Covent Garden and had brunch and browsed the market. Michael bought a wonderful plaque with the Walter coat of arms on it. Then we gathered our belongings and got on tube to ride all the way to Heathrow. The train was a great way to go and we arrived in good time. We were a bit nervous about the London airport after the recent bombings, so we made our way quickly through security and got to our plane just in time. I guiltily flew first class and Michael and the kids rode in Economy Plus. There is a long story with good reasons behind that so don't judge if you can help it. The flight was much longer on the return and we made it into Chicago about 8 hours after we took off. We were all dead tired, but made our way to the United Lounge for a rest before our connecting flight to Houston. We shoved two chairs together for Sam where h...

Today was the big day! We woke up and got dressed and grabbed our wands and headed for the train. We took a tube and then an overland train and then a bus and finally, after an hour of travel we arrived at the WB Studios for the Making of Harry Potter. From Davis's Journal: Today we wen to the WB Harry Potter Behind the Scenes.. It told how how everything worked including hte broom. I even got to fly one! Then we saw the animatronix of Buck Beak, Hedwig and Hagrids head! The we saw the Hogwarts Model. It looked a lot like the Great Hall (that I got to go in) and it looked exactly like the movies. We also saw the night bus, Hagrids/Sirous Black's motorcycle and the actual flying car. And at the end I got a WAND-Sirious Black's. Then we left and I went to a park. From Michael's Journal: Warner Brothers Studio was a blast. The site was a great mix of spectacle and production. We got a real sense of what it takes to put on an A-list movie. The sets were am...

Sam is still sick. Sigh. We dose him with ibuprofen and sudafed and haul the children through the morning routine. We get them down to the tube and head for the Tower of London. Michael and Davis and Samuel have never been to England before and I wanted to make sure that we recreated some of my favorite London memories. This day was a testament to that fact. Also, Michael dreams of an England castle and pub tour. He deeply loves castles. I could not make his pub and castle dreams come true, but I could take him to the tower. And so it came to pass. That we took the tube to the Tower of London and emerged upon a cold, but not raining morning. We were one of the first to enter the tower gates and after hooking up to the audio guide, we set forth. We all loved it. The kids were entranced and we wandered all over the castle. The boys enjoyed the armoury best. I loved the medieval section best. My mine craft obsessed children were very impressed with the rare stones all ov...