Leaving Wales was difficult -- it was a last minute addition to the "journey" -- more of an "it was there so I might as well take a quick look" -- turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip -- castles, good food , friendly people, history, kayaking, biking, hiking, scenic, relaxing and pretty much overlooked by the tourist hordes.
Returning one last time to England, I was now at the start of the end of my "UK--get out of France for ninety days" tour. Drove to a small village of Amersham, about an hour west of London -- the entire town is an "historic preservation" site -- with most buildings dating from the 1800's or earlier. From here it was an easy drive to Windsor Castle where the Queen spends most of her time when she's not in London. There unfortunately was a mix-up of some kind as when I arrived, they didn't have me on her calendar -- she was away at Balmoral Castle. So much for tea with the Queen -- William, Kate and Andrew weren't around either so I had to content myself with touring the castle with one of the "Beefeaters" (the Queen's guard, nice guy) and having tea by myself.
Windso is one of the "old" castles, dating back to the Norman era (around 1070) but has been turned into more of a fancy manor than a defensive "hardcore" castle. Most of the well-known kings and queens lived here at one time or another -- Henry II, Charles II,George IV, Victoria, etc.... It's huge -- supposedly the largest and oldest fortified fortress in the world. If size counts, it was impressive but it didn't feel like it had a "soul". So many of the castles I've visited in the UK have had an "atmospheric" presence, a grandeur (albeit ruined in most cases) -- bigger than life type feeling -- you could use your iagination and feel what it might have been like five-six hundred years ago -- walking around Windsor Castle felt like walking around a grocery store parking lot (paved, grey concrete, sole reason for being was to impress tourists -- didn't impress me at all. So much for visiting the Queen!
The afternooon promised to be more "magical" -- and it was. Warner Brother Studio has transformed a couple of large aricraft hangers into a venue for exhibiting many of the original sets used in making the "Harry Potter" movies -- the hangers were initially as the sound stages for filming. Despite its "downside" as a tacky tourist attraction -- they did an excellent job and it was fascinating! It had everything from the smallest set -- Harry's bedroom under the staricase in the Weasly home -- to the largest set -- the grand dining hall (complete with place settings and fake food). They have a replica of the train engine that Harry and his cohorts off to Hogwarts and a "green screen" so that you too can "pass through the wall" at Platform 9 3/4 (the real engine is still in service in Ft William, Scotland).
During the first twenty five minutes of the tour, a tour guide educates you about the books and the filming, the nthey turn you loose to walk throught the sets at your own pace -- thought I'd run through the place in ninety minutes -- ended-up being there for three and a half hours -- and I'm not a Harry Potter fan!. Most of the people there were little kids or "hard-core" fans in their twenties and thirties who spent the entire day ogling the costumes, props and sets! Thinking about it, I think I was the oldest person I saw there!
Not having seen all of the movies, there were sets that didn't have much meaning to me but the attention to detail in creating the props was unbelievable! For example, there's a scene where Harry goes shopping for a wand in a wand store -- the production staff artists hand-lettered over ten thousand separate wand boxes -- where all that's visible in the finished movie is the butt end of the boxes and they're on screen for maybe three to four minutes in the background.
Another exznple is that all of the wands used in the movie were numbered and each of the "extras" (people) had to have the same wand whenever they were in a scene -- even thought all the wands looked the same to me! Crazy attention to detail!
They also have some of the props that were created only to have the director change his mind and go in a different direction with what he wanted to show. The animatronics were also crazy amazing -- they had an electronics shop on site just to create the mechanical components -- and another entire shop of artists just to create the exterior molds/shells (heads, hands, animals, etc...) that covered the electronics -- what an education in movie-making!!
Stopped in the "canteen" before I left and had a mug of "butterbeer" -- think it was really just cream soda with whipped cream!
Enjoyed the "magic" of Harry Potter much more than that of the Castle.
Next day, I had a number of places I wanted to visit and started with Bletchley Park (which turned out to be a mistake, but a good one!)
