Day Five Potter Belfast

Woke up to another foggy day with Sharon and Katie preparing for there day out to Harry Potter World. Sharon is stressing with having to catch a few trains to get where they are going, but I am glad Katie is going, she has picked up the transport system here very well, including the fast pace required to keep up with the Londoners.
My day is to head of to Monument station walk over London Bridge to the HMS Belfast for a look see, lunch with Jason and fined something else to fill in my day before meeting Jason at 5.00pm to go check out his abode.  As I leave the apartment in Earls Court I head off towards the station and settle behind a couple of young women dragging there overnight bags at a cracking pace only to be overtaken by a women using a pair of crutches. No one moves slow in this city unless you are a tourist no wonder there is very few obese people in this place.

Arrived at the Belfast just after 10.00am buy my ticket and settle down for my first coffee of the day at there cafe. It was the best coffee I have had so far. As I walk down the gang plank to the HMS Belfast I thought what a great time I'm going to have here there was relatively no one around. Part way down the gang plank there was another path intersecting the one I was on and a bunch of school kids were push up against the gate ready to burst in on my day. Oh well its a large ship 187m long I should be able to avoid them.

I boarded the Belfast handed over my ticket to the guide in the booth and asked if I wanted a free self guided handset yes I will have one thanks. Asked if I wanted it English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italy, Chinese, Japanese and so on I replied German. I got it in English.

The ship was built around 1932 and saw action in the arctic ocean and at Normandy D Day landing. The ship was decommissioned 1971 and eventually was saved from being scrapped to being preserved as the only British ship left from the second world war. It is very well maintained and the displays are all very interesting. I spent over two hours on her and could of had another half hour but needed to get over to Jason's work buy 1.00pm to have lunch.
Jason met me just after 1.00pm and we both headed off to the Captain Kidd Pub for lunch a one pint for Jason and two for me big mistake down the track. Had a nice lunch upstairs the pub was quiet as usual and I decided to head of to the London Museum Jason said it was about 1/2 hour walk.

Once I left Jason's work I headed in the general direction. Twenty minutes later the two pints are now settling in. No problem I will make the London museum Jason said it was only a thirty minute walk. Another fifteen minutes go by no closer now those two pints definitely want to come out I was getting into trouble. I was near Bank tube station I will go there. If anyone has been in tube station it is a labyrinth of tunnels. Getting more urgent now been down many tunnels and exits and finally find one. Relief in site only to be greeted by "Sorry for any inconvenience these toilets are closed for renovation" no mention of where the next toilets are. Now getting really bad I keep going to the Museum and hope I can make it still along way to go. Walked for another ten minutes went to cross a road had a look around and I am going to be saved by McDonalds yay. Head straight in down the stairs to the toilet to be greeted by nice shiny porcelain. Another guy apologies and pushes in beside me and hear another guy rush into the cubicle and I get greeted with moans of pleasure coming from the cubicle and next to me. After, the three of us head out of Mcdonalds without buying anything. I discovered I am not along trying to find toilets in London.

Back on track now and on wards to the Museum of London to find out all about the beginning of London which was by the Romans who called it Londinium. Like all museums in London worth seeing.

I gave myself half an hour to get back to Tower Hill station to meet up with Sharon, Katie and Jason. Decided to catch a tube to Banks one station and then to Tower Hill the next station. Got of at Banks to go to the District line which must have been a km walk underground and onto the next tube. I get onto the train a couple of delays and made it in time to meet everyone. Decide I should have walked above ground considering I walk most of the way underground.

Harry Potter world

Katie and I headed off first about 9ish as I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the relevant stations. We arrived at the one we needed with 25 min to spare.....A bit cold while waiting but we soldiered on.
Our train approached and off we went to Watford Junction.  Had to put more money on our oyster cards as we wouldn't be able to get back!!  Then it was time for a hot drink before finding the stop for the bus to take us onto Warner Bros Harry Potter.  Not a long trip but Katie got to cross another item off her London experience by riding on a double Decker bus.  Once we had hour tickets we decided to have lunch early as we had an hour to kill....our allotted time to go in was 11am.  We actually went in about 11.45.  A small group really, totally different to going in Summer!!
Once in we were shown a few short films and told about some extra bits we were going to see as it was set up for Christmas.
It was different for me this time as I could stand back and watch Katie's face and enjoy the atmosphere.  Its just mind boggling with how they do everything and the sets and special effects are just amazing.  Katie was not interested in riding a broom stick....silly girl how could you not!!!
After spending time in the first bit we headed out to the back lot and had butterbeer.....not as creamy as last year but just as good.  Katie got see the Knightbus, Pivot drive, Hagrid's motorbike the Potters house, and the big chess pieces that Ron plays in the first book at the end.
Next bit was the special effects and Diagon Alley, the concept drawings and models, followed by the most amazing site in the whole place.....the actual model of Hogwarts that they used in all the movies. Unlike last year this time they covered it with snow.....so magical and gob smacking.

We spent quite a bit of time here before heading off to the shop of everything Harry Potter....so much you can buy .....Katie and I each bought a wand....Katie decided on McGonnagal's and i got Hermione's. I bought a little something for Corey to add to his bundle of goodies:) Katie also bought the Mauraders Map ( we opened it up when we got back to the apartment....would have been good to see footprints on it with our names LOL)    
We decided to then head home and start packing as Friday is our day to depart for Paris.....
1/2 packed and then headed off to meet Evan and Jason at Tower Hill.  We got there before them and had a lovely view of the tower of London ....:) We were heading off to see where Jason lives and have dinner with him....we were going to go out for dinner but Eike ( friend from Germany, Jason stayed with him and his family when he was 16) was coming for the night so we were having dinner at Jason's as he wasn't sure what time Eike was getting there.  we had pizza and chips....I decided on Pizza , Katie on the chips....we have the best chips....England has them sitting in a warmer...they aren't fresh like ours.....so disappointing really!!
I was so tired by 8pm as I had been up since 3.30.....so headed off as Eike still hadn't turned up....apparently we missed him by 15 min.  We walked a fair walk to the tube station by this stage i wasn't doing to good. Fell asleep on the train.  I managed 9 1/2 hours sleep that night...woohoo.