Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Wanted to do breakfast at Fortnum and Mason, but there was some breakfast plans. I still wanted to head down to the store after seeing how pretty the dining place was.
Location
Picadilly Station. Its really easy to get here, just right outside the Picadilly Station
181 Piccadilly
London
W1A 1ER
London
W1A 1ER
The Store at Picadilly is the flagship store. There are several other stores around in London central.
Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday 10am to 9pm
Sunday 11.30am* to 6pm
11:30am to 12 noon for browsing only
The Interior of the store is very grand and old-english style. Huge hanging chandeliers set on high ceilings, tins of cookies,tea,coffee all around the shop.
On the first level is The gallery and The fountain. Both have menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. On the other levels are a wine bar, ice cream and dessert palour. Lastly on the highest floor is the most talked about Diamond Jubilee Tea Saloon. They are different Tea menu at 41pounds. Really expensive for a high tea. I will probably go there one day when I'm feeling rich and havent got any shopping to be done.
For now, I will just have lunch and some dessert at the Fountain. I was wow-ed by the interior of the entrance and bar area. Absoloutely my kind of place.
It was quite funny how my friend commented there was many old people around. I glanced around. Indeed there were many elderly dining here, but I was like hey doesn't it add to the authentic english feel? It's better than seeing many tourists around, it just loses the essence of the place.
Ordered a Leek and Potato soup. Then, this lady came with a rattan basket incribed with F&M, which opened up to a selected of 4 kinds of bread - Wheat, white, fruit, nuts. That's pretty interesting.
My tea came in the most beautiful tea set I've ever seen. Makes the whole dining experience like a princess.
The Cotswold
The Cotswolds region of England is one of the most fascinating in the UK primarily due to it having been frozen in time for 300 years resulting in the near total preservation of its beautiful ancient "chocolate box" villages set in stunning countryside. Famous for the honey coloured Cotswold limestone most of the humble cottages and more magnificent houses were built well before America was discovered and at a time when 50% of the English economy was based on Wool.
Getting to Cotswold
There are several routes from London to Cotswold, but I took the route of London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh.
Getting around Cotswold
Getting around cotswold is rather challenging as the buses aren't very frequent - some runs once every hour . So once you miss this hour's bus, got to wait another hour for the next bus.
Bought the One-day cotswold explorer bus ticket, which is unlimited rides on the buses. There's also 3-day bus ticket which would be useful if staying for a longer perios of time.
Bus Map of the Northen Cotswold Region
More detailed information can be found on their website: http://www.escapetothecotswolds.org.uk/visitor-info/gettinghere/north/
Bibury
There are several towns in Cotswold, but I chose to visit Bibury first. It's famous for the Arlington Row, probably one of the most photographed cotswold scene. The picturesque and pretty little cottages were built in 1380 as a monastic wool storem which was then converted into a row of cottages for weavers in the 17th century. It was preserved by the Royal College of Arts and has been used in a film and television location - Stardust and Bridget Jones Diary
I love these small little cootages which has a traditional english feel. People use it still for their holiday homes, as I peeped into the windows and saw furnitures and kitchenwares. It would be nice to live here, but not as an exhibition to the world.
Bourton on the water
The village of Bourton-on-the-Water is known for its picturesque High Street, flanked by long wide greens and the River Windrush that runs through them. The river is crossed by several low, arched stone bridges. These arched bridges have led to Bourton-on-the-Water being called the "Venice of the Cotswolds". Bourton-on-the-Water often has more visitors than residents during peak times of the tourist season.
I've always been amazed by the cinematography of Harry Potter and its enchanting props and visual effects. Planned a visit to the Harry Potter Studio to check it out
Location
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London
Studio Tour Drive
Leavesden
WD25 7LR
Getting there
Take a 1-hour train to Watford Junction.
At the train station, there's a shuttle bus plastered with the Harry Potter Poster which brings you to the studio directly. It cost 2pounds for a return ticket, and 1.50 pounds for a single trip ticket.
Buses run regularly at 20 mins interval, so it's very easy to get here.
/
Ticketing
Bought my tickets online to secure my tour timing. There's timings at every hour to stagger the flow of guests to prevent overcongestion. Individual adult tickets are at 33pounds.
Headed to the souvenir shop before the start of the tour as there was still some time before I could enter.
Harry Potter's Magical wand!
Prank ears
Wizard student wannabe! Was about to zoom off in my broom and the tour started.
Remember this room under the stairs where harry potter first lived with his step-parents in the first ep? So nostalgic.
The Hogwarts dining hall where the students sat in their colors
The professors
Dumbadore!
The broom where they use it in the movies for some of the broom-flying scene.
They showcased how those flying on the broom scenes were filmed. Basically, the actors have to sit on this machine against the greenscreen, then the actions are superimposed onto the scene.
The outdoor area was really cold!
The bridge where one of the love scene was filmed.
Dungeon/market place in the movie, full of interesting and amazing shops!
Pet owls for sale in the dungeon.
Then, entered into a room where they have illustrations of the various buildings they construct in the movie. It's down to the details and this's very impressive. They even make a 3d model out of it and it's on display.
So from the paper 3d model, they construct a real-life looking castle. They use this real-life looking castle to film most of the 'view from outside the school scene'. Every construction of the castle was so detailed and exquisite I wondered how long they spent to construct the entire building.
Bought a flying on the broom picture as a remembrance!
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