July 2 was a free day built into our itinerary so that we could explore towns and cities near enough to allow us to return to Harlaxton for the night. A group of us took advantage of this free day to attend Wimbledon using grounds passes. An hour-long train ride from Grantham to King’s Cross was followed by another 40 minutes of travel on the London Underground. It also took a fair amount of time for us to actually get our tickets and get into the Wimbledon grounds, but it was well worth it! Our day consisted of watching Andy Murray in a Centre Court match from Murray Mound, trying strawberries and cream, and taking in many other matches held on smaller courts* (*read: courts open even to those with only grounds passes).
July 3 was our first scheduled day in London. After taking taxis from King’s Cross to the St. Giles Hotel, we walked down Tottenham Court Road to Euston Station for a train to Leavesden. Leavesden is home to the sound stages where all 8 Harry Potter films were created. Due to the success of the series, the sound stages have now been transformed into the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Here, props, costumes, and even sets have been displayed in order for the public to see and interact with pieces of the films that many of us grew up watching. We learned many movie-making secrets (including how the character Hagrid was created by building a 7 and a half foot-tall suit that a 6 and a half foot-tall rugby player occupied, with a robotic copy of actor Robbie Coltrane’s face as a mask). Midway through the tour, we got either Butterbeer drinks or ice cream. The general consensus leaned towards the ice cream, but the cold drinks were still welcome on this hot day.
Later that evening, we attended the Broadway production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda in London’s West End. The show was an interesting take, transforming the famous story into a musical. There were some spectacular special effects and musical numbers including Matilda writing on the chalkboard with her mind and the Trunchbull throwing the little girl by her pigtails. After the show, some of our group went back to the hotel while others stayed in the West End to explore and enjoy a night out.
July 4 was our last day in London, but we made the most of it. Thanks to the Hop on- Hop off bus tour, we began our journeys at Russel Square near St. Giles. From there, we split into small groups to take in as much of the famous city as we could. Many of us went to Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue and took advantage of our free ferry rides down the River Thames, seeing Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the London Eye, and Parliament along the way. Buckingham Palace was another popular stop due to the Changing of the Guard ceremony. My group went all the way out to Paddington Station to see the famous statue of the bear on Platform 1. London was very crowded and hot this Saturday, between many other tour groups and locals enjoying a weekend in the city. There was some worry about making our train from King’s Cross to Grantham, but thanks to some helpful cab drivers everyone made it on time!
There were many small groups throughout our travels in London, so this post is just a general overview. There were plenty of small side adventures within each group that made this trip to London special for each individual!