Tower of London

Andy took this photograph of Tower Bridge, viewed from an archway in the wall of the Tower of London.

Joan and Andy are standing in front of the White Tower, the keep of the Tower of London, built in 1080s by William the Conquerer.

Andy took this image of Gary and Joan, in the rain and cold at the Tower of London.

The queue waiting to go into the Jewel House at the Tower of London, on a cold, wet and windy day.

Armed royal guards on duty outside the Jewel House at the Tower of London.

The Crown Jewels are displayed in this fine building that has state of the art security.

Andy walking in the grounds of the Tower of London, taking in the historic atmosphere.

The display of armour in the White Tower, the 1080s keep of the Tower of London, where tourism started early. Apparently visitors have been coming to see this display since the 1600s.

The second floor of the White Tower houses an impressive display of armour since the time of Henry VIII, such as these breastplates.

A full wall of breastplates on display. There were amazing suits of armour, including beautifully decorated ones made for children, such as princes aged as young as five years.

The caption above describes the remains of the wall from the time of Roman London.

This caption relates to the next image, regarding the cannon on display outside the White Tower.

Many of the staff at the Tower of London, including the "beefeaters", live in the lovely homes built over the centuries within the grounds of the Tower, which has been both a fortress and a royal palace.

Camden Market

Having now become a cadet photographer, Andy took this photo of Gary and Joan at the cafe in Camden Town, where we ate deep fried chicken with waffles and maple syrup - most unusual, but entirely edible! The cafe was called the "Bird".

Opposite the "Bird" was an entrance into Camden Market, and just inside the gate was this initial taste of the wonders of the market.

A shoe display in a window at the market showed some quite amazing women's shoe styles.

Gary, Andy and I walked across the several bridges over the waterways of Camden, and peered down at the various food stalls displaying their wares - foods from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Argentina, Venezuela, India, Vietnam, China: you name it, they had it. What a variety!

This large weeping willow softened the effects of the bustling array of market stalls beside the canal.

"Belly and bao" revealed a stall selling those lovely Chinese buns filled with pork, next to Columbian street food, beside Argentine steak and burgers. The food was worth the visit to Camden Market, let alone all the other wonders.

This stall advertised smoothies of fruit and vegetables, including mango crush and watermelon bliss.

Canal boats floating in Camden lock can be seen behind the Indian food stall and squeezed orange juice drinks.

This fresh coconut water stall claimed it to be a cure for a hangover.

Looking down from a walkway overlooking the stalls we were enticed by the Brazilian sweets displayed for sale.

Gary stitched together three images to make this wide-angled view of Joan overlooking the colourful food stalls at the Camden market.

Hampton Court Palace

At Hampton Court Palace we got caught up in a re-enactment of the case against Thomas Culpeper and Henry VIII's Queen Catherine Howard, and (believe it or not!!) Joan was chosen to act as one of the questioners against Culpeper. That's me in the centre, seated, as a member of the King's court. I had to ask: "Master Culpeper, My Lord the Duke of Norfok informs us that he has received report that you have been with the Queen five or six times in secret and suspect places, among others at Lincoln, where you were closetted together five or six hours. Is this true?" The act involved a number of members of the audience, including children, who did a great job. Of course, the result was that Queen Catherine, Thomas Culpeper, and Lady Rochford were all put to death, and the re-enactment made it all seem very real.

The Great Hall is the largest room in Hampton Court Palace, built in the 1530s for Henry VIII, but restored in the 1840s. It is 32 metres long, 12 metres wide, 18 metres high, an has a musician's gallery at one end.

The hammer-beam ceiling is most impressive, and the wood is decorated in red, blue and gold paint.

Thomas Culpeper at left, Lady Rochford (Mary, the widowed sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn), with a court guard at right, watched by the audience who were playing the parts of members of the King's court.

Samples of some of the golden plate that made up King Henry VIII's dinner ware.

One of the laneways at Hampton Court Palace, leading from a courtyard towards the kitchens.

Two cooks turning the spit to roast joints of beef in the 500 year old kitchens that at that time produced 1500 meals per day for Henry's court members and their staffs and guests. These actors told us that this is the oldest cooking apparatus still being used in England, exactly as it was in the 1500s.

Joan is walking from one passageway in the old palace into another leading to the network of great kitchens where massive amounts of food were prepared daily to feed the vast numbers of courtiers.

Gary took this image of part of the wine cellars next to the kitchens at Hampton Court Palace.

A group of musicians in the courtyard  played instruments that were common in England during the 1500s.

Gary took this photograph from a window of the palace, looking over one small part of the magnificent gardens at Hampton Court Palace. In one section there is a maze, that Andy easily defeated by finding his way through without coming to a dead end.

150 years after Henry VIII the palace was owned by William III (William of Orange, the Dutch prince who married Mary II of England). Mary and William were joint monarchs, and made great changes to parts of Hampton Court Palace, through Christopher Wren's designs of baroque-style apartments.

A courtyard surrounded by the oldest surviving buildings of Hampton Court Palace, dating from about 1514 when Thomas Wolsey purchased Hampton Court when it was just a manor house built after about 1494. Wolsey gained great power and wealth as King Henry VIII's indispensable administrator, and was made a cardinal. He made the whole complex into a luxurious palace.

Gary photographed Joan walking in the long covered gallery that allowed King William III and his Queen Mary II to walk during rainy weather, and was also used as an orangery.

The Great Fountain Garden was formerly part of Henry VIII's hunting park, but became an elaborate formal garden with yet trees and holly globes, gravelled avenues and thirteen fountains.

Gary's great hope of photographing an expanse of spring flowers was realised at Hampton Court Palace.

Daffodils, jonquils and bluebells make a beautiful splash of colour in the area of the gardens known as 'The Wilderness'.

Jonquils growing freely under the trees in 'The Wilderness'.

Springtime blossoms starting to appear on the trees throughout 'The Wilderness'.

MGM Studio: Harry Potter

The wonderful old decrepit bridge at Hogwarts was a real buzz to walk across, thinking of the actors and their thrilling adventures.

Prosthetics by the hundreds, of weird creatures and others (such as Hagrid), were demonstrated as staff painted and added hair, etc.  Warwick Davis (Professor Filius Fitwick), in his distinctive and hilarious manner, demonstrated on a massive screen how the animatronics works to make them appear alive. This was my third most enjoyable aspect of "The Making of Harry Potter".

And this was my second most enjoyable aspect of "Harry" - a walk down Diagon Alley. The attention to detail by the creators of the sets has to be seen to be believed.

Joan and Andy are standing outside the Potter family's cottage, where Harry was born, and where his mother and father were murdered. This building was inspired by a 14th century Grade 1 listed cottage in Lavenham, Suffolk.

This is part of Diagon Alley, and the set was also used for Hogsmeade village scenes.

The attention to detail of all the buildings, and every little element of them, both outside and inside, keeps you looking and looking and looking - the interest is all-consuming.

This is the architectural drawing of shopfronts in Diagon Alley, from which the streetscape was created. The artists who imagined, drew, made and brought to reality this street are highly talented and committed to making sure that every little aspect was convincing and real - it works!

This model occupies a whole, huge room, with a ramp going all the way around the top and down to the lower level. There are touch screens every few metres to allow viewers to home in on different aspects, and particularly to view the entire building process as it was created.

This was the last, and the very best (for me), of all that we saw today at "The Making of Harry Potter".  Anyone who comes to London would have a great experience by going to see it. It doesn't matter whether you are interested in Harry Potter or not, it is the creativity, the digital film-making techniques, the artistry, the electronic wizardry, that I found to be the most exciting and breath-taking aspects of the whole presentation. The staff who made the masks for goblins and other strange creatures, the hippogriff 'Buckbeak', the phoenix, etc., and devised the body that made Robbie Coltrane into the half-giant Hagrid performed miracles, really. Most impressive, indeed!