On Friday the boys & I went on a trip to York. In York there are tons of historic little churches and The York Minster. The York Minster is York's version of The Westminster Abbey in London. On the way there we met Nuvaquahu from Germany. Since none of us could say his name we just call him Vick. Some of the boys wanted to tour the York Brewery, but Andrew and I didn't so we went exploring on our own. We ended up finding this creepy little church with tons of really old graves in the back. It was a perfect place for pictures! After that we went to Starbucks to sit and relax until the boys were done. I think the time allotted for the trips done through the school are too long.
On Saturday the boys went to a Newcastle soccer game and I went with the girls on the trip to Alnwick Castle. The trip was great! Alnwick Castle is also known as 'Hogwarts' in the Harry Potter films. All of the outdoor shots from Harry Potter were shot there. There is the castle wall where Harry first flies over in the car on the way to Hogwarts, nearly missing a tree that was super imposed in the film! Then there is the area that Malfoy and Harry fly around during their Muggle Quidditch match. This area was also super imposed. It was reconstructed online by using the thousands of pictures taken at the West Minster in London. During the scene where Harry is in the invisible cloak, the book he's reading and the library were also filmed at a different location. At this location the film crew was asked to leave because they were rather disturbing and ruining the books. The books kept in this library are kept at a specific temperature so they will not be ruined with time. During the production of this scene holding the book so often caused it to dry out, so they took hundreds of pictures of the books and went on their way to reproduce the book so they wouldn't ruin it. Hagrid's hut is also on the property grounds right next to the dark forest. In the movie Hagrid is a giant, in real life Hagrid is only 5'10". At the castle they showed us how they make him look so giant when walking next to 'normal' sized people. The castle itself is ginormous and absolutely breathtaking. The family that owns the castle, the Percy's, have owned it through nearly all of the castle's history. It is their main home that they stay in and it is surrounded by the 110,000 acres the family owns. Along with Alnwick Castle we also visited the Alnwick Gardens. The gardens are very interesting, there's a huge water fountain that is the focal point in the center. On one side they have the poisonous garden that is loaded with tons of poisonous plants that you can view on a guided tour. The other side of the gardens has a water section where there are tons of different water features you can view, or even let your children play in!
Overall the trips to York and Alnwick were great, especially when considering we'll be starting classes next week!
Here's some pictures of The York Minster & Alnwick Castle! Talk to you soon!
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