More of London!
WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE I REPEAT WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE!!
Days 3-5 have been filled with tremendous adventure. We got into our AirBnB in a quaint neighborhood outside of the city center, ate at an adorable tavern near there and met some cool people! (We really have a knack for getting AWESOME Uber drivers)! On Sunday we ventured outside of the city to Oxford and got to tour Oxford University as a part of our Harry Potter tour! Yes, tears were shed. Many, many tears. We almost missed our bus, naturally, but it was worth every penny to have someone pick us up, take us to Oxford, onto Warner Brothers Studio Harry Potter Tour and then back. We got to see a lot of the inspiration of the movies in Oxford and there are many more places in London that we unfortunately won't get to see. BUT walking around Oxford was like in Hogwarts itself. I fell IN LOVE with that place and if I ever come back, Oxford would be where I would stay! Highly recommended! Our tour guide was awesome and let us also meander on our own, which was good so I could take my time taking pictures...
Beware, sappy entry on my love for Harry Potter.
We then went to Warner Brothers Studios and got to tour where most of the movie was filmed and where ALL of the props are from all of the movies. I had no words. It was everything I ever dreamed. I walked through the Great Hall, Dumbledore's office, the Common Room, the Potion Classroom, how it was filmed, got to see Weasley's flying car, their house, how the characters were made, got to walk through the Dudley's house, got to see almost every. single. prop. that was used in these movies. It made me appreciate the movies even more than I already did because they weren't all digital. A lot of it, yes, but take a look through my pictures and see how much work went into these 10 years of filming. They actually BUILT the Dudley's house, parts of Hogwarts, filmed live on location, the trees from the Dark Forest are 12-14 feet in diameter and were moved around from the studio to location and had roots built from the ground up to look even more real. I walked in THEE train that was used in the movie and every section of the train car represented each movie. Blueprints were made of every single scene so everything was perfect and exactly how J.K. Rowling and the producers and directors imagined it would be. There was so much thought and hard, hard work that went into making these movies as real as possible that will never be done again. Even if you aren't into these types of movies, Abbie wasn't a huge fan, and even she said it made her appreciate these movies and now wants to watch them all! I would suggest going to London just to go through that tour, especially if your second life is at Hogwarts. I got to nerd out for an entire day and loved every minute of it, got to indulge in some Butterbeer and bought a ticket for the Hogwarts express. Just when I thought the tour couldn't get any better, the last train car had on one end the very first outfits and scene when Ron & Harry were on the train and you turn to the other end and see the very last scene when they're all grown up and Harry, Ron, Hermione & Jenny drop their kids off to go to Hogwarts. Emotional. Just when you think it couldn't get better, you walk through a room of all the digital images of how different scenes looked and end up in a life-size Hogwarts. Absolutely breathtaking!
Yesterday was filled with getting some sleep, GETTING OUR LUGGAGE and venturing past Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and eating at an adorable bakery for supper. We were the "most American" as we've ever been on the trip when we asked the cops outside Buckingham why the guards weren't wearing red, go ahead and laugh, they did, too. It was because those uniforms aren't warm enough so that tells you how cold it's been! We talked to them for awhile and they gave us so much information and even the Queen was present in the Palace, which was really cool! PS - It is true that when the Queen is there and isn't, different flags will fly atop Buckingham so everyone knows.
London may not be that bad after all but I am ready for our last day to be today and then venture to Paris!
The last two Bible studies I read really brought light to this blog. I don't believe God is ironic by any means, it's just that His timing is impeccable. I didn't know what to name this blog and one of the first verses I read while being here was about how we should believe and not see. On the one hand, being a photographer, I only see by sight. I see things that other people may not, almost through a different lens. Just how God sees us & this world, through a different lens. He has definitely taught me that materialistic things aren't a need or a necessity but a want. A want to fit in with those around us. A want to look a certain way or dress a certain way. A want to go where I want to go not to go where God leads me! We have come in contact with some pretty amazing people in our short week here that made our trip and some that didn't. I was stressed to the max and have realized that without losing our luggage, I would've been traveling by sight not by faith. And this last week was definitely day-by-day because of faith! Because of WHO God is!
One of the readings was about God's provision and the question was asked, "What would it be like to go through life with the peace and security that comes from wholeheartedly believing you 'shall not want'"? I would be a lot less worried about where my luggage was! "Abundant peace and security is available for you today if you will trust in your heavenly Father's promise to provide everything you need. He is a god of grace who loves you. You will not want in this life or for all of eternity." "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavily Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26. That verse really stirs up my heart and how I need to rely more the fact that God WILL provide in His timing!
I read another about Samson and how his strength left when his head was shaved but God allowed his hair to grow back! Maybe this doesn't seem like much or how could I learn anything from this but it showed me once again, to not live by sight. Samson was mocked, made fun of, his eyes were poked out leaving him to only live by faith and not by sight. When this happened, Samson came to his senses and turned to God in prayer and as he did, his hair began to grow back and God gave him his strength back! God used Samson more powerfully in his weakness than he did in the rest of Samson's life. Proof to live by faith and NOT by sight, it only gets you so far.
Cheers!
Days 3-5 have been filled with tremendous adventure. We got into our AirBnB in a quaint neighborhood outside of the city center, ate at an adorable tavern near there and met some cool people! (We really have a knack for getting AWESOME Uber drivers)! On Sunday we ventured outside of the city to Oxford and got to tour Oxford University as a part of our Harry Potter tour! Yes, tears were shed. Many, many tears. We almost missed our bus, naturally, but it was worth every penny to have someone pick us up, take us to Oxford, onto Warner Brothers Studio Harry Potter Tour and then back. We got to see a lot of the inspiration of the movies in Oxford and there are many more places in London that we unfortunately won't get to see. BUT walking around Oxford was like in Hogwarts itself. I fell IN LOVE with that place and if I ever come back, Oxford would be where I would stay! Highly recommended! Our tour guide was awesome and let us also meander on our own, which was good so I could take my time taking pictures...
Beware, sappy entry on my love for Harry Potter.
We then went to Warner Brothers Studios and got to tour where most of the movie was filmed and where ALL of the props are from all of the movies. I had no words. It was everything I ever dreamed. I walked through the Great Hall, Dumbledore's office, the Common Room, the Potion Classroom, how it was filmed, got to see Weasley's flying car, their house, how the characters were made, got to walk through the Dudley's house, got to see almost every. single. prop. that was used in these movies. It made me appreciate the movies even more than I already did because they weren't all digital. A lot of it, yes, but take a look through my pictures and see how much work went into these 10 years of filming. They actually BUILT the Dudley's house, parts of Hogwarts, filmed live on location, the trees from the Dark Forest are 12-14 feet in diameter and were moved around from the studio to location and had roots built from the ground up to look even more real. I walked in THEE train that was used in the movie and every section of the train car represented each movie. Blueprints were made of every single scene so everything was perfect and exactly how J.K. Rowling and the producers and directors imagined it would be. There was so much thought and hard, hard work that went into making these movies as real as possible that will never be done again. Even if you aren't into these types of movies, Abbie wasn't a huge fan, and even she said it made her appreciate these movies and now wants to watch them all! I would suggest going to London just to go through that tour, especially if your second life is at Hogwarts. I got to nerd out for an entire day and loved every minute of it, got to indulge in some Butterbeer and bought a ticket for the Hogwarts express. Just when I thought the tour couldn't get any better, the last train car had on one end the very first outfits and scene when Ron & Harry were on the train and you turn to the other end and see the very last scene when they're all grown up and Harry, Ron, Hermione & Jenny drop their kids off to go to Hogwarts. Emotional. Just when you think it couldn't get better, you walk through a room of all the digital images of how different scenes looked and end up in a life-size Hogwarts. Absolutely breathtaking!
Yesterday was filled with getting some sleep, GETTING OUR LUGGAGE and venturing past Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and eating at an adorable bakery for supper. We were the "most American" as we've ever been on the trip when we asked the cops outside Buckingham why the guards weren't wearing red, go ahead and laugh, they did, too. It was because those uniforms aren't warm enough so that tells you how cold it's been! We talked to them for awhile and they gave us so much information and even the Queen was present in the Palace, which was really cool! PS - It is true that when the Queen is there and isn't, different flags will fly atop Buckingham so everyone knows.
London may not be that bad after all but I am ready for our last day to be today and then venture to Paris!
The last two Bible studies I read really brought light to this blog. I don't believe God is ironic by any means, it's just that His timing is impeccable. I didn't know what to name this blog and one of the first verses I read while being here was about how we should believe and not see. On the one hand, being a photographer, I only see by sight. I see things that other people may not, almost through a different lens. Just how God sees us & this world, through a different lens. He has definitely taught me that materialistic things aren't a need or a necessity but a want. A want to fit in with those around us. A want to look a certain way or dress a certain way. A want to go where I want to go not to go where God leads me! We have come in contact with some pretty amazing people in our short week here that made our trip and some that didn't. I was stressed to the max and have realized that without losing our luggage, I would've been traveling by sight not by faith. And this last week was definitely day-by-day because of faith! Because of WHO God is!
One of the readings was about God's provision and the question was asked, "What would it be like to go through life with the peace and security that comes from wholeheartedly believing you 'shall not want'"? I would be a lot less worried about where my luggage was! "Abundant peace and security is available for you today if you will trust in your heavenly Father's promise to provide everything you need. He is a god of grace who loves you. You will not want in this life or for all of eternity." "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavily Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26. That verse really stirs up my heart and how I need to rely more the fact that God WILL provide in His timing!
I read another about Samson and how his strength left when his head was shaved but God allowed his hair to grow back! Maybe this doesn't seem like much or how could I learn anything from this but it showed me once again, to not live by sight. Samson was mocked, made fun of, his eyes were poked out leaving him to only live by faith and not by sight. When this happened, Samson came to his senses and turned to God in prayer and as he did, his hair began to grow back and God gave him his strength back! God used Samson more powerfully in his weakness than he did in the rest of Samson's life. Proof to live by faith and NOT by sight, it only gets you so far.
Cheers!
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