The Most Notorious Concentration and Death Camp

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana

The gate to Auschwitz

I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau this past June as part of a tour of East-Central Europe. It was a somber, thought-provoking, humbling experience. I recommend that everyone visit this former Concentration Camp. We were given headphones that we could program so we could hear the tour guide.

At Auschwitz, there were sections where photographs were not allowed - these are where the more personal and disturbing artefacts are displayed. I thought it was interesting that the storage rooms for Jewish and Polish personal items were called "Canada 1" and Canada 2". I am from Canada so found this fact intriguing. They named the storage units after Canada because it is considered a safe haven.

The barbed-wire fence enclosing the buildings

We went by Rudolf Hess' house, which was surprisingly close to the "showers" and crematorium.

A fifteen minute transfer took us to Birkenau. This is where the trains arrived and Josef Mengele did his "experiments". We saw the remains of the "showers" and toured a former bunker where a lot of women shared a small, rancid space and slept five or six to a bunk. 

A train car on the track at Birkenau

I was surprised by how much space Birkenau occupied.  This part of the tour takes place outdoors, so wear sunglasses and a hat, if you are there in the summer.

It was a sobering and thought-provoking tour.

~Angie

Welcome to Hogwarts!

I visited the "Harry Potter" film set in Leavesden, UK in July. It was fantastic!

I booked the tour through Golden Tours and this included the transfer on a special "Harry Potter" bus from London, plus the entrance fee. I bought a ticket for a butterbeer, which was extra and optional.
The bus left London at 9am for entrance at 11am. I actually entered at 10:40am, so it was great!

The door to the Chamber of Secrets

First you are greeted in a room with eight screens. A short film is shown about the film production and the aftermath showing the film openings. Then in the next room, which is set up as a theatre, a short film is shown where Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint talk about filming. After that the tour starts in the Great Hall.

This is one of two large sets. The detail was amazing! Only one table is set up showing how the plates etc were placed. At the far end there are mannequins of the professors in costume showing how they stood to greet the students.

After the Great Hall, you enter first part of the studio. This had a lot of sets all meshed together. By that, I mean that the outside of the Great Hall was decorated with Umbridge's plaques beside a wall of portraits with a staircase. Just one staircase was used, the others were added in post-production. Then, you can see the Gryffindor Common Room, Hagrid's Hut, the clock, Dumbledore's office and the Ministry of Magic all in the same large studio.

One of my favourite sets was the Malfoy's home where the Deatheaters and Voldemort met and the lady was tortured in the Deathly Hallows. The lady who was tortured is hanging from the ceiling. It is quite impressive!

The Deatheaters meeting in the Malfoy home

The Forbidden Forest was a new attraction that recently opened. This was a small section of trees and spider webs. You are met at the entrance by Hagrid, ready to lead you through. This is a mannequin with a lamp. There is Buckbeak and of course, Aragog. It was quite creepy. I kept thinking: "A spider had better not fall on me!"

The next room was the other larger set. It was Platform 9 3/4. This included the train, a train station platform, and three areas where you can take photos pushing carts through the wall. You can also go through the train car that was used for filming. I felt a bit rushed in this part, as there was limited space and a line-up of people on my heels. Not my favourite part of the tour. I wish I could have taken more time to take that set in.

Platform 9 3/4

I bought some souvenirs at the shop there and then went to enjoy my butterbeer.

After this there are some sets in the back lot outside. These included the Knight Bus, #4 Privet Drive, the Potter home in Godric's Hollow and the rickety bridge. The rickety bridge was only one section that was used during filming. The Visual Effects department added the rest of the bridge during post-production.

The Art Department came next. It was amazing to see the different masks and props that were used. A gallery of paper models showed the various houses and sets in simple first-draft form.
My favourite part of the tour was seeing the model of the Castle grounds. This was amazing! the details that went into the massive model were awesome! The model was the size of the entire room! I loved it!

Castle model

My tour allowed three hours to go through the entire set, eat something and shop at the gift store. I think, overall, that was enough time.

There is so much to see, I wish I had spent more time in the first part with the actual sets.

It was an amazing experience!

Beautiful Cathedral!

Years ago I read a book that took place in Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Ever since, I wanted to see the cathedral if I was ever in New York City.

The cathedral was closed every time my sister and I walked past, though. I got a photo in front of it earlier in the week. An Advent Wreath hung above the doors, with one candle lit - it was the first week of Advent. 

On our last evening in New York, we were walking down 5th Avenue and saw that the doors were open!

We went inside. It was beautiful! My sister lit a prayer candle and we walked around. There is so much to look at! The organ in amazing! There was a Nativity scene in the corner - Jesus was not in the manger yet as it was only the first week of Advent. The details on the walls, in the Nave, the Rose Window, (everything!) are amazing and the cathedral is beautiful! There is a lot to look at and take in.

I highly recommend it.

Central Park

One great free thing to do in New York City is visit Central Park. My sister and I were in New York at the beginning of December. The weather was great that day, it had stopped raining and the sun had come out. It was like a beautiful Autumn day...in December! The leaves were still on the trees and were very colourful. We were able to wear our Fall jackets to walk around Central Park. It was the best of both worlds - Fall weather and Christmas decorations!

We entered from Central Park South and the first thing you see from that entrance is the famous stone bridge! The Gapstow Bridge is the bridge featured in famous movies about New York, including Home Alone: Lost in New York. We took some photos near the bridge and on it with views of the Plaza Hotel behind us.

Gapstow Bridge

We then wandered on. We came across Wollman Rink and watched people skating. We said hello to Santa Claus, who was greeting people there and continued on.

Wollman Rink

We continued on. There is a road not far from the rink where cars and the horse drawn carriages travel. We crossed that road and came upon the pathway also featured in movies. The Mall and Literary Walk is where spies in movies meet. It is a famous tree-lined avenue with benches all along. We came across a girl selling paintings. They were beautiful and I bought one from her on my way out of the park later on. 

After the Mall, we came upon an advertisement for a book fair happening just under the Bethseda Terrace. Unfortunately we couldn't get down to have a look because it turned out that a TV show called Time After Time was doing a location shoot there. The book fair was actually part of the set. We watched the actors for quite some time. It was amusing.

One of the attractions that I really wanted to see in Central Park was Strawberry Fields. This is a garden that Yoko Ono created in honour of John Lennon, who was killed in front of the Dakota Apartments across the street on December 8, 1980. It is supposed to be a quiet place of reflection, but people were generally ignoring that instruction. I took at photo of the Imagine mosaic at the centre of the garden. This was a week before the anniversary of John Lennon's death. 

The Imagine mosaic in Strawberry Fields

We wandered on across the Bow Bridge. This bridge is beautiful and crosses the manmade lake with the inspiring and original moniker, The Lake. We found a bench and sat by this bridge to do some people watching and relax.

There was a lot of activity in Central Park - musicians, dancers, actors, tourists - all doing their thing. It was a beautiful and peaceful outing and I recommend visiting Central Park if you are ever in New York City. It was one of the highlights of our stay.

~Angie