Flying with Harry Potter

After this one I will finally be caught up with all of my trips thus far.  Last Saturday Cory, Amanda, and I went on the Give it A Go trip to Alnwick Castle.  It is currently the winter home of the Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland.  It was a long 3 hour bus ride each way but we all slept both ways.  Today it is mostly known because scenes from the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed there.  Most notably, the grounds were used when Harry learned how to fly.  Since it was opening weekend for the season it was also the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and they had people dressed up as Harry, Hagrid, and Dumbledore.

Where Harry learned to fly

After a brief tour of the grounds, we headed into the castle to look around.  Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures inside but I can tell you it was magnificent.  My favorite room was the library with floor to ceiling bookshelves all around the room.  It was really interesting because while the castle is a historical castle that has been around for centuries, it is still used as the house for the Duke's family.  For example, in the library along with the ancient bookshelves there was also a plasma TV.  There were also pictures of the family scattered around the Castle in addition to the older paintings.

Alnwick Castle from the back

We also went on a walk through the town of Alnwick.  It was similar to many of the other small towns I have visited around England.  Since it is so close to the Scottish boarder many of the people in the town spoke with accents that were more similar to Scottish accent than the usual English one.
There was also the Castle Gardens but if we wanted to go see them it would've cost us an additional 9 pounds.  Obviously we chose to forgo the gardens but managed to sneak a peak at the magnificent fountain.  It also prevented us from being able to go into the tree house as well.  Instead we took a walk up to the Dutchess's View of the Castle and the surrounding area it was amazing.

Awesome looking tree house we couldn't go in

That night we celebrated Cory's 22nd birthday by going to Pop Tarts, the Saturday club night at the Union.  It was a lot of fun.  Most of the music they played was from the 80's and 90's so nothing that we've heard at every other place we've been to since arriving at Sheffield.

Tomorrow I am off for my Easter Break tour around Southern Europe.  Cory and I will be spending time in Greece, Italy, and Spain.  I'm really excited to get to the warmth and not have to worry about any type of school work!