A Nerd's Delight: HARRY POTTER ... a HOT HOBBIT ... and, yes, I'm a WHOVIAN

I am warning you. This post will really only interest nerds. So if you do not like nerdy things, abandon this post right now. Because it is all about big-time nerdy interests. You have been warned.

Me in front of the LEGIT Hogwarts - this is where they
shot all of the exteriors of the castle - amazing!
(Note - extra nerd points for wearing a BBC Sherlock shirt!)

I want you to realize that, as a librarian, I have automatic nerd cred. This is pretty much like street cred ... but possibly not so violent. Or maybe it is, I don't know. I have not been to San Diego's Comic-Con, after all. However, much of my nerd cred comes from reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Scratch that. Almost everyone has read the Harry Potter books. My nerd cred comes from hosting Harry parties and knowing all the trivia and dressing up as various Harry characters. (Harry, note, not Hairy). So it shall come as no surprise to you when I tell you that I (along with all the other grownup library people getting their masters degrees and their teachers) almost peed on myself when I found out that we were going to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour where they shot all the films! I mean, this is the place where Hogwarts lives! No, it isn't like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I think it's actually better! Granted, I have not been to the theme park in Orlando but the people who have and went with me on this said this was better. I don't really care. I just know it was extremely cool. This is the studio where those three little actors (and the hundreds of other cast and crew members) lived for TEN years while making those movies! It was amazing. Once again, I am not going to tell you about it so much as SHOW you via photos. Click here to look at all the photos from the real sets, props, costumes, effects, and sound stages that were in the Harry Potter films. 

Just one of the many buildings on this huge film studio lot

Me in front of the Grave Marker for the Riddles!

Oh, I had to stick this in here - I am such a Potter nerd that when I went with friends to Edinburgh, Scotland, we visited this coffee shop/restaurant. It's one of the main places where J.K. Rowling wrote ...you guessed it! 

Yes, Harry Potter nerd supreme - I actually mainly got this
shot for my two HP uber nerd nieces, Britt & Min

The next biggest nerd thing I did was take a trip to Cardiff, Wales with other nerd friends. We went to the amazing, incredible, brilliant, fun, funny, goofy, campy, insert adjective here, BBC Doctor Who Experience! If you like the show, you'll like this tour. If you love the show (like we all did), your mouth will drop open, you will stare around during the tour (we're helping The Doctor in the Tardis, for goodness sakes!), and grin the whole time. It. was. brilliant! The most fun I have ever had on anything remotely like this - better than a fun house, better than an amusement park ride, better than ... well, I've run out of superlatives. We all were so happy we went. And Cardiff! Now, Cardiff was hopping! It totally reminded me of New Orleans during a festival weekend - that kind of hopping! 

What it says

Creepy Weeping Angel getting me! I am NOT Blinking!

me outside the Tardis

me INSIDE the Tardis - yes, it's bigger on the inside!

Okay, you're going to be wanting the link to the photos here because I am not going to tell you how much real (as opposed to nerd) money I spent at the Doctor Who Experience. Fabulous fabulous time. Thanks to my fellow nerd teacher and co-students who went. Wales and Cardiff, you rock!

My final nerd moment - well, possibly you could call it a fan girl moment. Yes, kids, even old people have movie star crushes. And my movie star crush is Martin Freeman. Yes, he of Fargo, Sherlock, The Office, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and some little movies series about A HOBBIT!  (Don't worry, I'm not going to stick up posters of him or write him fan mail or anything - I'm too lazy to be a stalker ... or a really dedicated fan, for that matter).

Anyhoo, my big fangirl moment came when I went with a fellow student to see Richard III onstage starring Mr. Freeman. I know I am a fangirl because I found out about him performing this when I was back in the states and his wife TWEETED it. (Aha! There's my social media nod of the day, please note). She's a really brilliant actress in her own right (Amanda Abbington) and a totally hilarious tweeter. So back to the play. We got to actually SIT ON THE STAGE. Much of the time, I was less than 5 feet from Bilbo himself! He was marvelous - played a mean, mean, and totally crazy Richard III. It was a great production by superstar theatre director Jamie Lloyd. I must say there was lots and lots and lots of blood. Some of the audience were given tshirts after the production because their clothes were spattered with fake blood. Bloody lucky bastards (Leener!!!!) Anyway, it was amazing. I am not going in to it here. If you really want to know, I will break out the program and tell you about it. I never much cared for Richard III (Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play) but I did love this production. Possibly because of Dr. Watson but I really did enjoy this play tremendously. Highly recommend it.

Kiersten & I posed days before we went

Now we're here - about to go in

Afterwards - LOVED IT!

Nerd alert is over - next post will again be about pretty pictures and things I did tripping around the continent. Drop me some feedback if you're enjoying - or hating! - the blog. Also, if you're dying to know about social media internationally (and you know you are), click here to check out the social media YouTube interviews I have done while in Europe. I'll be flying home in about a week so you won't have to put up with this much longer - promise. Pinky promise!
You now know the drill - click here if you want to see the 235(!) photos from my nerd stuff.