Harry Potter and the Bottle of Wine

Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

That was the actual reason behind this trip to London, to see the world of Mr. Potter come to life before my very eyes. Or actually the world of J.K. Rowling, whom we have to thank for creating the Boy Who Lived.

For me it all started when I was 9 years old. My mother used to read to me before bed and one day we chose Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Being a fan of all things magical I fell in love instantly. Now I do not remember in what order I worked my way through the books and films other than first the book, then the film - but does it really matter?

The world was there, created through both my own mind and that of others.

I demanded my sister to give my nephew the same experience as us, growing up with these characters. Now, it probably won't take him 10 years and he might not even like the series (impossible with parents like his, but still) but everyone should visit this set regardless of their affection towards the series. What those people created in a decade is incredible!

We got to the studios by bus, leaving at Victoria Station. I booked us a ticket online in advance, it's probably the easiest thing to do.
After collecting our digital guides it was time to start the tour! First up a shout out to all the employees, they really make an effort to make your visit worth the while. Being friendly, informative and fun :) Thank you!
And to those at the photo/video moment, I left the queue after watching you 'guide' the visitors through their broom ride. I don't care that you've done it a million times before, if you get paid to do something put some freaking effort into it, you bored fuck. Other than those (one in particular) people were nice. Especially the girl at the end who was collecting our digital guides, we got to talking a bit about the entire tour and how amazingly everything was put together! Thank you for your enthusiasm, it was appreciated.

Now, on to the tour. Where to start? Everything is put on display! From behind the scenes to everything that is seen on screen. Dressing tables, props, sets, wardrobe, little facts and trivia about the animals, the paintings - the magic of Potter revealed, be it in a magical way!

I don't know how I can put all of the information in short story for you to read, to be honest you had to be there.
It is just amazing that the studios are open for visitors and that you get a behind the scenes look of how an enormous production like this one comes to life through the creative work of many amazing people. Even the concept art was stunning!

The creative team, dressing the sets, giving characters a face.. it was wonderful to learn so much more about this world that I love so very dearly :)

Well, see for yourself;

I was late..

BUTTERBEER!

This is concept art. Ditch the concept, this is art. 

At the end of the tour this happens. It is massive, impressive and stunning. 

So that was the studio tour. I want to go back some time, not just to get the mug I badly wanted but couldn't take due to luggage problems, but to take in all the things I missed this time around. There is simply too much to see! Enjoyed it very very much :)

No on to the bottle of wine in the title - apparently entire bottles of wine shrink to the size of a 175 ml glass in England. It only seems to happen in pubs. This of course is me being astounded by the prizes, 4 pound 75 for a glass of wine?! I.. but.. wine!!
After two days of celebrating the holiday pub style, we went to Sainsbury's, got ourselves a small, one person sized bottle (which in my case would actually be a normal sized one which I would finish in a weeks time.. but more on my wine obsession later) and went back to the hotel. I'm not paying the same amount for less. Because wine, that's why. 

London, I love you. My wallet and bank account.. not so much :P

Hope you enjoyed today's post!

Love,
Anouk

London blog #1 'Would you like some London with that?'

Weekend city trip to lovely London. Honestly, can't I stay?

London, I love you. 

I'm a city person to begin with - I'd live in Amsterdam if I had found an affordable place - but the Brits have done a remarkable job turning this historical landmark into a buzzing metropolitan with a perfect balance between the old and the new.
Now this is me after 3 days being here, so what the hell do I know. But with the pubs, the architecture, the theaters, really the overall preservation of what old London used to look like there is also plenty of room for new restaurants, new hypes (gluten free dining has never been this easy!) I'd say it's got all the perks of a good city. 

And yes, billions of tourist. That too. Including yours truly.. :) 

What I really wanted to do in London was visit markets that sell street food. I'd been reading about it on other blogs and it got me all excited! The promise of small food stands all around with food from around the globe, small business owners and food enthusiasts united - it doesn't get any better! Or actually it does, very few eyebrows were raised when I asked if the food they served was gluten free. I do wonder if they are as aware about other food allergies as gluten free food is very popular at the moment.

Day one No food markets here. We arrived on a Thursday and after walking around for a good two and half hours, searching for our hotel in Stratford, we just wanted to head straight into the heart of the city after our location was found. We stayed at Cottage 76, just a 5 min walk from the center. Simple, affordable and clean.

I really badly wanted to visit the M&M store on Leicester Square. I know, I've preached for not eating to much sugar and all organic here on this blog.. it's just, chocolaty sugary treats are my weakness. My Achilles heal. My kryptonite.

That evening we decided to go see Les Miserables. Sadly no Carrie Hope Fletcher, but Celinde Schoenmaker was on and being a Dutchy that naturally made it all ok. Amazing, still one of my favorites. 

But we were talking food here. 

Honest Burgers.
Honest Burgers Oxford Circus. You rocked my world. My god, that burger. I found the restaurant when I was browsing on the internet back home in preparation for London and being hungry and very close we decided that that would be the place to go. I haven't been that happy with a burger in a very long time. Bun - good. Meat - gooood. Onions - omnomnom. But the chips?! Good god. No, everything was to die for and not that greasy! Sadly we had quite a big lunch not much earlier so we didn't order the onion rings because we simply couldn't eat anything else.
So now I just have to go back. :)

Now, being very new at giving reviews I screwed up and only made pictures of myself and the food, but the entire restaurant oozes with a down to earth, easy going, friendly atmosphere. The clean interior, the helpful staff - who I recon were also very amused when I got really excited as my burger was served - it all made for a lovely dining experience. 

The men behind this amazing restaurant are Tom and Phil. Two entrepreneurs who wanted to serve good burgers, from honest meat. They started out with a small marquee selling their burgers at festivals and events which eventually lead to a chain of restaurants around London. 

If I could name one improvement - a sign that tells the origin of the beef and other ingredients. I'm always very curious :)

Find more information and the locations here.

I'm going to do the London post in stages, there was simply to much for one post! 

Tomorrow day two - Harry Potter and the Bottle of Wine

Wednesday day three - Daniel, the Camden Market Soapman 

Thursday day four - Brick Lane Market, meet nostalgia!

Hope you liked this post and if you happen to be in or going to London, please say hello to the wonderful blond waitress in her beautiful dress at Honest Burgers Oxford Circus - lady, you were brilliant.

See you tomorrow!

Love,
Anouk

Be brutally kind

Sorry, be?

I hate being told to do anything, my life my rules. However, since we're here together, a little kindness never hurts anyone.

We tend to be incredibly hard on ourselves and the people around us these days. We HAVE to have a dream, we HAVE to pursue a goal, we HAVE to make something of ourselves.

But.. why?

Social media made us so incredibly aware of the world around us every second of every day, that not participating in it for one day can make you feel left out in no time. And not just online, social media is such a big part of our everyday life - even in conversations it sometimes seems inevitable to bring it up.
And what we see is all these different people and the highlights of their life. The result of something they've been working on, photo's of this amazing party they went to, people they've met, things they've made - but only (or mostly) the good things. Because why share what went wrong? Except if you want a pat on the back there is no reason to share your misery with the online community.

Now in all honesty, we don't do much else in a one to one conversation, we mostly keep things upbeat. But there is a significant difference in equally sharing your experiences and only getting information through a computer screen. That screen will not show you any compassion if you're a little down. It will not tell you things will be ok. However it will tell you that so and so just made a promotion and how to lose a few pounds with yet another, even healthier way of living.

Stop. Right here, right now.

Now I am going to ask you, is there anything you did these past few days that made you proud to be you?
Did you make something, did you let someone tell you their story, have you helped someone, did you do something for yourself? Anything that made you ever so slightly proud of being who you are.

We keep telling ourselves to be kind, loving, successful, fun, witty - you name it, someone thought of it.
Why not be proud because of the little things?

Life is not just about the main events, it's about the journey leading up to those events. Think of it as a road trip - you have a destination in mind but before you get there, there are some miles to travel. And when your car has some issues - gas, oil, flat tire - you can't keep driving it, you have to stop for a moment and get the issues fixed before you can safely return to your journey.
Why then when we face a problem on our own road do we want to keep going? Because you wouldn't have worked hard enough otherwise?
Says who?

Feel free to take time to live
Feel free to make mistakes
Feel free to explore your own mind
Feel free to be

The one person you should remember being kind to is yourself. If we truly want to be good people then sharing the thought that you can love yourself is an important message to carry out.
Because if you are generally happy, you spread happiness where you go. And happy people are far less likely to worry, argue or even care about little bumps in the road.

But again, this is my view on the matter and since I don't like to be told what to do I won't do the same to others. I share to get the word out there, what the word does when it's out is not my concern.

Life will happen anyways, we might as well make it enjoyable!

Love,
Anouk

Festivities and Frightening solo adventures

FESTIVAL SEASON!

Fuck yeah, I love chilling outside the entire day with some wine, some friends, a lot of music and a whole lot of new people to meet!

Sadly, when you get closer to the evening most people will be under the influence of some sort of drugs - not really my thing. I'll stick to wine. And although that did make me and my friend decide it was time to go before the festival was over, we did have an amazing day!

The festival is called 'Geheime Liefde' (secret love) and is held in and around an old fort nearby Utrecht station. There are outside area's, several bars inside the different compartments of the fort and huge outdoor tents with DJ booths underneath. Naturally there are overpriced food stands which sell nothing more then burgers and fries, but it is all about presentation right? I'm getting snobby here, as I usually get when discussing food :P No, it was more then enough - I even got my bunless burger with a bit of a discount after explaining that I can't eat bread. Some raised brows later I walked out with a lovely piece of meat decorated with lettuce, tomatoes and onions.
Perfection.

Also, I'm sort of procrastinating here. I'm writing my own 25 min show that I'll be performing June 5th. Needles to say, I am scared shitless because June 5th is fastly approaching.

But more on that later.

Some photos to give you a taste of my lovely day!

To be clear, only one of those was mine

The three caballeros ♥

 Free translation: This party sucks

Aaaaand to be continued - the poster for my one woman show!

Love,

Anouk