Hogwarts

Dad playing Neville Longbottom on the Harry Potter tour 

We went to Hogwarts! Well, parts of Hogwarts anyway. On our way back from Scotland we went to Alnwick Castle which belongs to the Percy family. Alnwick was used for filming some scenes in the first two Harry Potter movies.

The castle was very nice, and the family has done a wonderful job making the castle fun for tourists. It's easy to say that they have embraced their Harry Potter importance, with there being many things Harry Potter related. Like tours that show you spots that were used for filming, and broomstick riding on the lawns.

One of the entrances into the Alnwick castle

Also the castle is still lived in and used by the family, which is easy to tell from the flat screen which can be seen in the library, across from the room with the 16th century paintings. Eli was just happy to see Bionicles (Legos) on the dinning room table next to the marble figures (it was a past, present, and future war model).

But the castle was also astounding. The outside of the castle was mostly just stone and large green fields, a more simple kind of beautiful than Chatsworth, but the inside of the staterooms were very lavish and decorated with marble statues and huge paintings.

I really loved the castle and Scotland. Both really cool places and I had tons of fun in both.