Travel diary England day 2: "Mark the windows. There are 64 in all, 64! And I have it on good authority that the glazing alone originally in excess costed £600" - Mr Collins, Pride and Prejudice (1995)

**diclamer: I upload at the end of every day of what I did that day and in a lot of cases, when I've finished a post, I'm too tired to re read it, so be prepared for typos, grammatical and vocabulary errors**

Hallooooooo!!

Day 2 of my 7 day road trip. As predicted I fell asleep last night around 9.15pm, although with the lights on and didn't wake up until 7am today. One good night sleep: check. Then, the day started slowly, though with a beautiful sunset, a delicious breakfast and a quick viewing of a few scenes of Pride and Prejudice (1995).


I found my dream house in Teigh!
At 9.15 am I finally left the vicinity and made my way to Teigh, about 20min drive from Oakham where I stayed. In Teigh, I ended up finding my dream house, although I wouldn't mind for the windows to be a bit bigger.

But, that wasn't the main reason I went to Teigh, to go house hunting. No, the main reason why I wanted to go to Teigh was because the old rectory of Mr Collins is situated in that tiny village (if you can even call it a village). Not the 2005 rectory, that one I went to see yesterday, no today was the 1995 rectory.

As it is a private residence (read, someone lives in mr Collins' rectory AND has shelves in their closet) I couldn't go crazy on the pictures and recreate film locations as I normally would, but I've got a shot anyway.Teigh itself is truelly photo genetic and somehow I ended up having a chat with Maurice, an elderly man who happened to live in my dream house. He was just starting his daily tour around town when we got chatting x)

I somehow spent 4hours at Belton House and it wasn't even enough!
From Teigh it was another 15min until I reached Belton House aka Rosings Park of the BBC series Pride and Prejudice. Today appeared to have been a 1995 P&P day.

I parked my car around 11.30am. By the time I got my ticket and made my way to the gardens it was already 11.45am. And from then time flew by. Before I knew it was 4pm and time to go. In those 4 hours I walked around the gardens, took film locations pictures, did the basement tours which was about an hour and 15minutes, took some more pictures, had my late lunch at the National Trust cafe (my usual: a sandwich and a cream tea) and took some more pictures.

For anyone who isn't familiar with Belton House, here's brief recap: built early 17th Century, aristocracy lived up stairs and the servants down stairs, used in the BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice 1995. That is all I got from the basement tour I did today. The guide was most peculiar and not a lot of information was given about the house or family that used to live here. Or maybe the guide did tell us about the history, but I completely missed it as it wasn't really simple to follow her. Oh, and there are 64 windows.

Upon my arrival at the starting point of the basement tour, I got handed an entrance ticket by another National Trust employee and he asked if I had any knowledge about the house. I admitted that I didn't and that my main motivation was the Pride and Prejudice series and upon hearing that, the guy promptly opened a door leading from the hall way and showed me the staircase Darcy runs up after his failed proposal to Lizzy. And he also showed me Darcy's room with the impressive bed and desk where Darcy writes his letter to Lizzy. Unfortunately it was all dark in there, but I did get to see the silhouette of the bed and desk. It is the small things, hein. Will probably return at some point in the future to see the room by day :) As the main rooms of the house are closed during winter for maintenance so only the basements were open to the public, so this was pretty cool.

The final room of the basement tour was the dining room of the family up stairs and then went asked by my guide why I wanted to visit Belton, I again admitted that I was there for the film locations, upon the guide informed me that dining room was in fact lady Catherine's living room! Little geek moment. After the tour I asked if I could go back to take pictures, which I was able to, but the guide lingered around, so it was awkward the get in my usual picture taking frenzy. At least I did get two pictures of the room x)

And right before I went to my next hotel and on my way to my next hotel, I took a photo of some deer grazing to their heart's content and a beautiful sunset.

I'm now in the Manchester area and trying to figure out what I'm going to do tomorrow. The most logical plan would be to visit Lyme Park as scheduled, but I've changed my mind about something. At the time of my booking I knew well enough that Lyme Park house isn't open on Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday. At the time I didn't mind not visiting the house, but now I actually want to visit it. So this means a change in plans, but I'm now figuring out what is possible and what isn't... I've made it difficult for myself, yet again...

Anyway, I'm ending this post here today.

As always, thanks for reading!
xo Sara

Travel diary England day 1: In the footsteps of Lizzy Bennet

**diclamer: I upload at the end of every day of what I did that day and in a lot of cases, when I've finished a post, I'm too tired to re read it, so be prepared for typos, grammatical and vocabulary errors**

Hallooooooo!

As you might know, or not might know, today I started a 7 day road trip through England. I'll go as far North as the Peak District and down South as Winchester. The entire trip was set in motion by non other than the dream to visit Chatsworth. What was supposed to be a 3 day get a way, turned into a full on 7 day roadtrip and now I'm going to visit as many Pride and Prejudice film locations as possible:)

4.30am
After hardly closing an eye during the night (I have yet another mouse in my room and he kept waking me up. For such a tiny animal, it sure can make alot of noise!) I got out of bed before my alarm clock. I know, that is how you can tell it was bad. But that left me with plenty of time to get ready, have a little breakfast, put away the last thing for my trip, clean my room a bit, etc. By 7.10am I was out the door and on a bus. 

Europcar, can they ever get it right?
By 8.30am I was at Europcar Kings Cross to pick up my rental car. This is the 3rd time I've rented with them and it was the 3rd time that something went wrong at the check in. Rather than '10min and you're on your way' it is '20minutes and you have to login on your online bank account to provide bank statements for your address'. You'd think 3rd times a charme, can't wait to turn 25 just to have any issues with renting a car. I've been driving for over 6 years now, for Pete's sake. Anyway, eventually I got my keys and I got to pick up my car for the next 7 days. It's a Volkwagen Polo. Renting a car is an excellent way to test drive cars by the way ;)

Straight out of London
The guy at Europcar kindly gave me a little map of the congestion zone in London. I quickly figured out that I didn't need to be in the zone, but it is a very useful map anyway. And yes dad, I'm saving it for you :) From King Cross I made my way out of London without accidents (whoop whoop!) and now I'm crusing as per usual :)

First stop
Was already 2hour drive from London and unplanned. Weekley is a tiny tiny tiny town about 30minutes from Stamford. One of the house is used as the rectory of mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice (2005). The town is about 5 streets big and yet I couldn't see the film locations. I decided to make a random left turn and tada! I could see Lizzy and Charlotte and mr Collins x)

Comparison photos will follow, but I don't have the tools to make them on my travel laptop.

Stamford for the afternoon please
Around 12pm I was ready in Weekley (took me about half an hour to see everything anyway) and I had a bit of a dilemma: either go to Belton House in Grantham or spent the afternoon in Stamford. I choose the latter :) Stamford is another film location in Pride and Prejudice (2005). A specific street features as Meryton in the film. As a lot of the buildings were actually sets, it is now unrecognisable so you have to use your imagination and knowledge of the film a bit.

Again, comparison photos will follow.

I'd parked the car for the entire afternoon, so I after I took the photos of the film locations, I took the opportunity to finally eat something around 2pm. Breakfast was the last thing I'd eaten. I found this cute little Cafe du Chocolate where I ate a delicious savoury crepes.

After that I walked around a bit, but then I started feeling a bit odd. Obviously my stomach had a bit of trouble digesting my lunch, plus, I had a headache. Great start of my holiday...

After about an hour and a half of walking around town, shop in, shop out, sitting on benches etc I went to the nearest coffee shop to get a peppermint tea. I made myself comfortable in an armchair and sure enough, within 15min I was dosing off... Like a proper nan, I was dosing off. I could tell that I didn't get sufficient sleep, but the peppermint tea did help :) I left the coffee shop around 4.15pm to enjoy Stamford by night during Christmas time. 

By5 I was back at the car and headed to my hotel. It's only 8pm now, but I can feel it is going to be an early night for me :) No mouse to wake me up! (only other guests with loud tv's, but I can sleep through that if necessary).

So this is where I'm going to end today. Tomorrow Belton House and driving to the Peak District!

Thanks for reading!

xo Sara

Going home part 2

Halloooooo!

So, as I've said in last week's post, the week ended with my leaving drinks from work. It turned out to be a really fun night with dancing and everything! I got home by 3am which I thought was too risky to go to sleep. Instead, I admired the presents my colleagues gave me as a leaving gift, watched a few YouTube videos. I ended up taking a 30minute nap but hardly worthy to call sleep.

As it turned out, I arrived at St Pancras ahead of time to check in and catch my train. I ended up buying a cheaky McDonalds. Eventhough I didn't have much to drink at all, I could still feel my body breaking off the alcohol in my system and therefor I had some sort of hangover. Yay... You think you're doing a great job by limiting your alcohol intake with two glasses of rosé, do you end up with a little hangover anyway. Sure, the lack of sleep didn't help either.

Anyway, fast forward to the afternoon. At 4pm my brother's wedding party would start. It was a bonfire type of thing. Very Pinteresty. Beautiful and cosy. Around 130 people showed up and we ended up having a sing along around the camp fire x) Was really cosy :)

The evening didn't end too late, but late enough after my very short night and no night sleep. Sunday morning flew by as well. I had to take the Eurostar back at 7, which meant check in by 6 and leave home by 5pm. Which I did :)

Monday morning I stayed home to pack my bag as I am leaving on a 7 day road trip through the Midlands! So excited for that :) I will be daily blogging, so keep an eye out for that ;)

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Going home part 1 and leaving drinks from work

Hallooooooo!!

As I've said in my last post, Friday evening I took the Eurostar home. This weekend was planned months before, but due to an unexpected event, I had to make some amendments. Instead of going back to London Monday morning first thing, I had to book another ticket on Tuesday morning. I'd miss 30min of work, but that was not the end of the world. No, on Monday 21st November, my brother got married. Good reason to change your plannend tickets home, no?

I'm not going to post any pictures of that day as I don't think it is up to me to throw these images online for anyone to see. Nor will I post pictures of the brunch I had on Saturday morning. Simple reason here is because I don't have any! 4 of my eldest friends come between 10am and 10.30am to eat breakfast. I hadn't seen them in a good few months, so there was a lot to catch up on :) The brunch started at 10am and the last person left at 8pm... That's how you know you've got good friends on your hands ;)

I will, however, post a photo of my leaving drinks with my colleagues :) What was supposed to be only a few drinks, turned out to be more drinks and a dance party x) I got home around 3am and decided it would no be safe to go to bed as I needed to be in St Pancras by 6am to catch my train back home...

So that is the little update here.

Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

In the footsteps of Jane Austen and midnight screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Halloooooooo!

Saturday 12th November was a very dull and dreary day, so of course I decide to make of the Jane Austen walking tours through London. Walking through mist, it was difficult to stay dry. The lighting was really bad as it was grey and darker sooner than usual and it was freezing cold. I loved every second of it. You know, I'm very fond of walking.

I did the Mayfair walk starting at Green Park and ending near Bond Street tube station. The walk is about 1.75miles long and took me about an hour and a half to two hours to complete.

It took me past houses and squares that I'd passed numerous times, but never understood the history of it. Places where one of her publicers lived, John Murray. Berkeley street where Marianne and Elinor stayed in Sense and Sensibility. Grosvenor Street where Mr and Mrs Hurst have a house in Pride and Prejudice. Prudey's a gunsmith, dates from 1814. On the corner where now the Ritz stands used to be a hotel called the Bath Hotel were Jane once stayed. Etc etc.

John Murray's house

Anthony Eden's house

Sunday was much sunnier, but I stayed indoors. Yes, I knoz, it doesn't make sense. Should have gone on the Jane Austen walk on Sunday rather than Saturday. Ah well.

The work week following was a work week as per usual, EXCEPT on Thursday evening, or should I say, Friday morning, I went to a midnight screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The Potterhead in me took over on Tuesday evening and I decided that I wanted ot see the film before I had to go back home for a weekend.

And it was magical. It was bloody scary at times and then laugh out loud funny. I was so sure about having a muggle, oh, pardon me, a no-maj involved, but Kowalski is just lovable and you're really rooting for him. I'm not too sure about Queenie. A lot of people just love her and think she is instantly likeable, but I'm convinced. Yet. Let's see how she evolves over the next few films. Eddie Redmayne is perfect for Newt and I really like him. And Tina, I think I could identify more with her than Queenie. I can't wait to see the movie again and again and again!

Friday after work I took the Eurostar home :)

And that is it for this week's post. Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

"Now that is a proper introduction" - Louise Banks, Arrival 'review'

Halloooooo!!

It's been a while since I last posted a review on a movie on this platform, but I've recently seen a film that I highly recommend, so what better way than to write a 'review' on it? ;)

Sunday afternoon I went to see the Arrival, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, etc. It is about aliens arriving on this planet (hence the title) rather than invading it like, say Independence Day. Just like Interstellar it tries to connect with the audience on a more psychological level, but unlike Interstellar, Arrival actually achieves this connection. Before I go to deep into it, here's the quick overview and short synopsis.

Arrival

** spoiler free **
2016
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, ...
Lenght: 1h 56min
Genre: Mystery, Sci Fi, drama
8/10

Louise Banks is a linguist who has helped the US Army with translating information. When 12 space ships arrive all over the world, they call upon Louise again to help them and scientist Ian to communicate with the aliens in order to find out why exactly they are here. As humanity is bowing under the pressure of the unknown visitors and the world is on the brink of a 3rd world war, Louise makes a decision that can possibly seal the deal for the worlds destruction.

I left the cinema not exactly knowing how to behave anymore. All my personal issues seemed so small and trivial. Not important. Granted, they are not, but it is one of those films that puts you right back in your place: a tiny tiny tiny spot in the immeasurable universe. The question whether we are alone has never really been a question to me. But the majority of alien sci fi films depict these unknown forms of life as violent creatures whose sole purpose in life is to destroy humanity. Well, save E.T.

The aliens in Arrival are not here for an invasion, they just, well, arrive. Their role is more a supportive one and the focus is more on humanity and the personal stories of the characters, on love and loss, on communication or the lack thereof, the future, the past, heck, even on relativity and non-linear time. But mind you, it is not as scientific as Interstellar or the Martian, but it definitely has that touch to it. It is more a psychological sci fi drama, really.

The suspense is almost tangible throughout the entire film. The score is a tremendous help on this (you might want to bring earplugs), but also the fact that you don't know more than the characters. You follow main character Louise and her colleague Ian and you learn information as and when they do. You have no idea how other countries are dealing with the extraterrestrial visitors apart from what the news sources show. The film also jumps in time, which keeps you on edge and forces you to keep mind focused.

Adams delivers a tremendous performance. It's very natural and honest and very believable. And I'm just going to say this, it is one of those rolls that made me wish that I was super smart and excellent in something. There, I've said it. Moving on. Renner portays Ian, a likeable, cool scientist whose is always looking at the sky to find what is out there rather than looking around. One of the reasons why he is still single, is jokingly being said in the film. The other characters like Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) and agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) are not the type cast FBI agent and Army colonel dickheads who argue constantly about who thinks is right. There is no rivalry between army, FBI and scientists, but a co-operation to learn the aliens' purpose on our planet. The overall feel of this movie is how human it is.

The movie starts on a very heavy note and ends, in my opinion, on one hand quite heavy, but on the other, it has this message of hope. That no matter how bad a situation might seem (2016, ahum), there is always a reason to go and live your life and love. That a bad situation can lead to a beautiful result. That some things are worth taking the risk. How beautiful is that.

And I was actually quite fond of the aliens by the end of the movie ^^

Here are as per usual the trailer, a clip and an interview ;)

Trailer

Clip

Interview

As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Quiet on set please!! And... ACTION! (Greenwich again!?)

Hallooooooo!!

So, as I've mentioned in last week's post (if you've missed that, you can read it here ;)) I tried to take photos of film locations in Greenwich. But as it turned out, they were actually shooting that day, so the majority of Greenwich was closed off. Oh the irony. That meant going back the weekend after and sure enough, on the 5th of November, I was back in Greenwich and nothing was going to stop me now from taking those pictures!

See below what I exactly mean with 'take photos of film locations in Greenwich'.

Les Misérables (2012)

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Duchess (2008)

Pretty cool uh? It took me about an hour and a half to two hours to get all the photos. The photos matching the film locations for Thor: the Dark World are yet to come ;)

Once I was done, my hands were freezing, so it was time to get a hot chocolate. And what better way to do that than in a place surrounded by books? Waterstones in Greenwich has a cute cafe so that was my final destination. Of course, I couldn't help myself not to buy a book, or two, maybe four? In my defence, one is a gift, so that doesn't really count ;)

Sunday afternoon I had all the intention of either going on a Jane Austen walking tour through London or go to the cinema. I ended up doing neither, but instead stayed indoors. I uploaded my post on time, booked my trip through the English countryside, did some boring admin stuff, you know, being a responsible grown up and all. I'm very excited for my trip though. I'm leaving 29th November til the 5th December and you can basically say that I'll be walking in the footsteps of Elizabeth Bennet. If that isn't clear but you'd like to find out, you might want to keep an eye on here. I'll be daily blogging the whole trip as per usual ;) And as it turns out, it'll also by the start of blogmas!!! Yes, I am doing that again ^^ So excited!

And that is it for this week :)

As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara

Ooh, the irony. Filmset in Greenwich.

Halloooooo!!

I hope you are doing weeeelll on this 43rd week of 2016! The countdown to Christmas has officially begun! Friday evening I bought my advent calendars. Yes, plural. I bought two... x) And earlier this week I also wore my Christmas jumper, because 25 days a year are just not enough to wear those cheezy jumpers.

But, for the main part of this blog post, I'll be talking about Greenwich! In last week's post you'll have read that I intended to go to Greenwich but ended up staying indoors all weekend, doing research on the films shot there. So last week Sunday I actually made my way to Greenwich! It's only 45min from where I leave from 'door to door' so in London standards: close by.

So, I got off the bus and went straight to business. The first film locations that I came across were for Now You See Me 2. The finale is set in London and a lot of those places looked really familiar when I saw the movie in theatre. Although the movies shows the places as 'spread across London', truth is, they're all filmed in Greenwich x)

The weather wasn't really nice. In fact, it was really misty. You couldn't even see the massive buildings on Canary Warf.

All the shots on the Greenwich Market and around the Cutty Sark were easy enough to find so they got shot quite quickly. But when I made my way to the Royal Naval College, I bumped into this sign:

Ooooh, the irony. I go to Greenwich to make pictures of film locations and they are actually filming there. I tried to find out what it was, but all I got was that it is for a commercial. Row upon row of trailers, massive tents, rain machines, etc. I think the production was a bit too big to be just a commercial. But then, it was set in the 1940's, so a lot of costumes and props, so it might be a commercial after all. Not sure. I'm not familiar with the production of films/commercials x)

So that means: going back to Greenwich to try again to get those shots x) Not the end of the world. In fact, I'm already looking forward to it ^^

On Monday evening I saw the Mortal Instruments, because it was halloween. Little tradition of mine. And then the rest of the week as my usual work week :)

And that is it for my week 43 of 2016!

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!
xo - Sara