Signs of Harry Potter

We recently visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, and we were completely blown away by detail work that tops anything Disney has done. As a huge Disney fan, I certainly don't say that lightly. For example, the rocks pictured here on the castle cliff don't just have a paint job; there is three-dimensional lichen all over them. Trash cans resemble iron barrels. Store clerks hand you a quill pen to sign your credit card reciept.  Even the smallest of details were attended to in this section of the park.

While the other areas of Islands of Adventure looked tempting upon arrival, we made a beeline for the back of the right-hand side. This is where the area called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter lies, just over a bridge. The entrance arch to the area has a sign that said "Please respect the spell limits". When you walk in, the village of Hogsmeade greets you with a riot of snow-capped rooflines, and the soundtrack to the movie plays from hidden speakers.

The space may be ridiculously crowded with visitors, but you forget about the crowd when you see the Hogwarts Express train puffing smoke as it comes through Platform 9  3/4 immediately to your right.


 Visitors dressed in their house robes, like this Gryffindor boy, add to the illusion of being in Harry's world. (Adult robes are $99 at the park or pay $12 shipping and get the same robes-and other merchandise- at Universal's online store here. Select Filtch's Emporium.)

The quaint village shops have windows with interesting and often, animated, items. More often than not, the storefronts are false; there is no store and the windows are just for the entertainment of passers-by and to supply the correct ambiance. For example, below is Wiseacres wizarding supplies store, with a hanging iron telescope for a shop sign. The window is filled with astronomical devices, and you can see a room filled with other assorted wizard paraphenalia. Above this, there is a music store with music paper flying madly around as though  in a whirlwind, and the cacophonus toots and blasts of beginners playing instruments can be heard. Instrument cases are left on the stairs that could be seen through the door. You cannot enter either of these places, but they are entertaining none the less.

Several books had tiny moving video scenes embedded in the covers. Gilderoy Lockhart waves and preens on this book cover.

I bought one of these Hedwig owls. They are puppets with a stick inside so you can swivel their heads.

Ollivander's wand shop has a short show, wherein the wizard selects a participant (usually a youngster) and then decides which wand is a good fit for that person. Flicking the wrong wand causes lightening and other displays of commotion. When the correct wand is chosen, something else happens (I don't want to say too much). There is always a line to see that small show, as only a handful of people can fit in the room.

The number of wand boxes in Ollivander's is simply astounding. The shelves full of them go up...

...and up and up! And it is like this all around the room and partway into the next room as well.

 

Ollivanders connects to the Owlry post office, which sells stationary, post cards, stamps, wax seals, and pens. You can send outbound mail there, with a Hogsmead postmark.  The other stores in Hogsmead you can actually enter are Zonko's joke shop, Honeydukes candy store, Dervish and Banges for clothing and all kinds of souvenirs. In this area there is also the Three Broomsticks restaurant and Hog's Head Pub, as well as the entrance to Dragon Challenge roller coaster (and Hagrids hut and other things we missed because we didn't know there was more than a roller coaster there. Next time, I am going to join the queue so I can see everything and then bail out before getting on the coaster.)  The ATM says Gringott's Bank, and the restrooms are alive with the sound of Moaning Myrtle.

Honeydukes candy store window, from the inside. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean is featured in this display.

Butterbeer barrel cart and Honeyduke's candy store

Butterbeer from the tap or frozen like a slushee, your choice!

I got a frozen one, without the more expensive plastic souvenir mug. It does have a frothy top and a delicious vanilla-y flavor.



The frog chorus entertains with "singing" puppet frogs



Set decoration in Dervish and Banges' inaccessable 2nd story includes Spectra Specs and an Advanced Potion Making  text book, as well as a broom that "flys" slowly up and down a bit.

There are many items not for sale, but just for ambiance in the stores.

You can get your outbound mail stamped in the left corner with a Hogsmead postmark

The Owl Post is stuffed with parcels to be mailed (all are set decorations)

The Owlry is an open-sided bench-filled pavilion with many animated owls roosting on the high beams.

The owls very subtly swivel their heads and flap their wings and blink

The Monster Book of Monsters was sleeping and snoringin a big cage with a warning sign.

There were some things that caught the eye of this Halloween-lover:


skeleton in Zonko's Joke Shop



Mini Halloween candy buckets (on the drum) at Zonko's joke shop

This cart looks like an old  funeral coach to me. (The Hipppogriff rollercoaster is behind it.)

The pumpkin lids on the rather vile-tasting Pumpkin Juice.  At first it tasted good, especially when you are parched in the heat, but then it turned flavor on my tongue. I poured mine down a drain and kept the bottle.

And finally, the signs of Harry Potter, or really, the signs of Hogsmeade, each one so unique:

golden snitch at Spintwitches sporting goods (fake storefront)

Another shot of the Golden Snitch with quidditch balls. Spintwitches has quidditch supplies in the window.

Hanging witch and wizard signs for the ladies and men's restrooms. Above hangs a mortar and pestle for the 2nd story Potions shop (fake store)

Potages Cauldrons (fake storefront) gets 2 hanging signs. A room with more cauldrons and an oven with a self-stirring  cauldron are viewed through the window.

Zonko's joke shop's hanging sign is a man with a big mouth

Ollivander's wand shop's elegant hanging sign

Dervish and Banges for clothing and souveniers

Tomes and Scrolls (fake storefront). The animation in the window is a quill pen scribbling unassisted in a book.

Excuse me, I need to go finish my Butterbeer now!

Angel of Death

photo by mbpfx.com

Sometimes I feel like such a schmuck. Such was the case this afternoon, when I was happily surfing the web looking at statues like this one at mbpfx.com. It was pricey so I moved on, coming to a complete stop when I discovered this moody photo of an Angel of Death statue.

Photo by Xartez 

My pupils enlarged to take in all that beauty. What a perfect specimen, I  thought. What a marvel of engineering, to keep those heavy wings extended so far upright. Wish I had one of these in my yard, I thought.

Well, I am the World's Biggest Ass.

Further research on this statue revealed I had fallen in love with a sculpture that had become an international symbol of  Russian deceit.

I will make this history lesson very short. One paragraph, in fact.

Turns out this statue is part of a monument to the 22,000 Polish police officers, border patrol agents, intellectuals, soldiers, and priests who were murdered execution-style in the woods near the small Russian village of Katyn, Russia by the one of Stalin's secret police forces in 1940. All of these men had been at a concentration camps with other people and had been duped into registering their occupation upon arrival. Because of their occupations, these victims were pulled from camp early, executed, and all thrown into the same pit that had been dug in the privacy of the woods. There they lay, secretly buried there in foreign soil, and forgotten. An elderly villager eventually told a visitor of what he suspected was in the woods, causing the International Red Cross to investigate. No one expected to find more than a few dozen bodies; certainly not 22,000.  The site was excavated, revealing mummified bodies, many clearly in uniforms. For over 50 years, the Russians denied their involvement, and pointed fingers at the Germans. Great tension between Poland and Russia ensued, and Katyn became a metaphor for Russian deceit. In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev finally admitted Russia's guilt and a year later released documents showing Stalin had authorized the killings.

This is what the statue is facing: 

photo by Aga

This haunting set of monuments was created by Tadeusz Tchórzewski, a sculptor from Warsaw, and was  unveiled in October, 2000. The statue is located in Wroclaw, Poland.

On the highest pedestal there is a figure of the Angel of Death. In front of it, between symbolic graves, there is a figure of Katyń Pieta (the Matron of Poland) despairing over a body of a murdered prisoner of war. On the granite walls of the graves, the names of the prisoner-of-war camps are inscribed.

Another Katyn Massacre memorial had been erected in the U.S., at Saint Adalbert Catholic Cemetery in  Illinois, by Polish immigrant and sculptor Wojciech Seweryn, whose father had died in the Massacre.
One year ago, this sculptor was traveling with Polish President Lech Kaczynskihis to a memorial service in Russia for the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. The plane crashed in heavy fog, and all 96 on board perished.

photo by RaKLeZ

photo by Ferran Cornella

Here's more of the statue's facial details, if you look really hard:

photo: dayslikethis on flickr

I really love angel statues, and this one has the most marvelously detailed spread wings. But I am really sorry about the history behind this one.

The Roaming Gnome

Roam-eo with my Kirby (RIP, Boo)

I never cared much for garden gnomes until the Roaming Gnome, the "spokesperson" for the travel agency Travelocity.com came along. I usually TiVo past commercials, but Travelocity sponsors my favorite TV show, The Amazing Race, and their gnome is prominently featured in at least one Amazing Race stunt each season.
In the Travelocity ads, whether they are promoting snowskiing resorts or tropical cruises, the gnome never changes from his rigid pose in a blue jacket and red hat, but is usually additionally decked out with appropriate accessories like sunglasses and a lei or ski goggles and a knitted scarf. He is often seen in precarious situations as well.


The ads amused me, and I do like to travel, so when my brother surprised me one Christmas with my own copy of the Roaming Gnome, I got teary with laughter. I had no idea the Roaming Gnome was available for sale! (Get yours here) Turns out my brother bought himself one, too, claiming that gnomes are very popular where he lives in Rochester, Washington, and often sell out at stores.

Soon after, I was to go on vacation. I decided to send my brother photos of my Roaming Gnome, Roam-eo, on vacation. I took a full-frame photo of Roam-eo
had it blown up onto cardstock on a color-copier machine, cut it out, laminated it and glued something like a ruler to the back to make a handle.

Here's my gnome, roaming out of the garden and into the world:

Pompeii, Italy

Stonehenge, England

Cruise ship safety drill

Outside the Louvre -Paris, France

With me at the Arc de Triomphe -Paris, France