Astra's actionfigures in Action

Today I have a double feature for all the "Sherlock" fans! First, have you seen that google maps now has added inside pictures to North Gower Street? You can view Sherlock's flat in 360° and also walk into the kitchen. Here's the link:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/N+Gower+St,+Kings+Cross,+London+NW1+2NN/@51.5262565,-0.1368584,3a,47.9y,296.13h,58.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suhT4RVHIknAAAAQvxSEq1g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x48761b26385ff313:0xea9dd0c978cb6767!8m2!3d51.5275523!4d-0.1380127!6m1!1e1

A while ago I also saw the inside of the TARDIS when you click at the one at Earl's Court.

Secondly, in last week's "Sherlock" episode "The lying Detective" an eagle eyed fan found a postcard from "Torchwood" on the mantelpiece. Here you can see a screenshot: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-01-14/did-you-spot-the-torchwood-easter-egg-in-sherlock

So of course I had to react to that! So I created this:

We interrupt our "Grand Budapest Hotel" location hunting and look today at castle Moritzburg which is located near Dresden. Everyone in Germany and probably whole Europe knows the German/Czech movie "Three hazelnuts for Cinderella" ("Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel", „Tri orisky pro Popelku“) which was filmed here back in the Seventies. It's a classic that airs in TV at least a dozen times each year. It's something that the whole of Germany share, no matter whether you grew up in the East or West.

These pictures were taken last year in August. So no snow like in the movie! If you want to visit, they also have an exhibition with lots of original costumes and other stuff there now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCMSqmJXv14

It's located in the middle of a lake:





And this is a regular sight in Moritzburg. The cars are advised to go slowly and the horse carriages always have right of way:

Part 1 - Part 2

Well, everyone on my friends list (especially those that I dragged up the mountain ;) ) should know this view by now, as I keep posting about it in different seasons and with varities of fog... I've never seen it in the snow though!



It's the view from the Bastei Bridge in Saxon Switzerland.



See that little extension in the middle of the bridge? This is where they were standing:



And that's me and the Doctor!



PS for everyone who liked the rucksack I got for my birthday - this is why I chose it as the pattern looks similar to my favorite skirt.

Part 1 was here

Can we talk about the new LJ likes for a moment? I keep getting notifications "Someone likes your entry". Not telling me who this someone is. So, if you like my entry, feel free to hit the like button, but I can't see anything from it. Nor do I have access to any likes lists, as I still use the old LJ version and don't plan to change this. I'd prefer a comment instead or in addition to it. Many thanks!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dresden Zwinger I actually remember reading at the time about a motor bike chase being filmed here but unless I blinked and missed it I don't remember the guy on the motor bike driving around? Maybe he wasn't allowed to, to not destroy the walkways? Or maybe the scene was cut for TV? (I already made an entry a while ago about the Zwinger also inspiring Cinderella's castle in the new Disney movie: http://dieastra.livejournal.com/129427.html )







The entry to the Zwinger itself is for free. I often like to walk through there and watch all the tourist groups. There are lots of museums in these buildings. We saw a few in the movie. The most famous one is the painting gallery:



They also were in the armmory and sculpture collection in that scene., but I didn't want to take screenshots of everything. The most famous painting in the gallery is the Sistine Madonna by Raphael. See those angels at the bottom of the painting? They have a life on their own, being everywhere. If we got some money each time they are used, we would be rich ;)

hamsterwoman with you I'd go to the museum that has lots of old science instruments, often made very crafty and beautifully. It just got re-opened recently after a lot of reconstruction work.

I finally managed to watch the movie "Grand Budapest Hotel". In Summer my family and I were on vacation in Görlitz, better known as Görliwood, as Hollywood likes to film there. Other movies filmed recently there are "The Reader", "Ingloreous Basterds", "The Book Thief", "Monuments Men" and many many others.

I haven't seen too many Wes Anderson movies and wasn't sure what to expect, but I rather liked it! And I had my eyes glued to the screen to see if I recognize something. From re-reading the film review of our local newspaper it turns out I missed a lot, but here is one thing I instantly recognized!

Please forgive the bad screenshot, it was done with photocamera from the TV. In my original picture, you can see the stairs, the angel statue and even part of the lantern. The pink entrance obviously was only put there for the movie. This is closely to the bridge that goes over to the Polish part of the city, Zgorzelec.

So here is locations part 1, more to follow!

I watched the first episode of "The Family" today - thank you kanarek13 for recommending this one! Very intriguing, I'll definitely watch more (and who do I see there? Rupert Graves ;) ).
IMDB tried to throw me by saying that it gets filmed in New York, but if this building isn't the Vancouver Art Gallery then I am eating my hat (or a broom, as we say in Germany).

This building first came to my attention in a "Stargate" episode back in season 2 called "Secrets" where Sam and Jack were in Washington. A reporter got killed by a car in front of the building and you didn't know whether the government had anything to do with it as he had found out about the Stargate, or whether it really was an accident. Remember?

So ever since then I keep seeing this building with the two lions and the huge columns. And I spotted it immediately in this scene from "The Family":

Screenshot:



My picture:



Same lions, same fence, same stairs, same columns, same security cam at the right side even. No idea how they came from New York to Vancouver, but there you go!

I just watched the Flash episode from this week (02x16 "Trajectory") and recognized Cleveland Dam in the beginning scene! I was there in 2008 when we were at Gatecon Vancouver. We went to the dam as it was a filming location for Richard Dean Anderson's movie "Beyond Betrayal". I am also pretty sure it was here were Arrow had his final fight with Ra's al Ghul. So, have some pictures! I wonder where the first scene is from, when they throw the stone into the water? As there are fences everywhere? You don't see a fence when they are standing at the cliff.

More pictures under the cut!

( More pictures under the cut )



Other locations posts I have done:

Galavant at Wells Cathedral

Almost Human at a cabin in Vancouver

Arrow at Chinese Garden Vancouver

Doctor Who in American Diner in Cardiff

Doctor Who in St. Fagans Tea Rooms
.

My shiny new locations tag gets an outing ;) Today I finally sat down and checked out "Galavant". Why is someone like I, who has not even an remote interest in medieval times, watching a show like this? Well, as usual, it has to do with John Barrowman. Some months ago someone said on Twitter that he would be great in that show, and he replied that he actually auditioned for it but they didn't want him.

Huh. Was the first I heard about this at all. We then tried to imagine whom he may have played, someone suggested King Richard. Having seen the guy in action now I think that would have not worked. He's perfect. Also, let's face it, John would never be able to grow the required beard ;) But maybe he could still come in next season for a guest part. Who knows.

So, today I watched the first six episodes straight away (they are only 20 minutes each) and had the greatest fun ever. Catchy theme song going straight to your head (Gaaaa-laaa-vaaaant!), great songs and dance numbers - no wonder, the music was done by Alan Menken, who did my favorite Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast". I digged (digged? dugged? dug?) the monks and their Barbershop routine! A cappella FTW!

I know I talked about this with someone before - was it you, sgamadison? Back then I assumed that John and his "movie idol looks" would have not fit in with all those medieval men with bad teeth and rugged faces - I see now how wrong I was ;) Good looking people all around ♥ Leading the way Galavant himself of course. Nice voices, really funny modern and (for medieval times anyway) unique dialogues - love King Richard and Gareth! I was chuckling all the time. And in general I simply adore the English accent. And where do they keep finding those locations?

Oh, and lots of familiar faces ;) Vinnie Jones already had been a fan favorite in "Arrow". Ben Presley was in "What we did on our holidays" although I don't remember him at the moment. There also was John Stamos, whom I haven't seen since "Full House". Some insiders may know Luke Youngblood from some Harry Potter movies. The pirate king was well known as well - Hugh Bonneville from "Downton Abbey". And Sophie McShera who plays Daisy on the same show. And that's just the ones from the top of my head. Edit: Hey, and episode 3 finally has a Doctor Who face - I knew I only had to keep looking long enough. Michael Brandon.

But let's come to why we are actually here: Locations! So I watched the first episode, and two minutes in, seeing this:



I shouted: That's Wells! Recognized it right away, and I have the picture to prove I was there. See?



And as soon as this unique cross-bow comes into view, you definitely know it's Wells Cathedral. The "Doctor Who" episode "Lazarus" was shot there as well - apparently only three weeks before I was there back in November 2006. But I wasn't a fan yet at the time.



So, who else is having fun with "Galavant"? And if you haven't known about it yet - maybe I can also be that person infecting you for a change. Why should it always be the other way around (yes, I am looking at you, elisi ;)

So *looks around* Any Karl Urban fans among us? I only knew him as Doctor McCoy in the new Star Trek movies so far, but have started watching "Almost Human" now and love it. I also plan to get "The Loft" from the library next week. That sounds like an interesting movie.
And yes, I know he also was in "Lord of the Rings", and no, I still don't plan to watch it. We'll see how long that lasts...

Today I watched episode 4. They said they were going to a cabin. As soon as they said it I knew there is only one cabin in Vancouver which has been seen in many movies and TV series - here is a screenshot from the episode:



And here is a picture I took in 2008 while being in town for Gatecon, as I know this cabin as Jack O'Neill's cabin in Minnesota in "Stargate":



And just for fun a picture of Karl Urban from Episode 3. So yeah. As I said: Any fans of him around here?

As I learnt today, the castle in the new Disney movie "Cinderella" was inspired by our Zwinger here in Dresden! They did not really film there, but photographed all details and then created the castle in the computer, also added another floor to make it look more impressive. Still, you can see what inspired them. Here is a comparison picture:



Another picture in the daylight:



In recent years, a lot of Hollywood movies have been filmed in Saxony. We are rich on beautiful landscapes and historical cities. A few recent movies were "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "The Reader" and also "Cloud Atlas".

Also, back in 2002 when we had that bad flood, someone filmed it and it was used to generate the flood in "The Day after tomorrow".

And now we even have the Cinderella castle and I can walk through it every day if I like. Come and visit me and I am showing it to you!

Even the Doctor has been there: