Today is my day to do the blog because you are coming with me to Hobbiton, the town in the Shire where all the Hobbits lived in the Lord of the Ring (LOTR) movies and now the Hobbit movies. I have to be truthful that I had my doubts if I would enjoy a day of looking at movie sets but it was great! We had a wonderful guide who was very well informed on all the LOTR lore and movie facts. We were off the bus and on the path when you walked around a corner...
You were just amazed at how beautiful and interesting each of the Hobbit Holes were. And it just kept getting better...
Each of the 44 Hobbit Holes were different making each unique. Rest easy, you are not going to see 44 doors, but I'm pretty sure I took a picture of each one...
The entire area was a work of art, with real gardens, ponds, a lake and orchards...
The flowers were all in bloom and they made the paths beautiful, the doorways decorated with sun and color...
This entire area took more than a year to build and plant before filming was even to start. There were workmen from all over that specialized in thatching, wood carving, rock laying, landscaping and the over all look was to be Celtic or Old English....
This is the most famous of all the Hobbit homes and everyone who saw the movies should recognize it...
To those who didn't see the movies, this is Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' home. The area was large and hilly with paths wandering around and back. Some of the doors were different sizes for different camera shots to make the actors look bigger or smaller. As you moved toward the Green Dragon Inn, knowing your time in the Shire is almost over...
you look back to all the Hobbit holes, gardens, flowers, ponds, paths...
and then you look down, because maybe, just maybe, hair will start growing on your feet and you'll take a little of the Hobbit magic home with you.
Roger's Little Bitty Paragraph:
Well, I can't beat this experience. As much as I wanted to go the Hobbitville, Pat just wouldn't let me interrupt her experience. So, I wandered over to Cambridge, about 20 miles away and saw the sights there. Both of them. The town museum and the town clock. Both very nice. Actually, Cambridge was a nice little town that has a very busy downtown area. That's something we've seen here in New Zealand. There aren't any Walmarts in NZ or Australia and consequently, Walmart hasn't killed the downtown businesses in these little towns. Lots of cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, and the like. Very pleasant.
After all this, we headed about 100 miles up to Auckland, and we'll be here until Thursday, when we're heading out for Tahiti for a couple days before continuing on to Arizona and Patrick's graduation. This has been a great trip, but it's getting to be time to head home.
