Harry Potter Day #1

(Harry Potter Day #2 will be the day we walk from Glaisdale to Littlebeck vis Grosmont, the setting for the Hogwarts station scenes from the movies. Though based on today’s tour, I’m beginning to wonder if I got that muddled up–it could be a different station on that steam train line. We’ll see!)

Not the best night of sleep. Woke inexplicably at 11pm, which makes no sense from a jet lag point of view. Bizarrely, ended up watching a TV show following Auckland NZ traffic police, followed by Tour de France coverage which finally lulled L back to sleep.

We’re watching the weather forecast for the rest of the week with interest. General theme “becoming increasingly wet in the North West”. Of course! The part that is making me chuckle is the forecast for Saturday, the day before the re-creation of the Death Hike from 2014:

We had breakfast at an unusual but pleasant place en route to the pick up for the Harry Potter tour (total 4.5 mile walk.)

Nice full English breakfast, which I forgot to photograph till it was almost all gone. One observation: all the coffee we’ve had so far tastes so different from American coffee. It’s smoky and a bit harsh. Funny how you get used to a particular taste.

The rest of the walk took us via varied city streets, including The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace:

Got to Evan Evans tour company rather early so backtracked to Coffee Geek & Friends, who decorate their hot chocolate in a rather fun way:

Then back to Evan Evans. Coach arrived a bit late, then picked up from two more places before finally heading for Watford for The Making of Harry Potter Tour. Arrived at about noon.

We were all very impressed. Well presented, with interesting exhibits and explanations.

Privet Drive led straight into the Hogwarts Bridge, right? And the movie featured Dr Pepper throughout!

The very best part was last of all, and by then my phone was so low on battery that I’d turned it off, so no photos. But I think that’s just as well–if you get to visit, you’ll get the surprise of the last part just like we did. Made me feel all nostalgic, as if this Harry Potter world really does exist.

We had an hour and a half to spare before the coach returned to London. Lingered in the cafe, had tea and cakes. Lay on the grass outside for a while. Then hour long coach ride back to London. We got off at Edgware Rd and walked the couple of miles via Regent’s Park back to the hotel. On the way, D successfully extracted cash from an ATM–thank goodness!

Dinner tonight at The Red Fort. Indian cuisine.

Very expensive, and our overall reaction was, er, “meh”. It was fine, but not worth the premium price. The price did afford us the luxury of knowing that the lamb I ate was from Somerset, rather than from, say, Middlesex.

One memorable part of tonight was sharing wine with our 18 year old. It struck me that a benefit of the younger drinking age in the UK (16 if wine or beer is bought with a meal with adults present, 18 for all other scenarios) is that we could talk about it, comparing the effects of wine vs spirits vs beer, rather than it being an illicit activity typically experienced at college or even earlier.

Tomorrow….St Bees! After the big city experience, we’re heading for the country and a significant physical challenge. Can’t wait!