There are many places where you can take a guided tour of London, but I didn't want to be in a rush. Oh! I also have 3 kids (yes 3!) and I didn't want to pay money only to have a meltdown and get nothing out of it. I found a self paced walk at this website http://www.the-magician.co.uk. The directions are very good and though we are only about 1/4 of the way through, it has been a lot of fun. We may go through a few more pages tomorrow.
First stop was the Leicester (pronounced LI-ster) Square underground station. This station can be seen in the opening seen of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince when the Death Eaters swoop down over Trafalgar square according to the directions. I don't have the movies with us, so can confirm.
Next stop, Honeyduke's or in the Muggle world Hardy's Original sweet shop. The highlight of the tour as we were able to buy Chocolate frogs and every flavor beans. More to come on that one.
Goodwin's Court - Could this be the entrance to Diagon alley? Or possibly the street in Diagon alley that sold the dark arts stuff (can't think of it right now.) Brooke and Caleb thought it looked very dark and that we might be able to find a shop that sold dark artifacts.
Time for lunch! A little taste of home!!!
We must examine all of our treats from Honeyduke's. We have wizard wands, fizzing wizbies, lemon drops, chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, and a gummy snake. The chocolate frogs are the first to get consumed. Caleb was rather disappointed because he received the lead singer of the band that played at the Yule ball. Brooke received Madam Hooche which though not much better, still had Caleb wanting to go back (which we did the next day).
Every flavor beans - yes every flavor. Each back of the pack was slightly different. I didn't realize this until Brooke told me after we had thrown them away. This was Caleb's pack. He couldn't wait to try and dug right in. All was smooth sailing until he got a dog flavor one. He spit it out and hasn't tried one since. Brooke was too afraid to try after that.
Diagon Alley or the Muggle Cecil court. This was an amazing little street. We purchased gallion notes from a little stamp shop. There was a book shop that claims to be the oldest seller of books on sorcery, astrology, etc which was perfect for the Harry Potter effect.
We also saw the place where Ron, Harry and Hermione apparated after the Death Eaters crashed Fleur and Bill's wedding. It was so cool, but I neglected to take pictures.
From their we walked from Leicester square to Trafalgar square. This is no short walk; at least few city blocks. According to the site, due to construction for the Olympics the premier for the last installment of the deathly hallows couldn't happen in front of the Odeon theatre in Leicester square where all the others had. Because of this, they ran a red carpet all the way from Trafalgar square to Leicester square. The speeches and promotions from the actors with fans surrounding all happened in Trafalgar square and then they walked to the theatre to see the premier.
Below is Trafalgar square. This is a big blue rooster. Apparently it is new and many people don't like it. It is gigantic and very out of place in the middle of all the wondrous sculptures and monuments.
Caleb riding one of the 4 gigantic lions at Trafalgar square.
Brooke riding a lion. This was a huge accomplishment for Brooke. The first time, she came back down scared and said that she didn't want to do it. I knew she would be so disappointed in herself if she didn't do it. I could tell she really, really wanted to. I couldn't personally go up there and help because I had Clare in the stroller, but we talked about it. I talked her up and we measured it in hands to make sure it wasn't much taller than her horses. It took tears and all my little girl's courage, but she did it and she was so proud of herself. Through tears she thanked me for helping her to do it once she had gotten back down.
Obviously not Harry potter, but cool all the same. We have been reading sherlock while we are here and they have a replica of the sitting room in the pub. It was quite cool.
We also saw the entrance to the ministry of magic, but I didn't get a picture. We were getting to be pretty done by this time of day and ready to get home. We saw the door where they hid the ministry workers behind when they took polyjuice potion and went in to the ministry of magic to get the horcreaux off Umbridge. We also saw where the phone booth was put up when Mr. Weasley took Harry in the visitors entrance for his trial for doing underage magic saving Dudley from the dementors.
Back home and telling daddy about our day. Of course, he has to try the every flavor beans. I forget what he got, but it wasn't good.
Brooke finally got the courage to try one. First she got toothpaste, which wasn't bad. Then she got something very yucky. From now on, she will only eat the blue ones because toothpaste is not too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment