Harry Potter & the Cursed Child and Other London Highlights | Travel Diary

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Today I wanted to share some of the highlights of my recent trip to London with you! I had a blast even though the weather wasn't really on our side (it was cloudy and grey with the occasional apocalyptic rainfall thrown in for good measure, throughout our time there). I've stayed for five days in mid June, did some shopping, some picnic-ing, some cinema-ing and obviously theatre-ing and it was so exactly what I needed to get out of my writing-an-application-while-being-sure-I'll-never-hear-back-from-them-anyway-funk!

We stayed in a little B&B really central right by the river, just around the corner from Tate Modern and while it was really the most basic of rooms, hardly luxurious it was quite enough for the two of us. We spent very little time in our room anyway and it was clean enough to sleep there and have our showers. Best of all it was cheap as chips! If you're planning a trip to London and are looking for cheap and central accommodation that doesn't break the bank I can definitely recommend LSE Bankside House!

On our first day we decided to have a little wander into town, stopping off at Twinings, having a cheeky caramel Frappuccino at Starbucks and just generally enjoying being back in our beloved London :) We had a train to catch from Euston at about 1pm to get to the Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden so after having a little chill out session at Trafalgar Square we decided to really give our iPhone step counts something to count that day and kept on walking up to Euston Station. On the way we passed the Palace Theatre which made me even more excited for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which at that time was still 2 sleeps away haha. Obviously we got caught in the rain half way there which resulted in us rushing the last miles and arriving waaaay too early. Luckily though there's an Itsu at Euston Station and I personally L.O.V.E. their food. So we sat down for some lunch and a little snack of Edamame before we got on the train out of London. I've talked about the Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour a lot in this post here, and shared a million photographs of my time there already, so I'm not gonna go into it again. If you're as big of a Potterhead as I am I recommend scrolling through my post for some behind-the-scenes magic from the set. It was absolutely lovely there! So interesting to learn about the production and seeing all those props in real life! I even sat in Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Anglia! :) I was one happy Potter-nerd! After the tour we made our way back to the city to meet up with my good friend Jana for a little wander along the Thames and pizza at Gourmet Pizza Co. It was really nice catching up and hearing all about Jana's dissertation film project. She's currently working on her dissertation for her Master in producing, filming a short film called From a Distance. You can learn more about the project on their Facebook page here, and support the it too if you fancy being a part of an amazing project as well as helping a sister out :)

Friday was our chill day! We had made absolutely no plans except that we wanted to spend some money haha. It's not hard to do in London, so we went to the One New Change and tried our way through all the sales bits. I found a cute little corduroy pinafore dress that I had to take home with me as well as some other basics I needed to stock up on. After that we both spent years in Twinings trying to decide which teas to bring home. I love tea and drink it loads so it was not an easy decision to make let me tell you! We filled our rumbling stomachs with some Leon goodness and then decided to go and see Me before You at Vue, because we both desperately wanted to see it yet hadn't managed to do so before. We loved it! Some tears were shed but I expected as much. It was a lovely film to watch.

Then along came Saturday! THE Saturday! It was finally time for me to go and see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I was soooooo excited to finally get to know the new story! Part 1 started at 2pm then there was a little break until the second part started at 7:30pm. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! The play follows Harry's son Albus and starts off exactly where the last film/book left off: at Platform 9 3/4 where Harry takes Albus aside and reassures him that there is nothing to worry about, that the Sorting Hat will put him in the right house and that even if he were sorted into Slytherin it would be quite alright. The story than goes on quite quickly following Albus in his first couple of years at Hogwarts, introducing the friends he made until then quite suddenly Albus and his best friend get themselves into quite the adventure - an adventure that could alter everything! This is all I am willing to tell you about the story, simply because I don't want to spoil it for anybody. Everybody should experience it without any knowledge about what the story is about or what, for that matter, the title is about. The play is fast paced, absolutely hilarious at times (I love Ron! He's the funniest!) and the characters were so well portrayed by the actors! I especially loved Hermione, played by Noma Dumezweni, her dry humour and intelligence came across soooo well, I loved it! There's another character I absolutely loved because he was seriously funny, but I can't tell you who that is without giving more of the storyline away haha. So I'm just gonna leave it here. The special effects were so well done, some of them still boggle my mind - seriously there's polyjuicing, vanishing into thin air and disappearing through phone boxes - it's AWESOME! Some dark parts are giving you the creeps as well, so really this play has everything! I don't think I've ever enjoyed a play as much as this one and I seriously just want to go back and see it all over again :)

On Sunday morning my friend got an early flight back home so I went to meet my friend Rebecca (you will have seen her on this blog before if you've been following for a while) and we had a relaxed day at the Marylebone Summer Fayre, sipping on watermelon juice and flat whites, looking at all the gorgeous things on sale. We then decided that the weather was simply calling for a picnic so we made some sandwiches, bought some strawberries and took our picnic blanket to Soho Square. It was such a lovely summery afternoon in central London, everybody was out and about enjoying the rare rays of sunshine and everybody was in a happy mood. On our way back home we stopped at Zara where I got the nicest sandals as well as Waterstones because I needed a read for my flight back home the next day. Like the grannies that we are, we came home and had a little nap before heading out for drinks and finally some Thai food. Is there anything more comforting than Thai food? I don't think so! We got a table at Busaba Eat Thai and I went for my standard chicken pad thai, vowing to myself to be a little more creative with my order next time. Haha, I didn't regret going for it though, as expected it was simply delicious! Needless to say we had a big bowl of prawn crackers to go with our mains :) We got home after that, got comfy in bed and ended the day with an episode of Sherlock. Absolute bliss! It really doesn't take much planning, or money to spend the perfect day, just the right people to spend it with :)

Well, that's all there is to report on my time in London. I hope you found this little travel diary interesting to read. I'm sure I'll love to look back on it in a couple of years and remember all these little things. Just like I do with my last series of London travel diaries from two years ago! (You can find them here, here and here. :) Have you recently been to London? What are your favourite spots in the city? Where do you love to eat? I'm grateful for every recommendation as I love trying out new places and I'm sure I'll be back in my second hometown in no time :)

Lots of Love,
Jess xx