Memories Of London

July 19, 2013

2013 is the first year of my life (since 1996) that I'm not studying. Instead I set a goal to get a job (✓) and save money so I can go back overseas. In particular, back to London. With Fran (Then Lets Begin) moving back to England at the end of the year, and one of my other best friends looking to move to London around the same time, it's making me really miss being there. So today I thought I'd share with you one of the best decisions I made whilst I was in London in 2011, and that was to go on a £15 Harry Potter walking tour.

This local Londoner was our tour guide for the day, equip with his Sorting Hat and very own wand, he was definitely a legit wizard. We started off in a laneway near Leicester Square that is said to be the inspiration behind Diagon Alley, and is also home to one of London's only bookstore that specialises in the supernatural.

We kept walking through Trafalgar Square, one of the Death Eaters' targets at the start of The Half-Blood Prince, and down towards the Thames Riverbank. We also passed the filming location where Harry and Ron entered the Ministry Of Magic in the final chapter of the series.

One amazing thing about this tour was that it included a boat ride on the Thames where we saw many other London attractions like The Houses Of Parliament, The London Eye and Shakespeare's Globe. We also traveled under the Millennium Bridge (I think) that the Death Eaters destroyed.

Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable not just on Harry Potter, but several other movies filmed in London, as well as historical sites that we otherwise would've have known about like this WW2 bomb shelter. On our walk we also passed the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron, as filmed in the The Philosophers Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban, now a florist haha.

There was only one place we could end this tour, at that was at Kings Cross Station (really St Pancras) at Platform 9 3/4 (really a laminate wall outside the station). We loved this tour and would definitely recommend it as an alternative way to see London.

I've been trawling the internet for more travel inspiration. How amazing would it be to stay somewhere along this route. One day I will return... one day.

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