Harry Potter

Here we are taking turns trying to get our luggage-rack through the hidden door to Hogwart’s Academy. 

(You have to pretend this is a steam train.  But it is taken at the right station.)

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The pictures above are taken at the King’s Cross train station, which was used in the Harry Potter Movies.  (And is featured in the final book, at least in the British version.) Of course, the door is a photo-op, which probably the Transit Authority put in because of all the goofy American tourists asking where it was.  Still, when we heard of it, we could not resist. 

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The next two pictures are also inside the station (near Platform 9 3/4). 

It would have been nice to photograph the outside of King’s Cross, which was also used in the HP movies.  But it is currently undergoing a major renovation/remodeling and the picture would pretty much have been of scaffolding.  The station is one of the older ones in London.

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I reserved a copy of "Harry and the Deathly Hollows" the first time I visited our local bookshop here in Sydenham.  Didn’t want to wait until we were back home, because that would have made me the only reader of the series in the world not to have read it before the reviews told all.   

When we have visited the shop before (to stock up on paperbacks) it’s a pretty quiet little place.  But on Saturday night there was a line of people all the way up to the corner and beyond.   It was kind of funny because the bookstore is directly across the street from one of the local pubs — a noisy place on Saturday night, with people milling around inside and out.   Britain has very recently instituted a no-indoor-smoking policy, so there are always people outside of the pubs.  Most of the bar patrons couldn’t seem to figure out what was going on across the street (and maybe vice versa).

Here’s Dobby the Elf distributing the book to a customer.

                                                                               

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The last picture looks kind of like I’m pouring my wine into the book bag.  It’s a trick of the camera — the book is fine.    We both thought it was nice of the store to provide wine and goodies.  The kids (what, this was a kid’s occasion?) got punch and cookies.

Saturday was gray and showery all day and we had decided to stay in anyway, because we’ve just returned from a trip to Yorkshire and needed some recovery time.   It was a perfect day to read this London-based book.