I went on a Harry Potter London Walking Tour today (
brrrr!). Some other students and I went to Leicester (pronounced: Lester) Square to meet up with the tour. Although, the tour unexpectedly started on the tube. While sitting on the train, my friends and I were chattering away about the Harry Potter Tour that was about to take place. The young man next to me said, 'where are you from?' I answered, 'they are from the east coast and I am from California.' He told me he went to L.A. frequently for work. I told him we were in London for University. I have found that when ever I tell locals I am here for school, they always reply with "Why would you come to London?!" They don't see the draw that London has to Americans. They then
usually tell me how great America is because we have everything and it's so
convenient. So, I had that conversation with this young man. We agreed that, the grass is always greener on the other side. I asked him what his profession was that made him have to fly out to L.A. He then
replied, "I'm and actor." I laughed inside my head. Then I thought, poor bloke is a struggling actor. I smiled and said, 'oh, really.' (not impressed) He then said the following: "Yeah, I'm in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I play young James Potter (Harry's father). He then politely asked us to buy the 5
th movie, 'every little bit helps' he said. I told him I already own it and it probably paid for the shoes he was wear. He was a nice guy.
Unfortunately, we came to our station and had to leave young James Potter. We forgot to ask him his real name (Robbie Jarvis) and jumped off the train.
This is the alley which inspired J.K.
Rowling's'
Diagon Alley.
This building is the seen in the movie as the
Ministry of Magic.
A closer look.
Harry and Ron enter that door to go into the
Ministry of Magic.
This is
Millennium Bridge. In the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, it is known as
Brockdale Bridge and
Voldemort sends Death Eaters to destroy it.
The bridge again, but the building behind it with the blue and white emblem on the brick wall, that is where Daniel
Radcliffe went to school.
An alley we walked through. Not in the movie.
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry and
Dumbledore enter The Leaky Cauldron through this door, except in the movie it's black, not blue.
Harry and
Dumbledore walk through that bit in one of the movies.
This is the train station. A real steam engine was used.
Platform 9 3/4
Susan "she-who-must-not-be-named"B.
A closer look.
Harry and Ron enter that door to go into the Ministry of Magic.
This is Millennium Bridge. In the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, it is known as Brockdale Bridge and Voldemort sends Death Eaters to destroy it.
The bridge again, but the building behind it with the blue and white emblem on the brick wall, that is where Daniel Radcliffe went to school.
An alley we walked through. Not in the movie.
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry and Dumbledore enter The Leaky Cauldron through this door, except in the movie it's black, not blue.
Harry and Dumbledore walk through that bit in one of the movies.
This is the train station. A real steam engine was used.
Platform 9 3/4
1 comment:
Susan, this is great! What an awesome adventure. I had no idea that all of those places were legit locations in London. I'm not sure I really realized that HP was filmed in London (I'm not sure exactly *where* I thought it all went down...). Very cool.
P.S. Did you realize that you're writing it sporting a bit of a British accent? Any chance you'll come home on holiday spouting "spot of tea" and "jolly good"???
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