okaybee

I have been to London twice this year,

however the first trip was with work so I decided not to post about that. Who wants to hear about meetings and work lunches anyway?! A few weekends back, I was back in London, this time with my sisters, to see the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play.

Let me back up a bit here. I am a total Harry Potter fanatic. I queued at bookstores until midnight to get the books, I would see every movie over and over again, I cried a lot while reading the final book and I cried even more when I finished and knew that was the end. At least until I heard the news last year of the play. My youngest sister Lucy is another total Potterhead, so myself and my sister Amy decided that it would be the perfect Christmas and birthday present for her – a trip to London and the Harry Potter play. Best sisters ever?!

The preview tickets went on sale last October. I was 14,578 in the queue when I clicked in to book. Bare in mind I clicked on the link the second it turned to 10am. Many hours later, after a lot of anxious Twitter searches, seeing that people had issues paying, selecting dates, tickets being sold out, I finally got my hands on three tickets to both Part One and Part Two. And yes, the play is split into two parts.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child picks up where the final movie leaves off, nineteen years on. They are taking the issue of keeping the plot secret very seriously in the theatre. As we were leaving the theatre after each part, we were given badges and told to “Keep the Secrets”. They were really strict with people using phones, and would search your bag on the way in. Obviously, I’m not going to reveal anything to you all, you’re just going to have to go and see the play! We actually went two days after the original Hermione, Emma Watson, saw the show. Apparently Kate Hudson was in the crowd the same night as us with her kids. I was far too absorbed in the show to notice!

In between the shows, we had a quick pitstop at Shake Shack in Covent Garden. It was so nice to sit outside, eat, and whisper about Part One of the play. We had landed in London that morning, gone straight to the shops, then straight to Part One, all still with our travelling bags, so it was nice to get to zone out for a bit! After Part Two ended that night, we went straight back to our hotel and fell asleep. Two shows in one day is no joke!

The following day, we met up with some of our family who live in London. It’s always nice to get some chilled out time with family that we don’t get to see often. We watched the Wimbledon Mens Final while sipping Pimms, it doesn’t get more English than that really! Afterwards, we shopped for a while before I brought my sisters to my favourite Indian restaurant in London, Dishoom. If you’re ever there, please just go to Dishoom! It’s so tasty, so reasonable, and well worth the wait. I promise!

It was definitely a flying visit, I think we were in London for 36 hours all told! We managed to pack a lot in though and I’m delighted that we got to go to the play. If you are a Harry Potter fan, trust me when I say that you need to go and see this. I can’t recommend it enough. In fact, I’m looking into going to the play for a second time!

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