There are dozens of book and film sites for Harry Potter in and around London.  This post is how to visit all the film sites in the area (designated as HPFL for Harry Potter Film Location) as well as places such as Charing Cross Road to look for the real Diagon Alley (designated as HPBS for Harry Potter Book Site).  The majority of these sites are in London proper, though we also traveled out to Oxford and Windsor.

Before we get started, here are some tips specifically related to Harry Potter sites in London.  Make sure you also read some general tips on traveling in London:

• If you have some type of portable e-reader, it’s worth investing in the e-book versions of the series in order to have all of them with you while you’re walking around.  I can’t tell you how many times we had to quickly look something up in a book in order to make sure we had a fact correct, or times when we wanted to read a passage while we were standing in a certain location.  It was the easiest way to carry 7 massive books with us at all times.  We kept copies on the iPhone.
• We also brought with us the movies on the iPhone.  Again, there is nothing like telling them you’re standing in the space where Harry stood before he was sorted in the movie, and then whip out the iPhone to prove it.  We watched snippets of the films in every location.
• We cannot recommend enough getting the Harry Potter walking tour PDF.  Go to that site and request it, and the creator of the PDF will email it to you.  It is an amazing resource and the only reason we didn’t follow it to a T is that the kids haven’t read past book three.

Searching for the Real Diagon Alley (HPBS)

Diagon Alley is supposed to be somewhere off of Charing Cross Road, with the Leaky Cauldron nestled between a bookshop and a record shop.  We started at Leicester Square and wandered around that Charing Cross area.  We went into Hardy’s Original Sweet Shop, pretending it was Honeydukes.

We walked down Goodwin’s Court, which felt quieter and more magical than the surrounding streets.

We came to Cecil Court, which looks like Diagon Alley.  There are a lot of antique and specialty stores there including Watkins Books, the oldest occultist and mystical bookshop in the world.  Colin Narbeth and Sons had Gringotts bank notes in their window.

Across from Charing Cross Station is Davenport’s, a magic shop.  We went down there hoping the employees would know how to get into Diagon Alley, but instead ended up seeing a few magic tricks.

The Leaky Cauldron in the Movies (HPML)

While we never found the real Diagon Alley, we did go to Leadenhall Market, which Harry and Hagrid walked through on their way to the Leaky Cauldron in the first film.

The door of this store (Glass House) was painted black and it was used in the movie as the doorway to the pub.

The Ministry of Magic (HPML and HPBS)

Near Great Scotland Yard (Embankment stop on the tube) is the location for the visitor’s entrance to the Ministry of Magic as seen in movies five and seven.

While you stand there, imagine the Ministry underneath the streets.  There is even a square in the ground that looks as if it may have once housed the visitor’s entrance phone booth.  The Westminster tube station was used for the internal shots of the Ministry of Magic.  It’s easy to stand on the platform and imagine witches and wizards tumbling out of the fires as they travel by Floo powder.

Gringotts (HPML)

Australia House was used for the internal shots of Gringotts bank.  While you can’t go inside, you can stand in the vestibule and peek through the window at the gorgeous black and white floor.  Right outside Australia House is St. Clement Danes, so totally worth the trip out there.

Kings Cross Station (HPML and HPBS)

While all the Harry Potter locations were exciting, none were as emotional as being at Kings Cross.  If you go back towards Platform 9, you’ll see that someone has put up a sign saying Platform 9 3/4 and embedded a trolley halfway into the wall.  You can take your cute, kitschy picture there.

But we lucked out and spoke to a kind guard who whispered to the kids that Rowling put down the wrong platform in the book in order to throw Muggles off the scent.  The real platform is #4 (a side note: it’s free to walk onto Platform 4.  You need a ticket in order to access Platform 9).  Sure enough, when we ran over there, we saw the familiar curved barrier that Harry walks through to board the Hogwarts Express.

As well as the bridge that Hagrid disappears from in the first movie and Harry appears on in the seventh movie.

Down with Death Eaters (HPML)

We walked across Millennium bridge which appears at the beginning of the sixth film and was decimated by the Death Eaters.

Eton College (er… not really a Harry Potter per se, but gives the kids a good sense of a boarding school)

While you can’t go to the actual Hogwarts (and anyway, the real Hogwarts is in Scotland), you can go to Eton College and see a proper British boarding school.  The boys are always dressed as if they’re about to go to the Yule Ball.

And the classrooms have so much history.

Oxford Locations (HPML)

Scenes from the first Harry Potter movie were filmed at Christ Church in Oxford, including the stairs to reach the Great Hall.

The talk with Professor McGonagall before the sorting.

And the Great Hall itself.

There is so much we didn’t do, such as go out to the London Zoo and see the reptile house.  And there are dozens of sites we didn’t hit from the great walking tour PDF.

And, of course, if you truly want to complete the Harry Potter experience, you need to head out to Watford Junction outside the city to the Warner Brothers studio so you can walk on the actual film sets!  Which will be the subject of the next post.

Welcome back to IComLeavWe. It stands for International Comment Leaving Week, but if you say it aloud, doesn’t it sounds like “I come; [but] leave [as a] we”? And that’s sort of the point. Blogging is a conversation and comments should be honoured and encouraged. I like to say that comments are the new hug–a way of saying hello, giving comfort, leaving congratulations.

Here is the vital information, pure and simple (a more detailed set of rules follows below the list):

• The list opens the 1st of every month. It remains open until the 21st. You can add yourself at any point. The list is open to everyone in the blogosphere–blog writers and/or blog readers.
• Add yourself to the list by filling out this form: The November list is now closed.  The December one will open on the 28th.
  
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• Commenting kicks off every month on the 21st. Please mark it somewhere (calendar, post-it note taped to your computer…), though I will be sending out an email reminder on the 20th. Commenting week runs from the 21st to the 28th. Every day, leave 5 comments and return 1 comment for a total of 6 comments. You are highly encouraged to choose the blogs you comment on from the participants list below, but this is not required.
• I will send a second email on the 28th to remind you to remove the icon from your blog.
• Read below if you want to find out about Iron Commenters.
• The commenting ends on the 28th. We catch our breath and the whole thing starts again the next month on the 1st. Drop in and out according to what is happening in your life between the 21st and the 28th.

1. Stirrup Queens (twins, books, writing)
2. Feeling Beachie (life, humor, family)
3. Dancing My Way Through Life, Loss, and Books (loss/ttcal, books, ballroom dance)
4. Life With Roozle (parenting, writing, food)
5. IVF Over 40 (genetic testing, scientific research, pregnancy)
6. Survive and Thrive (baby after infertility)
7. A Passage to Baby (ivf, surrogacy, ramblings)
8. Waiting For Baby (IUI, vasectomy reversal, PCOS)
9. Carneyexploits (IVF, life, blessed)
10. Patience is Not My Virtue (ttc, infertility, gluten-free)
11. The Barreness (art infertility contemplation)
12. The 2 Week Wait (infertility motherhood humor)
13. Life of an Army Wife (infertility, army, crafting)
14. Dear Finley (neonatal death, grief, life after loss)
15. Breathe Gently (1st-pregnancy, IVF, PCOS)
16. 1000 Oceans (ivf vet, baby loss, rpl)
17. Growing Griswolds (IVF #2 better work)
18. It Is What It Is (Or Is It?) (pg w donated embryos, short cervix, pg @ 46)
19. the misadventures of missohkay (adoption, parenting, miscarriage)
20. Genuine Greavu (infertility, miscarriage, faith)
21. Thought Provoking Moments (IVF, loss, life lessons)
22. Stupid Stork (infertility, ivf, shenanigans)
23. Tesseract (life, humour, philosophy)
24. Team Harries Beats Infertility (hiatus, faith, waiting)
25. Follow Every Rainbow (unexplained infertility UK)
26. Bébé Suisse (pregnancy after loss)
27. Crazycatladywantsbaby (ttc, fertility, funny)
28. Hobbit-ish Thoughts & Ramblings (parenting after RPL, books, cooking)
29. (Still) Trying to Conceive (faith, IUI, unexplained)
30. Ready For My Bundle (pregnant after ivf, family, smc)
31. Our Journey Through This Lovely Life (ttc adventures life)
32. Arete Aspirations (divorce, motherhood, prepping)
33. Pollination Chronicles (IVF abroad, FET for baby #2)
34. Three Quarters Full (parenting after IF, life, diet)
35. Our Work of A.R.T. (pregnancy, IVF, infertility)
36. Life in Little Hispaniola (life, faith, social justice)
37. Dreaming of Dimples (inspiration, IVF, infertility)
38. Believing in June (infertility, marriage, TTC #2)
39. Gonna Do it for Baby (pregnancy, infertility)
40. Simple|South (simplicity, lagniappe, mindfulness)
41. A Daily Miracle (infertility, pregnancy, blessings)
42. Waffle-Wednesday (kids, art, poetry)
43. for all the things we hope for (endometriosis, infertility, doula-ing)
44. Home Grown Love (infertility, iui, home)
45. Pepibebe | nurturing by nature (TTC, lesbian, miscarriage)
46. A Glamorous Mommy Life (fashion, food, fun)
47. Wandering Wonderment (family, politics, local news)
48. A Bliss Filled Life (infertility, adoption,  motherhood)
49. Creating a Family (infertility, adoption, adoptive parenting)
50. Unexplained Rantings (loss, infertility, adoption)
51. A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus (life, news, food)
52. Life is Simple, It’s Just Not Easy (preemies, twins, life)
53. IUI to Roux-en-Y (pregnant after WLS)
54. We Three Crabs (life, love, adventure)
55. What Am I? (adoption, openness, babies)
56. Sweet Dreams are Made of This (adoption, recipes, life)
57. My (In)fertile Confessions (twins, treating pcos naturally, clean eating)
58. Comatised (life, love, family)
59. The Buggy List (bucketlist, humor, pregnancy after loss)
60. One day at a time (male factor, adoption, IUI)
61. Who Is This Fertile Myrtle (unexplained secondary infertilty, loss)
62. It’s The Journey (infertility, TTC, fur babies)
63. Emma in Mommyland (ppd, life, parenting)
64. Frozenoj’s Concentrated Life (ttc, infertility, life)
65. Gypsy Mama’s Misconceptions (Cancun, infertility, IVF/ICSI)
66. If You Don’t Stand For Something (MFI, geekiness, general life ramblings)
67. Upper Middle Mom (parenting after IVF, twins, travel)
68. Old Lady and No Baby (infertility, decisions, ivf)
69. Journey to the Finishline (twin pregnancy, IVF/infertility, humor)
70. Life As I Know It (twins, toddler, life)
71. InDueTime (life, infertility, grief)
72. Scrambled Eggs (infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy)
73. finding the peace to the puzzle (infertility, love, hope)
74. The Quest for the Golden Egg (infertility, IVF, emotions)
75. Compromised Fertility (FET, reproductive immunology, PCOS)
76. Things Couldn’t Be Better (donor embryo, FET, humor)
77. Enjoying the Course (running, life, health)
78. The November list is now closed.  The December one will open on the 28th.

Q: What if I miss a day?

A: Catch up the next day by doubling your comments–12 comments instead of 6.

Q: What if I have two blogs? Can I sign up twice, listing both blogs?

A: Yes, but you also need to double your comments. If you have two blogs listed, you should be leaving 12 comments per day.

Q: What is an Iron Commenter?

A: Not for the faint-of-heart. People who wish to be an Iron Commenter and be entered on the Iron Commenter honour roll need to leave a comment on every blog on the participants list (exceptions are blogs that require you to have a special log-in, such as some LiveJournal accounts or other similar situations). You can spread out this commenting any way you wish over the whole week, but the final comment needs to be left by midnight on the 28th (EST). Reaching Iron Commenter status is done on an honour system. Please email me if you earn Iron Commenter status so I can add you to the wall of honour.

Q: Why do I have to add that bit of code to my sidebar?

A: The code is the latest icon (the icon changes colour every month so you know that you’re on the right list). This month, the icon is navy blue, the next month it will be green, etc. The reason is two-fold: (1) it enables more people to find out about IComLeavWe and (2) it gives you easy access to the current list once the commenting week actually begins and better ensures that you’ll use it. Too many times, people sign up and forget to actually do IComLeavWe and this icon gives you a daily reminder (with the dates on it) every time you open your own blog. The icon is linked back to the current list. On the 28th, remove the icon from your blog. A new one will be created for the next month.

Q: It’s the 23rd and I just saw this for the first time on my friend’s blog! I want to join the list–why can’t I?

A: Because IComLeavWe happens every month, once the list is closed, it’s closed. If you’re finding out about this on the 23rd, you can’t join the current month. But leave yourself a note to check back in a week on the 1st and you can sign up for the next month.

Q: You said the list closes on the 21st. Well, it’s still the 21st where I am. Why aren’t you moving my information onto the list?

A: All dates and times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT -5 hours). The list closes around 11 p.m. EST on the 21st.

Q: What if no one comments on my blog and I have no comments to return?

A: Well, that really doesn’t happen for the most part, but in that case, simply choose another blog and add an additional comment. The goal is to hit 6 comments daily as a minimum. Going over that is fantastic and encouraged.

Q: Mel, my question wasn’t covered at all. What do I do?

A: Email me; I’m quite friendly. It helps to place “IComLeavWe” in the subject line. You could also check this post which contains the history of IComLeavWe and see if you can glean anything there.

Looking for the comment section? It has been closed on this post. Use the form in the directions to add yourself to the list.

Where do you stand on reading someone’s private journal after they’re gone?  Will you read your loved one’s journals if you find them upon going through their personal possessions after death?  Would you be okay (once you’re gone) of someone finding your old journals and reading them?  Not the words of your public blog, but the words that you’ve written in private paper journals, only known by you.

What about the journals of a celebrity?  If the family chose to publish them upon someone’s death, would you read them, or would you eschew the entries unless the publication of the diary was the expressed wishes of the deceased?  If you were a celebrity, do you think the public would have a right — especially if you influenced popular culture — to understand you better after you’re gone and read your private thoughts?

Where do you stand on journals post death?

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Screw You” (Hakuna Matata)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Journey to the Finish Line has a post about graduating from her fertility clinic.  It is bittersweet, saying goodbye to a place she never wanted to be and yet a place that has changed her completely.  She writes: “Today was my final ultrasound at the RE’s office. I walked in to a half full waiting room wondering where all of these couples were on their quest for parenthood, how long they have been on this path. I wished them all luck, silently. Then we waited.”  I smiled reading this post.

The Road Less Travelled has a response to the Huffington Post piece about mothers being in photographs, namely that it applies to a lot of women, whether parenting or not.  That some people have a tendency to always be taking pictures of others but don’t step up to have their picture taken, admitting they don’t want how they look at the moment documented.  She implores adult women to step in front of the camera, allow themselves to be seen, especially if they are other child-free women.  She asks at the end of the post an important question: “If you disappeared tomorrow, what sort of photographic record would remain of your life?“

Two posts looking back on a series of years caught my brain this week.  No Kidding in NZ has a post documenting ten year jumps to her 50th birthday.  Patience is Not My Virtue has a post on her anniversary looking back at a relationship.  I loved the rhythm of both these posts.

Lastly, Child Bearing Hips has a beautiful post about a family she knows who is moving from their home because it holds too many difficult memories.  She looks back at what has occurred in her house, how her daughter died in that house and her ashes are buried in the yard, and yet it is also the home where she can mark where she lived out favourite memories from her marriage.  It is the saddest days and the happiest days all mixed into one space, and she cannot imagine ever not living in that space despite understanding the need some people have to leave places behind.

The roundup to the Roundup: How do you feel about reading someone’s diary (or having yours read) after a death?  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between October 19th and 26th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.

It circles through the ALI blogosphere, after a pregnancy is achieved, after a child is adopted, after a person decides to stop treatment and live child-free, after a surrogate gives birth, after and after and after all of the afters that follow wherever place your journey began.  Every blogger has a start, a place that is comfortable, a place that they know and others know them, and their blog fits snug around them.

Then the story continues, and you step away from the beginning into the next turn in the journey, and you fear that others will not be able to find you because you are no longer where you used to be.  Where you started.

You ask where you fit now.

You fit into the You-sized space you always fit into.

The one only you can fill.

Yes, this post keeps kids in mind when touring London, but you can easily do all of these things sans kids.  This trip is for anyone who wants to explore the history of London via literature (as well as pop culture such as the Beatles).  It’s obviously written by someone not from London, which I assume — if you’re a Londoner — is as painful to read as it is for me when people write “I Went to D.C.!” posts.  So… er… skip.  Or add in more tips in the comment section below.

Some general tips for traveling to London before we jump into an overview of the trip.

• Write up an itinerary before you go that contains all the facts you want to convey to the kids.  Believe me, when the days begin blurring you’ll forget all the cool trivia you meant to tell them while you were in Westminster Abbey or at Trafalgar Square.  Even without kids, my itinerary has always made keeping track of what I did on the trip so much easier when I put together a photo album upon returning home.
• Have your kids look up information on every site you’ll be visiting before you go.  It will help them to gather enough background information to appreciate what they’re seeing.  For instance, while we told them that they’d see the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, we didn’t tell them why the Rosetta Stone was important.  Which meant that when we got to the museum, they didn’t realize why we were dragging them to see a stone.  I think we just expected them to get excited because we told them that it was exciting.  We then had to discuss the importance of the stone for ten minutes until that information clicked, and then see the stone again.  We could have avoided a lot of this if we had taken time before we left to have the kids learn about important sites or items at home.
• Most kids rise to the occasion when they sense their behaviour will be determining what they are allowed to do.  You know your kid better than anyone else.  Don’t put them in situations where they’re doomed to fail.  If they are the sort who need to run around outside, there is plenty here outside.  If they are the sort who can tour an art museum, by all means, take them to an art museum.  But always ask yourself before you decide on a site whether you’re asking too much of your travel partners.  For instance, we really wanted to see Churchill’s War Rooms, but knew that was too much for the twins.  They would have probably loved Legoland, but I wasn’t giving up a London day for that.  So we all compromised and tailored the trip so everyone could be reasonably happy with our personal limits kept in mind.
• There are many Tube closures on the weekends (for instance, while we were there, we couldn’t take the District or Circle lines).  Make sure you look up travel directions before you go but also have a back-up plan in mind.
• There are plenty of great neighbours to stay in, but we found Kensington to be fantastic for kids.  We could walk to the park, it wasn’t that crowded and therefore noise was at a minimum at night, and there were plenty of kid-friendly restaurants.
• Be realistic about money.  London is a very expensive city.  The entrance fees to sites will blow your mind if you’re accustomed to US museums.  You can save money by packing a bag lunch and eating breakfast in your hotel room, purchasing tickets ahead of time, and opting to visit free sites with a few paid sites sprinkled in.
• Bring more than one kind of camera.  We brought along a point-and-shoot which fit in my pocket and an iPhone and ended up having the perfect picture depending on the lighting without having the camera take up a lot of space.
• Rent a wifi device.  Instead of using free wifi (always risky) or paying daily for the hotel wifi, we rented a portable wifi device.  This saved our ass many times when we had to look up information on the fly, but it also enabled us to skype with people back home and send photos right as we took them.
• Rather than have the kids keep a detailed journal (they were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel each night), we made an audio journal as a family.  It’s about two hours long.  Each night, we’d sit on a bed with the recorder in the middle and talk about our day, telling what we did and the random funny things we noticed along the way.  We got a lot more detail than we would have gotten if we had written for ten minutes and the audio journal became one more souvenir from the trip.

I wrote out where we sprinkled in daily Harry Potter stuff below, though I’ve sectioned out the pictures and details into two separate posts.  So know that information is coming.  And to make it easier to plan a Harry Potter trip, I’ve designated what was Harry Potter book sites (meaning, trying to find the real Diagon Alley or Ministry of Magic) which I’m calling HPBS and what was a Harry Potter movie location (such as where they filmed the Leaky Cauldron scene in the first Harry Potter film) or HPML.

Day One

We took a night flight from the US and skipped the airline dinner so we could go to sleep immediately on the plane.  We got a few hours of sleep — enough to allow us to function the next day — and then hit the ground running once we reached London and checked into our hotel.

We started off with a little Harry Pottering because we knew the kids were excited for that.  We focused on HPBS, trying to find the real Diagon Alley (see the next post on Harry Potter sites in London for the details).  And we ended up walking to Trafalgar Square where the kids played on the base of the statue of Admiral Nelson, enjoyed the sunshine, and watched a chalk artist (was it Bert from Mary Poppins?).

Heads up — it’s a £500 fine if you’re caught feeding the birds.  There’s also legend that if Big Ben in the clock tower chimes 13 times, the bronze lions will stand up.

The Sherlock Holmes Pub is in this area if you’re into those books (you also can visit the Baker Street tube stop to see the wall mural and the statue of Holmes).  Afterwards, we went to St. Martin in the Field instead and did brass rubbings in the crypt.

And swung through the Portrait Gallery to see some kings and queens before dinner.

Day Two

We went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards.

And then to a few Harry Potter sites (again, outlined in the next post), finally ending up at the Tower of London.  We got a great Yeoman Warder for our tour and then saw the White Tower and Bloody Tower on our own.  The kids were fascinated by the story of the murdered princes.

There are a lot of places to eat in the area.  We ended up getting coffee and then walked over Tower Bridge at night, which was beautiful.

Day Three

This was probably our least successful day (hence the lack of pictures).  We went to the British Museum, a lot of which was over their heads.  Again, next time, we’ll pick ten items, have them research them ahead of time, and then go to the museum so they know exactly what they’re looking at.  We also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood.  We thought it would be a big hit, but looking at cool toys behind glass doesn’t really excite kids we found out.  Lastly, we swung by Harrods, which was crowded beyond comfort.

Day Four

Seven hours at the Making of Harry Potter!  Er… this needed its own post.

Day Five

Started with standing at the location of the Ministry of Magic (again, next post), we walked by Parliament and the clock tower that holds the bell, Big Ben.

Then we went to Westminster Abbey.  The kids had worksheets to fill out and we had an audio guide to help them answer the questions.

Afterwards, we traveled to the Temple area to see more Harry Potter stuff and St. Clement Danes (“oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clements”).

There was more Harry Potter stuff at Kings Cross station (important information on that in the next post), and finally Abbey Road where we crossed the street just like the Beatles and saw Abbey Road Studios as well as signed our name to the wall.

Day Six

Alice in Wonderland and a trip to Oxford — this also needed its own post.

Day Seven

Took a day trip out to Windsor Castle.

We caught another Changing of the Guard ceremony.  We got to tour the state rooms and see Queen Mary’s dollhouse and go to the church where the Queen Mum is buried.

After lunch, we crossed the river (a short walk) to see Eton College, an all-boys boarding school for ages 13 – 18.  It was where Prince William and Harry went to school.  We took the kids there because we felt it was as close as we could get to a school like Hogwarts — old stone buildings, formal dress.

The Wolvog didn’t think it was funny how often we asked him if we should put him down for Eton, but it did lead to an interesting conversation over dinner about boarding schools in general.

Day Eight

We spent the day wandering around London, spending it mostly outside such as chasing pigeons in front of St. Paul’s and watching an artist there.

Or seeing a lot of street performers such as a fire juggler…

…and a weird headless man and ate street food.

We walked over Millennium bridge in the afternoon (which is in the sixth Harry Potter movie) and loved the tradition of lovers placing locks on the bridge. (I know this is done in many places, but it looked particularly pretty here.)

We ended up at the Tate Modern.  While we saw the permanent collection, the twins wanted to spend most of the time inside a performance art piece that was taking place on the ground floor.  Like three hours in a performance art piece — that’s how much they loved it (and that performance art piece probably needs its own post as well).

Day Nine

We walked to Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue.

and then continued on to Bevis Marks, the oldest shul in the UK.

Afterward, we hopped a ferry for Greenwich where we stood on the Prime Meridian.

And learned a lot about time before heading over to the Queen’s House to see if we could catch the ghost on the Tulip Staircase.

And finally, we headed back to London, to eat at our favourite Italian restaurant in Kensington, pack up, and head back to the US to tackle the enormous quantity of laundry spilling out of our suitcases.

Fini.

Coming up: Harry Potter sites around London, spending a day at the Harry Potter movie sets, and an Alice in Wonderland tour of Oxford.