Hello fellow readers,
If you're a potterhead then you know that Harry Potter is set in England. I am a
huge fan of the movies series (as I've stated in a previous post), so I was in a
dream world. Therefore, without further adieu, today’s post is about England!
The day after our last night in Scotland - feel free to catch up with my last two posts
- we took a bus to England. We first traveled to a town called Durham where we got
to visit a beautiful cathedral used in some of the courtyard scenes of Harry Potter.
We had some free time to walk around and eat lunch before continuing our drive.
For the next 5-6 hours we watched several episodes of a wonderfully addicting show
called Victoria - it's about Queen Victoria who became queen at the young age of 18;
you can find the series here in the U.S. through Amazon Prime or PBS. The series
soon became our tour group’s guilty pleasure show.
Location: Durham Cathedral Courtyard
Our journey through England led us to a small city called York where we would stay
for a night. Being in York we got to walk down a market street that inspired Diagon
Alley from Harry Potter, then three of us found a Pound Store (the equivalent to a
dollar store here in the U.S.) and stocked up on some supplies before walking along
a wall that encased the center of town - it used to be a functioning fort. We then got
some delicious fish and chips to “take away” and ate in our room.
Location: High Street in York
The inspiration for Diagon Alley
The following day we embarked on the rest of our journey to London. One of the
girls in the tour had some family living in another town that we would not be passing,
so the night before she spoke to our tour director and got permission to travel alone
the following day to visit her family - our tour director understood that this was our
trip to experience and did his best to help us do that. She met up with the group again
when we stopped in Cambridge for the afternoon. It was a quaint little town where a
majority of the group went on a small boat tour while the rest of us explored on foot.
My best friend and I got some lunch, did some shopping, and explored the Fitzwilliam
Museum before grabbing some satisfying ice cream and met with the group. After
Cambridge, we finally made it to London! Our tour director demonstrated how to use
the tube and took us to the center of London to show us around. For the evening,
almost everyone in the group joined in a pub crawl while my best friend got to go to a
play that Tom Hiddleston was in, she is a big fan. Though I joined in the pub crawl it
was really not for me, but I enjoyed myself, nevertheless!
Location: Cambridge
Our first full day in London we were given a bus/walking tour. We got to see St. Paul's
cathedral (where Prince Arthur married Princess Catherine), the bridge that gets
destroyed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film, Buckingham Palace - the
queen was home - and we saw some incredibly interesting monuments like a dragon
atop a pillar that used to mark a toll booth and the Tower Bridge which many tourists -
guilty - believed to be the London Bridge. For the afternoon most of us went on an extra
excursion that took us on the London Eye then a boat ride with afternoon tea on the
River Thames. For the evening, our tour director was kind enough to reserve seats for 6
of us to go see the musical Wicked. It was my first time seeing the musical and it was an
amazing show!
Location: London Eye
Photo Credit: Lili's selfie skills; thank you, Yoselin for allowing me to share the photo
Location: Post-Wicket Show
The following day, some of the group chose to go on an extra excursion, me included,
while others stayed behind to explore London. On the excursion we got to visit
Oxford and Windsor. Oxford was surreal, there were a few places where Harry Potter
was filmed and or inspired - such as the courtyard where Mr. Moodie turns Malfoy
into a ferret - and we got to walk on campus. We even got to explore the town a little
before heading to Windsor. Windsor has the most beautiful castle where the Queen
normally stays for most of the week - she was home - and on the premises is a beautiful
church where many royals are married and buried. We were given some free time to
wander before we returned to London. On our last night in London, four of us went to
see the Phantom of the Opera, in its original theater. It was magical! It was my first
time seeing the musical live and it was fantastic!
Location: Oxford
Location: Post-Phantom of the Opera Show
The next day we said our good-byes to London and drove to Liverpool. For lunch we
made a stop in a small town called Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is where William
Shakespeare was born. We were given four hours to explore, which is more than we’d
been offered on the trip, so we took advantage. Three of us went to eat at the
Shakespaw Cat Cafe where you could eat and be surrounded by felines with different
Shakespeare inspired names such as Hamlet and Puck. After lunch we decided to
explore the town separately, so I did what I had wanted to do for a while, I got lost.
I wasn’t fully lost, I found my way back to the bus, but while exploring I lost my sense
of direction and wandered into a farmers’ market then by a little bookstore with
amazing deals and finally found a river that led me back to the main square. I even
bought myself some delicious ice cream in celebration of the magical walk I got to
experience. After Stratford-Upon-Avon, we arrived in Liverpool just a few hours
before a big soccer game, so the streets were full of people in red jerseys drinking and
singing. Our tour director walked us around quickly and safely and by the time we
made it back to the hotel, the game was about to start, so most of us stayed in the
bar/lobby area and watched the game alongside some fans. Liverpool won the game
and people went crazy. I decided to stay safely tucked away in my hotel room while
others chose to join the crowds. It was an interesting experience - the people
celebrated well into the night, according to one of the girls, they celebrated until dawn.
Location: Stratford-Upon-Avon
The second day in Liverpool we had a full free day! I slept in and did laundry - I was
living out of a carry-on for two weeks so I desperately needed clean clothes - with a
few other girls. While waiting on our clothes I found out one of the other girls in the
group wanted to see the same things as me so we agreed to do it together. We
explored the library, slavery museum, and Titanic museum. All the while, there was
a huge crowd of Liverpool fans making their way to a main street that the players
would be parading down later in the evening. We got back to the hotel and I stayed
inside for the rest of the night and relaxed.
Location: Liverpool; preparing for the parade
Our last day in England consisted of driving to the Ferry port. Our journey took us
through Wales where our driver lives so he took us through a magical place called
Snowdonia. It was full of curves going up and coming down but the view was worth
the motion sickness. We then made it to the port and boarded the Ferry to Ireland.
We said our good-byes to England as we embarked on our journey to Ireland.
Location: Snowdonia
If you’re looking for another song to listen to that inspires England, listen to the
Beatles, they started their career in Liverpool.
Location: Liverpool
Featuring the entire tour group!
Thank you for reading through my experience of England, please check back next
week for my Europe Trip wrap-up with Ireland!
Live every day to the fullest.
Love, Damaris
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