Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Sunday was the day! The day of Harry Potter. 5 hours of Harry Potter, to be exact.

Sadly, it was also the day David had to fly back to France for work. Before my play and his flight, we walked through the gardens at Kensington Palace. After some Sunday brunch, we split up. I went to the West End and the Palace Theatre, and he went for a walk around Westminster- where he got lucky and happened to catch the special Palm Sunday service (which meant he could go inside for free!).

If you're not aware, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a sequel to the book series. It's a story about Harry+Co. and their children 19 years after the last book ends. I managed to snag last minute tickets from someone canceling. I was lucky because the tickets are sold out for the next year!

What can I even say about the play? Would it be too painfully cheesy to say that it was magical? Because the special effects were amazing! Not just like “that was cool,” but more like “how is that possible??”.  

I read the play when it came out last summer. I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away. However, the play did blow me away! It was definitely meant to be a play and not a book. Besides the special effects (seriously like something every minute- flying, disappearing, spells) and the great acting... it made it more fun just to be in London and to be in a theater of very excited people.

The play was in 2 parts of about 2.5 hours each. Not for the faint of heart to do that all in one day. I never came close to getting bored though- and that's saying something, because I normally don't love sitting still for that long.

I had a few hours between parts 1 and 2 that I spent shopping. I've never shopped in London, guys! It had to be done. 

The first act of the play ends with Voldemort coming back... so when you come into the theater for the second half, the gift shop was only selling Slytherin and Dark Mark souvenirs. The stage looked like this:

I appreciated that little touch! It was a very happy day living out my childhood Harry Potter dreams. I feel like I've finally been to Hogwarts. I mean, on the way back to the hotel I even passed through King's Cross :)

On Monday, I woke up with the same sad feeling David had had the day before. It was time to leave London in a few hours. I had time to do a little more sightseeing first, so I walked around the Westminster area and visited the Churchill War Rooms. For someone who loves WWII history, it was really interesting! You can walk through the bunker where Churchill directed the war effort, and also visit a museum about his life.

It's definitely worth seeing as long as you're not claustrophobic. My favorite part were the Churchill quotes. He was so good at insults.

One of the best- a female politician said to him "If I was your wife, I'd put poison in your coffee." He replied, "Well, if I was your husband, I'd drink it." 

We had beautiful sunny weather and blue skies on every day of our trip.

Considering we were both so sad to leave London, I have a feeling that someday the Rubinos will be back. Until next time, London!