Tuesday, August 13th.
The girls and I left the hotel about 8am to get breakfast at Gail's Bakery next to Euston Station: a tasty cinnamon bun for me, a blueberry muffin for Laureva and a chocolate chip muffin for Maeva. Afterwards, we went into the station to top up Maeva's Oyster card and take the subway one stop to King's Cross. We located Platform 9 3/4 and, of course, had to check out the Harry Potter shop there. Laureva bought herself a Platform 9 3/4 keychain for her new set of house keys (now that she'll be going to Middle School) and Maeva bought herself a Sirius Black wand.
We walked back to the hotel to meet Sylvain, then the four of us headed out for an hour's stroll around Camden before heading to Euston Station to catch our 11:23 train to Watford Junction. The walk included another stop at Gail's so Sylvain could get something to eat. We walked through a small park and encountered a little gray bulldog named Enzo. He was standing in the middle of the path and did NOT want to budge to let people go by, even though his person tugged on his leash quite a bit. He seemed friendly, but definitely had his own ideas.
We rode the train fifteen minutes to Watford Junction and had lunch at the nearby Junction Cafe. I had a spicy bean burger with fries that lived up to its name and was quite tasty, though slightly dry. I tried the HP sauce on my fries (oops, chips, I guess!) and quite enjoyed the rich, sweet, vinegary flavor. It was surprising, at first, but it grew on me. We shared a banana milkshake and a Kit Kat milkshake for dessert.
After lunch, we caught the special double-decker HP shuttle from the station to Harry Potter Studios. Our tickets were for 2pm. We were right on time and explored the exhibits for the next five hours. Unfortunately, Sylvain wasn't feeling well, so he spent most of his time sitting on any benches he could find. He says his head feels like when he had Covid so he may have caught Covid from his mom or the head cold that Maeva's been battling. (Poor thing, she says her ears are still clogged from the plane.) The girls had a blast, I think, and spent a lot of time taking photos and videos of nearly everything. We had digital guides, but they didn't use them as they claimed the earphones hurt their ears. I used mine, and learned that it takes them over 50 days to make a single goblin mask! Maeva said she enjoyed learning about how they made the treasure multiply for the vault scene. It involved treasure made from rubber, a net, and a series of scissor lifts under the floor. I also enjoyed seeing the 1/3 size model of the Burrow in the Back Lot. It was very cute. We sat down out there for a few minutes so the girls could have a slice of rainbow cake to fill their grumbling tummies before continuing with the second half of the visit.
The girls and I got our photo taken and printed on a "Have you seen these witches?" poster. When we proudly showed Sylvain, he nearly turned us in. We'll have to be more careful!
We took the train back to London, arriving at Euston Station just before 8pm.
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