*I completed my TfL set!
TL;DR: I went to a sorry market, and THE HARRY POTTER EXPERIENCE (WOOO), and saw an awesome show at the Savoy
Post con, post long walk, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Not true, I had bought a ticket to the Harry Potter Experience up near Watford, but that was in the afternoon, and I had all morning to kill. I resolved to go to a market and buy myself a new hat. The one I had bought at market in 2011 had gotten ratty, and I thought it would be fitting to get another one in London. Alas, the market I chose (I didn’t want to go to the market I’d been to already — see my comments yesterday about revisiting) did not have exciting hats, or exciting anythings, really. Too bad. It left me with an interesting issue, though. I didn’t have enough time to do anything terribly exciting, but too much time to simply hop the tube to Euston. So, in the spirit of my long walks, I walked there. It took about an hour and a half, plus I had walked an hour to get to the market, so it fit the mould of the Thames walks. The only problem, of course, is that it was the middle of the day, and it got me all exercised.
I still arrived at the station quite early, but this allowed me the time to take the one piece of Transport for London equipment that I had yet to take this trip: the Overground. Yup, it’s called the Overground. It’s like the Underground, except it doesn’t go underground. It stays up top. All the seats are against the windows, which makes watching the world go by darn difficult, but I tried my best. I tried, that is, until I once again became surrounded by teenage girls. At least they weren’t spitting. I did learn that if one of them got their licence, their dad would her a car, but he’d get it registered in Somethingshire instead of London because insurance would only be £3000 a year as opposed to £15000. This made me wonder what the hell kind of car he had promised her.
Off the train at Watford Junction and into the PotterMobile. It’s a shame it wasn’t a triple-decker. I’ll spare you the details of the tour, but I will say that it was well worth it if you liked the movies and books. I had to exercise considerable constraint at the wand table, and I managed only through the determination that the boys should have their own wands pick them. I really enjoyed this place, and I spent over three hours there. I could have easily spent more, but I had a plan for the evening, and I didn’t want to scupper it.
A slightly terrifying wax figure of Hermione. Those eyes!!! Note the author in reflection.
I rushed back to town, catching the fast train (the OG took 45 minutes, the fast train 20), then booking it to Leicester Square. I wanted to see another show! I originally meant to see Let the Right One In, but when my turn came up at the cut-rate ticket seller, I decided that I wanted something comedic instead. So I got a ticket for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Here’s a tip: day-of tickets usually get discounted up to 50%, but if you’re alone and they have singles, they’ll do even better. My ticket was 60% off. And excellent. I’ve seen this movie a couple of times, but it wasn’t a musical then, and this one was. The songs were fantastic, the actors had such stage presence, and the production had me standing and ovating at the end. I have to say I admire actors in musical theatre. They sing! They dance! They perform! They pull you into their manufactured world for a couple of hours in an intimate dialog! And then they do it again and again and again, day in, day out! There’s nothing like seeing a good musical to kick me in the pants (IE: trousers) vis-à-vis my artistic pursuits. And the Steve Martin character looked like Lieff. So there’s that.
The curtain at the Savoy Theatre.
Then home and packing and bed, for the next day, it’s Chester time!