Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another blog post! This time I wanted to write about a recent trip to London that I have recently come back from. This might never see the light of day, but I guess if you are reading this, then I did actually post it in the end!

At the beginning of June, me and a friend decided to go to London for a few days. We had set out what we were going to do, what day, and when, but as with all these things, it did not go quite to plan, but for the most part, it did. We had decided we were going to go from Sunday to Wednesday, each day packed with many activities, so without further ado, let me tell you about them! 

Sunday

So, we did not have the best start to the trip, as all trains to London St Pancreas were not running due to the heat that day and the day before. After speaking to Southeastern staff, we managed to get a train to London Bridge instead. Once we had arrived in London, we had to get The Tube to King’s Cross, which is where our hotel would be and where we would base ourselves for the next few days! It’s worth mentioning that I had packed everything in a cabin backpack and not a suitcase as I wanted to keep both my hands free, but it was a struggle to carry it around as I had packed a week’s worth of clothes as I would be staying at my friend’s house for another few days and just decided to bring it all with me. 

Once had the hotel, we managed to check in and pay for the hotel. Once in the room and had had a sit out for half an hour due to the travelling, we had decided that we would go to the Harry Potter shop at King’s Cross to see what was there and if there was anything we wanted to get. I got myself a Dumbledore T-shirt. We were going to get our photo taken with the trolley, and Harry Potter House scarves, but the queue was very long, so we just decided to go back to the hotel and try again another day.

Monday

Monday was the first full day. We had dedicated this day to shopping and going to the various shops that we both wanted to go to. We started by going to The House of MinaLima! For those of you who don’t know MinaLima is the art gallery and company that created all the paper props for the Harry Potter films, from things like the Hogwarts letters, physical copies of The Daily Prophet and things like the school books, labels for jars for magical objects etc. and even The Marauders Map. It was really fascinating and interesting to see all these things up close and to look at all the intricate little details of each of them! You could buy replicas of course as well as some prints of posters and other things from the films. I was very interested in the prints, but the prices were at the time too high, and some were massive and would have been a struggle to get home. But I found out you can order them online, so I might order some one day once I move into a newer house. 

We also ‘M&M World’ and The Lego Store, which turned out to be right opposite to each other, I didn’t get anything out of these shops, but I was amazed at just how much merchandise M&M could put their Lego on. You would have thought that I would have bought some chocolate, but the whole week was in the high twenties, so the chocolate was only going to melt in my bag, so I chose not to. 

After we went to MinaLima, we went to a shop called Forbidden Planet which is a shop for all things nerd! Soon after, we then went into a little bookshop called ‘Gay’s The Word’. A lovely little bookshop set in the heart of Bloomsbury that specifically stocks and caters for the LGBTIQA+ community. Both books from authors of the community or stories/novels about the community! I was amazed to see just how busy this shop was. There was room to move and to look at everything! Even though I am not part of that community myself, I know people who are, and it felt so welcoming, cute and cozy! It is a shame in some ways that the shop was so small because I feel like they should really have a reading corner or something where people can just sit and read if they wish to! I only tend to read audiobooks now because of my level of vision the way it is, so I do miss reading an actual book and sitting under and blanket reading! But this shop was lovely and, like I said, so welcoming and friendly. I am sure I will be back again at some point. If you are in or visiting London, it is defiantly worth the visit! 

Tuesday

This was yet another packed full day. I am not going to lie. This was the day I was looking forward to the most! We started off by heading to St. Paul’s Cathedral. St. Paul’s is a cathedral I have always wanted to visit, and I was so pleased I was able to finally visit. If you are disabled in any way, then we can get free entry to the cathedral along with one carer/PA. Otherwise, there is a charge to visit the cathedral, but if you are going to a service, then, of course, the entrance is free. The cathedral floor itself was amazing to look at, as well as all the side chapels and the crept. We had then decided we were going to climb The Dome! Word of warning here, there are a lot more stairs than you think there are, and the later ones are old stone steps and not that easy to navigate. Nor, sadly, are any of the steps marked with yellow tape to see the edges clearly. So,something to bare in mind if you are thinking about doing it. Once we had finished The Dome, we then sat down before heading to the shop. Once at the shop, we then waited for the daily Holy Communion/Eucharist service to start. This was something that was important to me, and that I really wanted to do, so I was so pleased when we did. 

After grabbing some food, we realized that Gordon Square wasn’t too far, so then went to go and have a look. Gordon Square is famous for having been the set of houses that members of The Bloomsbury Group owned and lived in the first half of the twentieth century. The Bloomsbury Group are a set of famous set of English writers, intellectuals, philosophers, and artists. Once we walked around and looked at all the houses, we then sat in the square green in the sunshine for a bit before heading back to the hotel and again going out in the evening.

Once we had some time relaxing in the hotel, we then travelled again on The Tube to Lyceum Theatre to see ‘The Lion King’. This is a show I have always wanted to see, but for whatever reason, I have not had the chance to see it. But boy, was it worth the wait! I have always heard good things about this show, so I was so excited to see this. I know I normally write theatre show reviews, so if you want a more detailed accessibility review of The Lion King, then let me know either on Twitter or in the comments below. But to summarize, this show was outstanding. The puppetry was out of this world! Along with the use of colour and costumes. It follows the Disney film well, with updated changes too, it would be thoroughly recommended for a lovely night out.

Wednesday 

So our final day in London had come around, and we decided to end it all with Warner Bro’s Studios – The Making Of Harry Potter! I have spoken about going to this attraction before, and a lot of it still applies, but as me and my friend I have been so many times over the years, I felt that it was okay to just be around by ourselves without the accessible tour. We managed to see all the new things that we wanted to see, from the updated Number Four Privet Drive, which had the new set of Harry’s bedroom with the scene of Harry meeting Dobby for the first time, Professor Sprout’s greenhouse where you got to pull your own mandrake, a demonstration on how I made the feather float in the charms class in the first film and some of the Hagrid costumes and props and how they made Hagrid come to life on screen.

The one new thing I got to experience was the dedicated shuttle service that takes you from outside Watford station to the studios themselves. This is something I had never had a chance to experience as in past visits. I had always gone with someone who was able to drive. But I found this to be quite a good and accessible experience. Once leaving the station, it was very easy to find the right bus stop, either because of the mass crowd of people or children or adults wearing full Harry Potter costumes! The buses themselves are covered in Harry Potter decals, picturesand advertisements, so you really can’t miss them visually. But have not gone on my own before, the Watford station staff know all about it, so I am confident that if you ask anyone of them about where it is etc. I am sure they will be able to help! 

On this occasion, I got very little from the shop, although I think this goes to show how often I have gone to the studios in the past, even though I normally go about once a year. If you would like to know about how the studio is accessibility-wise, then you check out my other post from a few years ago, as most of it still applies today.

So that was my recent trip to London. I do not know if this was at all interesting. Let me know if you would like to see this sort of thing in the future. If you Could not tell, I thoroughly enjoyed myself during this week and was sad to come home again after, but who knows, we might make this a yearly thing. Thank you so much for reading this. If you have read this from start to finish, then well done! Feel free to tell me what you think below in the comments! What are some of the awesome things you have done in London? 

Until Next Time,

The VI Critic