So on Saturday, the second sunny day in London in a row, Melissa and I finally headed out to see the Harry Potter sites in and around the city of London. We started out and headed all the way to Leadenhall Market, which is where they shot a scene with Harry and Hagrid right before they enter Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, we couldn't walk through Leadenhall Market because someone was shooting a movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Not really, but wishful thinking) so we just took pictures right outside of it.
It doesn't look very recognizable, but when you watch the first movie, Harry and Hagrid definitely walk through the market before they go into the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. Next, we went to the Millenium Bridge, which is the bridge that the Death Eaters destroyed in the Half-Blood Prince (the sixth movie).
Next up - Gringotts. After walking along the Thames for about 10 minutes, we arrived at The Australia House, which either was used in the filming or was the inspiration behind the bank, Gringotts. It definitely looks like the building in the movie, just before a few special effects that made the bank three stories with crooked pillars.
We then made the long trek to King's Cross Station, where the Hogwarts Express leaves from Platform 9 and 3/4. We first saw St. Pancras, the train station whose exterior was used in the movie as though it was King's Cross. Then we went inside and took pictures at the tourist's Platform 9 and 3/4, but also saw where they actually filmed the scene on platform 4.
St. Pancras
Platform 9 3/4
Inside of King's Cross
The day wouldn't have been complete without a viewing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Except in London it's called the Philosopher's Stone. After seeing all the filming sites in Oxford and then in London, we just had to see them again for ourselves in the movie. I must admit, I wasn't blown away by any of the sites in London and I was a little disappointed. But once we turned the movie on and saw that we had stood on the same stairs that the characters did in Oxford and saw the places that we had walked through that day, we finally grasped how cool it was to be at those sites. It also gave us another excuse to watch Harry Potter One, our fave.
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