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Thursday 21st February
Our Family Christmas present was tickets to watch Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – a two part play where up until now, the tickets had been incredibly hard to get hold of. We had booked tickets 10 months previously!
Callum’s excitement started when we got to Reading Station – he had spotted one of the Elizabeth Line trains being tested for the Crossrail project.
We were staying at the Novotel behind Paddington Station and headed there first to drop off our case. As we were in London for two nights, we couldn’t get away with rucksacks this trip. As it was close to Paddington, we could swing by to collect before getting our train home. Bit of luck as our room was ready. Very odd layout though. WC was in a separate room with the sink and shower completely separate.
Jon had been doing a little research for this trip – one of our favourite places in London is Borough Market where you can pick up delicious street food from a wide variety of vendors. This time, we were going to try Leather Lane Market.
We were completely spoiled for choice. The vendors lined the street and they just went on and on and on! Callum and Jon eventually settled on Thai Green Curry and Pad Thai whilst I went for Teriyaki Chicken with noodles. Really good and am sure we’ll be back on a future visit.
From Leather Lane we wandered by Smithfields before heading down towards St Pauls. En route, Jon spotted on Googlemaps that there was a William Wallace memorial – he’s a bit of a Braveheart fan. We searched and searched but couldn’t find any statue. Eventually we discovered the memorial was a plaque on the wall – this was marked the spot where he was hung, drawn and quartered.
Quick drink in Paternoster Square – weather was glorious and unseasonably warm for February. From here we made our way to the West End to find the theatre and also find somewhere to eat.
We quickly found the Palace Theatre and it was on the junction of Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. Callum would have the advantage on both Jon and I this evening – he’d already read the screenplay.
Next stop was to find somewhere to eat. There were lots of restaurants nearby and we settled on Mexican at La Bodega Negra. Food was really good. We had some Nachos and a quesadilla style garlic bread for starters Jon and Callum had burritos and I settled on fajitas.
Meal completed and we had a wander around the area before heading back to the theatre to join the queue to get in.
#keepthesecrets – not saying anything more about the play itself as we don’t want to spoil anyone else’s experience. Suffice to say the actors were all superb, effects just stunning and you need to stay awake to follow the story line – well, after all, it’s JK Rowling!!
Friday 22nd February
Another glorious sunny February Day. We were completing the Covent Garden Treasure Trail this morning. After checking the tube map, Jon realised that we would be getting off one tube stop away from Temple Church – featured in another of his favourite films, The Da Vinci Code.
After visiting Temple Church we headed over to Leicester Square where this Treasure Trail started. The trail took us around Theatreland before ending up at Covent Garden itself.
As always, we stumbled across some wonderful places off the beaten track – this time, we discovered the very colourful Neal’s Yard.
Lunchtime was beckoning and we ended up back at one of our old favourites – The Big Easy. A great deal on the lunch time menu – £10 for lobster and shrimp roll with a drink. Jon’s beer was a little on the large side!
We wandered around Covent Garden for the rest of the afternoon. We ummed and ahhed about going into the James Bond exhibition … but the reviews weren’t particularly good and it seemed expensive for what it was.
Dinner this evening was at a little Italian – can’t remember the name but something like Sylvie’s or Margritte’s. Food was really good.
Back to the theatre for the second part of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Has to be one of the best plays we’ve seen in a long time.
