The World of Harry Potter

 Well, the Harry Potter Trip has happened.  Actually it happened the 17-20th but I've been a bit busy since (details later)

Of course, there is a lot more to Universal Studios than Harry Potter World - you could spend a week there.  But we had two day passes, and we spent those in the magic world of HP.

I learned some stuff about myself.  Except for my occasional flight up to see my brother for a few days, I have almost never traveled anywhere without Bob (the last time being a Fiber Arts tour in Mexico in 2001).  And we just sort of fit in together - we liked looking at the same things (or, for our different interests, sharing with one another) and moved at about the same pace.  Wander around without thinking about it - just doing stuff.

It's different when you're travelling with other people.  I hadn't realized that I move slowly, pausing frequently to notice some detail or other, or just to stand and take it all in.  I'm not used to trying to keep track of where two other people are (fortunately we all had our phones and could text each other if we got separated).  I'm not used to having a committee meeting to decided where to go or what to do next, or where or what to eat).  I hope I wasn't rude to my friends - although at one point I reached my limit and went wandering off by myself for a couple of hours.

There are actually two parts to Harry Potter World.  We started off in Hogsmeade.

And went for a roller coaster ride (with projected images, rather like being in a virtual reality game, soaring over the castle, playing quidditch and dodging dragons), in Hogwarts Castle.

We went to the train station and caught the Hogwarts Express over to Diagon Alley

Which you enter through a gap in the brick wall.  The first thing you see is Fred and George's joke shop.

If you look, at the back of the picture is Gringott's bank.  It has the huge dragon on top that shoots flames about every 15 minutes.  I didn't get a video of it but YouTube can supply that deficit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZsHj3VZnsg

The inside of the bank, with the rows of animatronic goblins.

The owl post office, complete with animatronic hooting owls.  I laugh at the realistic dribble of owl droppings, considering that part of my job at the museum is hosing away the real stuff because it doesn't look nice. 

We ate at the Two Broomsticks and the Leaky Cauldron. We drank butterbeer (which, to be honest, is cream soda with butterscotch sauce and whipped topping).  Diane got the slushie that was so sweet that between the two of us we couldn't finish it (Kim declined to help out).  I got the hot, which is much better.  And, of course, we went into all of the numerous shops.  Personally, I'm downsizing and didn't need souvenirs, so I merely glanced at all the stuff (T-shirts, wizard robes, plushy owls, wands) and instead craned my head up to see all the really cool display stuff which, unfortunately, was not for sale.

 Random picture of a mermaid fountain

It's funny.  I'm usually drawn to nature and natural settings.  Universal is about as artificial as it comes.  I don't like crowds (by my standards it was crowded, although it had a very small fraction of the number of people it's designed to handle during the peak season).  And yet - I love this place. It's truly magic.  I've been there twice now, and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

I was trying to define what I was feeling.  It's something that I haven't felt much in the last three years.  Happy.  Harry Potter World makes me happy.