Saturday, May 30, 2009

Harry Potter! What happened to Jane Austen?

I have returned from my 3 week jaunt to the UK and despite missing my plane, spending the night in the Philadelphia airport, losing my credit card and doing something to my knee I had a great time. I felt like my trip was a UK/Ireland sampler trip. We saw so many places in three weeks it is hard to know where to begin. I am sure I will have a series of posts about my trip but this one is dedicated to my Harry Potter adventures. When I left for this trip I thought it would be more of a Jane Austen trip- you know many a long walks in the countryside, broken up by visits to grand estates and cities famously used by Austen (Bath). However it seemed that Harry Potter was everywhere and could not be escaped. 

There was one night that we had not made concrete plans to stay anywhere so we ended up staying in this cute little town in Wales called Pembroke. It was a great decision we loved it there. In our search for internet access we entered a shop called Dragon Alley (very close to diagon alley and for good reason). The super friendly shop owners informed us that nearby Harry Potter 7 was being filmed. 

I am afraid that I don't remember enough from the 7th book to competently say what this place is but Dobby is to be buried near by. The house was built on the beach for outdoor shots. 

These two men were part of the crew, one was a builder and the other was security. I will let you decide which one did what. They were really great and jovial. They answered my inane questions and showed us the approximate place of Dobby's grave, just behind them in the dunes. 
This is the cafe in Edinburgh where Harry Potter was primarily written. We tried to get some cocoa there but it was too busy so we went across the street, fortunately for us because all the pastries were 1/2 off, yum!!!!!!

This is the Divinity school at Oxford and was also used as the infirmary in Harry Potter. That corner is the very corner that Harry Potter recovered in from one of his ailments. I can't remember which. We also toured the Bodlien Library which was used as Hogwarts library but unfortunately were not allowed to take pictures. 

So maybe this was not in Harry Potter per se but it is Christ Church at Oxford and Oxford is where much of Harry Potter's Hogwarts scenes were filmed. 


4 comments:

Kristin McElderry said...

harry potter trip sounds much better than Jane Austen. Even if I am partial to Mr. Darcy...

Anonymous said...

You hurt your knee, missed your flight and lost your credit card??? Oh man... that's rough. Believe me-- I know all about losing credit cards in foreign countries. And missing flights for that matter. Well, it looks like it was amazing. Yay for Harry Potter!! :)

ego non said...

I believe they were filming parts of Harry Potter in those precise locations whilst I was visiting Oxford several years ago. Which really just meant too much of the place was roped off. Lame.

Elizabeth said...

I hate you so much for getting to see all those awesome sites.