St. Pancras and King's Cross

This weekend we did more gallivanting around the city.  On Saturday we were mapping out our route from Point B to Point C, and we realized that St. Pancras and King's Cross Stations were along the way, so we decided to stop by and say hello.

 

St. Pancras is an international train station.  If you want to take the Eurostar through the Chunnel to get to Paris, you come here.  It is also a BEAUTIFUL station, so we decided to have a look-see.

 

 

 
Don't quote me on this, but I think those upper windows are actually hotel rooms. 
 

 

 
I believe this statue of lovers is famous.  It is also very well-done.
 

It is surrounded by this 3D mural, with amazing detail.

 

 

The scenes seem to depict various stages of the history of the rails in London.  Or perhaps at St. Pancras in particular? If someone would like to google this and let us all know, I'll give them extra credit!

 

It really is a beautiful station, and in some ways a kind of quiet respite... at least compared to the other train stations I've been in around London.

 

 

Then we hopped across the street to see King's Cross station.  For my non-Harry Potter loving friends, you need to know this:

 

King's Cross Station is a Really Big Deal.  So many crucial moments happen, begin, and end at King's Cross Station.  The entire series ends here, actually.

  

The whole story ends at King's Cross.

 

Just think about that for a moment, and the symbolism.

 

 

 

 

 
Of course the Thing to See is Platform 9 3/4.  I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, many of them are very personal. 
 

 

 

I know that millions of people have read the Harry Potter series, and even more have seen the movies.  I know that the stories are special and meaningful for so many more people than just me.  And I am grateful for that.  When I discover that someone else loves Harry Potter, I have a connection with them, and I love sharing that connection.

 

 

But when you see a queue of people waiting to pose for their picture of crashing their trolley into "the barrier between 9 and 10", and you see the staff person holding the scarf up and standing out of the picture to help create the illusion of the running start, it all suddenly feels less personal and magical.

Not to worry, I didn't despair too much.  As Arthur Weasley says, "It's amazing the things muggles come up with to get on without magic."
 

 

 

Don't worry, they've got scarves for whatever house you're in.  A Slytherin got their picture taken while we were standing nearby.  They may or may not have received some boo's from the queue.  I may or may not have given Tim a very pointed look.  Yes, I married a Slytherin.  I'm a Ravenclaw for those who want to know.

 

 

I know I'm not the only one who gets too emotionally involved in books, and often comes to think of the characters as my friends, in a way.  While I'm very grateful for this time across the pond, away from "real life", I miss my friends like crazy.  I guess in some way, part of me wanted to find my "friends" from Harry Potter.  The logical part of my brain knew this wouldn't happen, and that I would be disappointed, but I wanted to go anyway.  There is a lesson to be learned here, and I think Professor Dumbledore says it best.

 

"It does not do well to dwell on dreams, and forget to live.  Remember that."