Where Were You a Year Ago?

I can remember exactly where I was a year ago. Can you?

Last October, Rob and I spent a few lovely weeks in Portugal. I wrote about it here, here, and here. But what I never wrote about on the blog was where we went after we left Portugal.

This is where we were last Halloween. Can you guess where it is?

A Fabulous Way to Spend Halloween

 Yes, we went to London, England! This photo shows us in front of the Palace Theatre in London. The day we arrived in London, the cab driver drove us right past this theatre on our way to our hotel.

Now, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I read them aloud to my children as the books came out one by one. As they became independent readers, I confess we used to squabble over who got to read each new book first. I saved the set of books, and now my daughter is reading the series with my oldest grandson.

Of course, we also raced out see each movie as it was released. My teenage son and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, as we travelled across Canada in our antique RV in 2007.

So when I saw that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was playing in London while we were there, I became obsessed with attending the play. I went online and found out the tickets had been sold out for months. But I also read that it was sometimes possible to purchase tickets that someone else had returned the morning of the play.

So we walked over to the Palace Theatre on the morning of October 31, arriving at the ticket wicket a little after it opened. No one had returned any tickets yet, but the salesperson directed us to stand on the sidewalk and wait. We were second in line! We waited for over an hour. The person in front of us got tickets. Finally we were called over to the wicket and offered a pair of very expensive tickets just a couple of rows back from the stage. We bought them! They were the most expensive event tickets I've ever purchased.

Inside the Palace Theatre

Watching the play was an all-day affair. Part 1 started at 2:00 PM and lasted over 3 hours. We had a break for dinner, then had to be back at the theatre at 7 PM for Part 2, which lasted about 3 1/2 hours. It was fabulous!

Altogether, we stayed five days in London before flying home.  Both Rob and I had been there decades previously, so we spent a lot of time walking around to the famous sights to see what had changed. One of the highlights for me was visiting the National Gallery, especially the Turner paintings and the Impressionist Show.

Detail of Floor Mosaic in the National Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh

We also loved the Museum of London, one which neither of us had ever been to. It was recommended to us by someone we met on the port cellar tour in Porto.

A Section of the Original City Wall, Close to the Museum of London

Detail of Trafalgar Square

London Phone Booth

I leave you with a few photos from our visit. I have so many, it's hard to choose. To conclude, here's a photo from Halloween, this year. I went our Trick or Treating with my grandsons, their parents, and their friends.

Halloween 2019

One final note: I've signed up for NaNoWriMo this November. If you're curious about what it is, I've written about it before here and here. So, I'm going to be spending a lot of time at my keyboard this month, but you'll probably not be hearing very much from me in the blogging world for a bit.