Ay Up Me Duck: All's well that ends well!

Despite the head trauma I received a few days ago - you've heard the expression "Physician heal thyself"- well….. nurses do it better ! My non-invasive self treatment worked like a hot damn and I was able to bounce back - no pun intended - just in time to see this:

I had to travel to the West End as the theatre is in Drury Lane and slap bang in the middle of the theatre district. And of course we all know that Drury Lane is where the Muffin Man lives -he must have been in hiding when I came along! I passed so many theatres:

Ooh, so much to see and so little time. I finally found the Theatre Royal and after climbing at least 5 flights of stairs I found myself in the balcony section. Then I had a further climb to get to my seat in "the gods" as it's called in England or the "nosebleed" section as it's known in Canada! Needless to say once I found my seat I stayed rooted in it for the whole performance! This is what happens when you get cheapo tickets but, hey I'm not complaining, I got to see the performance! This was taken from my seat, sorry it's a bit dark but it IS a theatre!

Anyway it turned out to be totally brilliant. The special effects were stunning and yes, Augustus Gloop fell into a chocolate sea and got sucked up into a tube; Violet Beauregarde blew up into a big purple balloon, floated off , burst and showered the audience with purple glitter; Verruca Salt fell into a drain and Mike Teavee ended up in a TV. The Oompa Loompas started off as puppets and were then played by actors. The final scene with Charlie and Willie Wonka floating over the city in a lit up telephone box

was spectacular. There was a standing ovation at the end that went on for a long time. I've seen Roald Dahl's plays in the past with my son - James and the Giant Peach and The Witches and they were equally well done. He is a great kid's author even though at times a lot of the kids in his stories end up in dire straits!

That was a great finale to my stay in London and the next day it was time to head home. I caught the train to St. Pancras International Station. It's recently had a big reno and is now home to the Eurostar:

Isn't this a fantastic example of Victorian architecture?? Honestly the Victorians were an industrious lot.
I didn't take this actual photo as I could never get the angle and I wanted to see if anyone recognized it.
Hint….Harry Potter??? Well as my REALLY good friends know, I am a great HP fan. St Pancras was used in The Chamber of Secrets movie when Harry couldn't access Platform 9 3/4 and Ron picked him up in the magical Ford Anglia (hey I used to have a Ford Anglia) and they flew out of St. Pancras and were seen by all the muggles!
Which is a bit confusing as the Hogwart's Express actually left from King's Cross train station which is across the road. So…. I crossed the road into King's Cross and this is what I found:

Right beside Platform 9 3/4 was The Harry Potter Shop : you can buy all your Hogwart's gear from here:

King's Cross Station has also has had some renovations, totally unrecognizable from the years when I lived in London:

Well, I guess I'd better go and catch my train. So I crossed the road :

This is the "new" part of St. Pancras, built to house Eurostar.

This is the original St. Pancras Station

I wandered over to the departure boards to see where to catch my train:

Trains to Paris and Brussels run every hour or so. I've been to Brussels on the Eurostar and to Calais for the day. It only takes 35 mins to get from Dover to Calais thru the Chunnel. Hopefully Paris this trip……oo la la. It will be an excuse to practice ma francaise and to manger bien!

I wandered by the stores and this sushi bar, I've eaten there before. It's really neat, the sushi chefs work in the centre and you can see them prepare the food. When finished they put it on a conveyor belt that runs around the seating areas. The dishes are all colour coded as to price and the customer just helps themselves and then takes the empty dishes to the cash register when finished.

I walked down the massive hallways to my departure gate, all the stores were decorated for Christmas, there's even a Hamley's here, Lisa:

I finally found my departure gate, right alongside the Eurostar terminus:

I sat there drinking my coffee and people watching. While I was there a Eurostar train pulled onto the next track. If you look closely you can see the high electrified wire fence along the track. I presume this is for security measures aka terrorist attacks but also no doubt to keep illegal aliens out.

BTW London has been on high alert for terrorists for a few months now, evidenced by the large numbers of police in major public places.