I rode the real Hogwarts Express.

Haiku-a-day:

Feb 25^th

Today I rode the

real Hogwarts Express.  Yes, that

is right.  Be jealous.

This afternoon, Roxanne, Leah, and I (I say this a lot, but that is because we are traveling buddies!) went to York!  This week in York has been Wizard week.  They offered wizard shows (though we didn't see any or come across any) and a chance to ride the REAL Hogwarts Express.  That is right, the train used in the movies!  The train that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson actually rode.  Amazing!  When we got to York, we headed straight for the train.  I mentioned we went in the afternoon.  Leah and Roxanne had class and I ended up needing that time to resubmit my short story.  My friend Karl Martin pointed out to me this morning that the email had changed for the short story competition as well as some of the requirements.  I resent my story to the new email and then looked at the requirements.  They changed it so that you had to turn it in via email AND in person.  Keep in mind the deadline was today, so I was quite angry with them.  This meant that I had to go online, put money onto my print card, go to the Parkinson building where the nearest computer cluster is, print all 11 pages off there and take that to the student union help desk where I was supposed to fill out a submission form.  Soooo much work for such a short notice.  Well, I went to the Parkinson building (I know this is a divergence, but bare with me!) and after waiting (I kid you not) about 20 minutes for my computer to start up and load everything, I realized that I had forgotten to send myself a copy of the story.  I tried accessing it through my sent emails, but it refused to load.  So I called home and asked my flatmate if she could go into my room, go onto my computer, find the file and email it to me.  I had left my door unlocked thinking I'd only be gone a short while.  Well, my flatmate goes to open my door and it's locked!  A maintenance person had locked it!  I know this next part is even more of a tangent, but I'm going to tell it because it's my blog!  =)  This locking out business happened to me yesterday as well!!!!  Two days in a row is ridiculous.  Basically, yesterday two maintenance men came in to test everyone's smoke detectors.  Well, apparently the guys thought I wasn't home (I was in the kitchen making lunch), and they LOCKED my room.  Picture this with me: I'm done eating.  I go into the hall, up to my door and it's locked!  My keys are in there as well as my phone, my computer, my shoes, etc.  So, I borrowed one of my flatmates' keys and shoes, went to the front office (located outside of the St Mark's Residence area, that is why I needed the keys) and find out that the office is closed!!!!!  However, outside the door, there are posters giving numbers of staff in there is an emergency.  One of the numbers says something about having key issues.  So, I memorized that number, headed back to my flat, borrowed my friend's phone and called the number.  A staff member was able to come over about 2 minutes later, so that was good, but the situation overall is ridiculous!  It is not the right of the maintenance staff to lock our rooms. End of point.  So....back to my story.  My flatmate is not able to get into my room to send me the story.  I must go home and make the trip all the way back again.  This done, I take my story to the help desk and the woman says they are out of the submission forms.  Murphy's law.  Of course!  So that is why I am glad we did not leave until the afternoon!  This whole business took forever!

Well, now that you know why we all left late, I shall tell you that we got to York around 2:45.  The Hogwarts Express stopped accepting people to get in line to ride at 3:00.  =)  We practically ran there!

It turns out that we were some of the VERY last people to get in line.  Literally, behind us there were only about 10 people or less!  We just barely made it!  There were plenty of people ahead of us though.  When we got in line, a sign posted nearby said "From this point, wait is 1 1/2 hours."  We didn't wait that long, but I think it was still a little over an hour.  We spotted Dumbledore and Harry Potter in the crowd!  I got a few pictures of them too.  They are awesome.

The ride itself only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was well worth the hour wait because now I can say that "I rode the real Hogwarts Express!!!!!!!!!!!"  Yup, total bragging rights!  

Afterwards we headed to a cafe for a while and then wandered around the city a bit.  We went into another church, walked through a very cool outdoors market, and found the (closed for the night) Vikings Festival.  It was a very good day.  

Ok, so, tomorrow I am going to the Lake District and must be up very early, so I shall not post pictures today.  But you should check back soon.

 Our first view of the Hogwarts Express!

Roxanne and Leah in front of a sign that says "The queue from this point is approximately 1 1/2 hours."

Our tickets.

Blurry, but beautiful.

 Leah, Roxanne, and I in front of the real Hogwarts Express!

Lovely!

 Roxanne with her Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone book.

 HARRY POTTER and DUMBLEDORE!

 View from the back of the train.

Inside compartment.