So, Tuesday afternoon, KylieMac and I took off to go to Gare du Nord where the Hogwarts Express was due into Paris on the first stop of the French movie promotion.
Or so we thought. I mean, yes, we went, and yes, there was a train. But not the REAL Hogwarts Express (Disappointment #1). However, we got in line with everyone else to find out what was going on and hoping for the best.
The line moved pretty well, which was good because the station was hot and stuffy. As we moved forward, we saw a couple of girls walking around handing out contest forms of some kind; the girls were wearing robes from Gryffendor and Slytherin, which was cute. We noticed there were very few younger children in line, but since it was around 12:30pm on a Tuesday they were mainly in school.
As we got closer to the actual train, we saw that it was just your basic garden-variety French train with movie posters plastered over the windows, as in the photo above. I had been wondering how, if it was going to be the antique train from the movie, they would get it through the Chunnel and over to France; I doubt the train would fit with it's smokestack, and it probably wouldn't run on the high-speed TGV lines into Paris.
Inside the train -- once we made it in -- they'd decorated each car in a different wizarding world theme: Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts, Umbridge's office, Potions classroom. They had costumes on mannequins and some props and artifacts from the film, and a few flat-screen monitors running movie clips. The also had a few X-Box stations where people could try out the newest Harry Potter game (note to self: find out if there's a PC-compatible version available, too).
So, it was interesting to see some of the things from the film but otherwise... not quite worth standing in line for an hour in a hot train station. If you weren't able to join us, you didn't miss a thing. At least it was free. And KylieMac and I made the most of it by talking a nice walk afterwards along the Canal Saint Martin, which I hadn't done before, and enjoying a picnic lunch by the canal before we each had to head back to our respective "real lives". See the rest of the pix here.
Nonetheless... I can't wait for July when the movie, and then the final book, come out. I know what I'll be reading on MY summer vacation this year... how about you?
If you're up in Scotland, you can ride the actual train used in the film. Find out about it.
