Report London: How Lucky Can You Get?

I have been a bit AWOL the past days, but I have a REALLY good reason. I went to LONDON! My wonderful man offered a trip to the magnificent city of my heart and we flew from last Thursday to Monday. It was so great to return to where my heart is home even though we missed the red carpet premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (heretofore called FBAWTFT) by an inch (it was on the 15th and we went there on the 18th) BUT we saw the official midnight premiere in the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square and it was AMAZING! 
​But step for step...We had to get up really early as we flew from Munich and arrived at the hotel about twelve hours later, knowing we still had the midnight premiere ahead and would be awake over 24 hours. Still, our minds were high-spirited and we went to Leicester Square to return my HPCC tickets as it was the same night as FBAWTFT. After that we wandered through Leicester Square up to Regent Street and I saw the probably most magnificent Christmas decoration I have ever seen. Regent Street and surrounding streets were embellished with huge angels hanging down and stretching their gigantic wings from one side to the other. Unfortunately, they weren't lit and I must admit I had a little come-on-Britain-you're-the-nation-of-Christmas-what's-wrong-with-you? moment until we reached a crowd of people in Regent Street, gathered around a podium on which a woman was standing and speaking to the public. Intended as a joke, I said "you know, probably they are officially lighting the Christmas lights" and when they started a countdown, my man said "I think that is what they are actually doing." 
Can you believe it? By mere coincidence we witnessed the official lighting of the Christmas decoration, accompanied by marvellous fireworks. We were so happy and the angels looked amazing being lit. 
After long hours of waiting (and two hours of blissful sleeping in the hotel), it was finally time for FBAWTFT and I can only say it is ABSOLUTELY MIND-BLOWING! I will neither spoil you nor do I think I could actually find the words to describe the fantastic movie, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and think any Harry Potter fan - as well as everyone else who has a taste for fantasy fiction and movies - will truly love this movie. 
I actually had to cry when it started, especially as the theme of the score started with the classic Harry Potter tune, you know which one I mean, right? Du, Du, Da, da, da, da, daaaaa, da...yeah, right, that one. 
Anyway, moving on (is that a pun?). Another cool part of the trip was when we visited the FBAWTFT exhibition in MinaLima's gallery. Briefly explained, MinaLima is the creative graphic designing team behind Harry Potter and FBAWTFT and their work is great. I had already visited their HP exhibition (as described in tasteofbritain.weebly.com) but now they have their own location which is so cool because it is a totally old and crooked house and looks as if they made it to look like a house in HP. Eduardo Lima, half of the team, was there and signed my copy of FBAWTFT and we had a little chat. At the first exhibition I bought a book with the graphic designs of HP in it and I asked him whether there would be one of FBAWTFT and he told me that they couldn't do that anymore because of copyright issues and that of the very book I had purchased there had only been a thousand copies and it was becoming more and more valuable by the minute. Can you believe it???? I actually own one of these thousand copies that no one else will ever have because they will never be printed. Like never again...still, can't believe it. And my copy is even signed! 
Alright, hysteria aside, moving on to something completely else. Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Ever been? I think it's pretty cool, especially the Bavarian Village where my man and I just pondered about what kind of image English people must have of Bavarians (actually, quite an accurate one - beer, pretzels, drinking and partying...that pretty much sums it up). We also wanted to go ice-skating but as it was shamelessly expensive (14 pounds for 15 minutes!!) we decided not to in the end and just enjoyed the Christmassy atmosphere. 
There was also another peculiar event. I seem to have special vibes for Germans and Americans. On the plane back to Germany, I sat next to a really nice German girl with whom I chatted during the flight and she was just as undeniably charming as she was undeniably German (many people might argue these two things don't go together, but believe me, they do, I think Germans are often very underestimated). I must send out a specific American/German friendly vibe which reaches out to them, I don't know. However, we bonded over discussing her wedding and moving-to-England plans and talking about education and teaching, but we decided we were friends when I said I am planning Youtube videos on my channel called PotterTalk and she pulled out a worn out copy of HP and declared we were now friends. This is why I am so happy I am a Potterhead because it bonds you with people. If someone is a HP fan, this person is my friend and vice versa. At the MinaLima exhibition I overheard a woman saying they had seen FBAWTFT at the midnight premiere and I told her we had been there too which resulted in a long chat with her and her daughter about how AWESOME Harry Potter is and we declared each other as friends before everyone went their own ways again. It's magical (get it?) and wonderful. There will always be this community for me who, regardless from where they are, what they're doing, how old they are and which sex they have who are my friends. My fellow Potterheads. And where in the world could you better find Potterheads than in Great Britain, huh?