The London Scavenger Hunt

Hiya Peeps!

Recently I wrote about my adventure in Copenhagen, now to travel across the pond and show you guys what happened in good ol' London. Enjoy!

Finally, the time has come for me to return to London. It’s been 5 years since I was last here and I’m excited to be back. The time is 8am. Date, Saturday 25^th April, 2015.

Firstly, let me start by saying that this trip isn’t a normal trip. It’s in fact a scavenger hunt. This hunt has promised us a golden reward. I wonder what it could be?

The time is now 10am, and I have met up with my cousin at Clapham High Street. With our phones in hand, we are ready for the hunt to begin.

Clue 1 – Come and find me in London's West End. I am currently baking with CHUNKS and not chips in the place where visitors enjoy shopping, theatre, restaurants, bars, history and culture.

My cousin told me that the clue must be referring to Covent Gardens. It is known for being the entertainment district in London’s West End. Right so we know where we must go. Then baking, must refer to food. What perfect timing because my stomach was growling!

Once arriving at Covent Gardens, we let our noses do the searching, sniffing for baked goods. From a distance we would smell it. Cookies. Freshly baked cookies. There’s only one place that makes cookies that smell this good.

Ben’s Cookies.

Just look at all those freshly baked cookies made with chunks of chocolate. They were OH SO GOOD! Soft and gooey!

*DROOLS* OM NOM NOM NOM!

After indulging in a dozen or so cookies... What? I love cookies and these were just so darn good! 

We received our second clue.

Clue 2 – Take a stroll to the place which commemorates the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars, here you will see a festive celebration.

Google advised us that Trafalgar Square was set up to commemorate the British naval victory and it's within walking distance of Covent Gardens. 10 minutes in fact. But we weren't too sure what the festive celebration the clue was referring to. Using Google maps, we navigated our way towards Central London. Upon arriving we were greeted with colours of red and white – The Feast of St George was being celebrated. As we strolled and enjoyed the festive fun, a message came through on my phone. It was our third clue.

Clue 3 – Congratulations on making it this far. Now rest your feet and enjoy a Broadway musical about a book that travels from USA to Uganda.

A musical, how exciting! We must be off to London's West End. But which musical is the clue referring to. A book. A book. The only musical that I know of that involves a book is the Book of Mormon. After checking with Google, it confirmed that the Book of Mormon takes place in Uganda. Woo! This clue was taking us to The Prince of Wales Theatre to watch the satirical Broadway musical the Book of Mormon. I'm excited! 

After the play we didn't received any more clues. The musical did not represent anything golden. This must mean that our adventure will continue onto the next day.

Day 2 of our London scavenger hunt.

Time: 9am. Date: Sunday, 26^th April 2015.

Beep Beep. Beep Beep. A message comes through on my phone. It was not a clue but instructions.

Instructions - To get to your next destination you will to need to head to 4 Fountain Square, 121-151 Buckingham Palace Road, London. Here you will find a bus waiting for you.

As we approached the destination we saw the famous wizarding name plastered across the bus. 

Harry Potter!!

This could only mean one thing. We were going to The Making of Harry Potter – Warner Bros. Studio Tour. My inner self was squealing with excitement!

As soon as we hopped on the bus, our next clue came through.

Clue 4 – Take a ride to the studio where witches and wizards came to life. Here you will journey through the studios to find the drink favoured by the wizarding community.

A drink favoured by the wizarding community, this can only refer to Butterbeer.

Now, if I were Butterbeer where would I be? Most likely the Three Broomsticks. So I’m guessing this is where we’d have to go.

Upon arriving at the studios we were greeted by a guide who directed us towards the doors of the Great Hall. 

The famous Great Hall. As the doors opened we were greeted with long tables, plates and character costumes. Tres cool!

As we approached the front of the hall another message came through.

Hint: Before finding your reward, we invite you to attend a ball, a ball that is a tradition of the Triwizard tournament. Here you must seek the dress worn by our favourite female wizard, Hermione. On her dress you will find a hing that will help you on your quest.

From deciphering the hint, we know that we must find Hermione’s pink gown, which she wore to the Yule Ball. Now exited the great hall in search for the gown.  

As we exited we can see props and set designs all around us. Little bits and pieces that help create the magical world of Harry Potter on the big screen. One of these props included the ice sculpture from the Yule Ball. Look at how pretty it is. 

And next to that was Hermione’s dress!

Attached to her dress was our hint, or so we thought.

Challenge: To find the beverage that will quench your thirst, you will need to walk the halls of Hogwarts and find the potions room. Here you must make a concoction to the Potion Teacher’s satisfaction.

A challenge?! A challenge! Dear lord! Well if we want that butter beer, we have to do this. Did I mention that I took chemistry in High School? I mean I dropped it after year 11, but some of that knowledge has to come in handy right? It’s not like I mixed chemicals and made it explode once…

So off we went, down the wonky halls.

To the potions rooms.

After what felt like hours, we completed the challenge and were awarded with our next clue.

Clue: Congratulations on completing your challenge. Now head to the Hogwarts express, it’ll take you to your next destination. The train leaves promptly at 12pm sharp.

We checked our watches, it was 11:45am. We had 15minutes to make it to the train. Off we ran, past the Head Master’s office.

Past the Gryffindor common area.

On to platform 9 ¾ to catch our train.

The train had taken us back to London. To Diagon Alley.

Knowing that Diagon Alley isn’t close to Hogsmeade. We were confused as to whether we could find any butterbeer here.

Walking through the streets, past Gringotts, past Olivanders, we came across a random corner store. This corner store, in fact, had what we were looking for.

Butterbeer!

The best golden reward there is!