A Deliciously Sweet Day at Hogwarts

I remember reading the first Harry Potter book - I must have been about 11 - while I was, oddly enough, riding the Eurostar to London. I was quickly hooked and fascinated by the world of wonder and whimsy JK Rowling had created. I devoured every book (and movie!) and even wept a few tears when the series ended. There's always a feeling of utter sadness when you finish a book that has transported you elsewhere, isn't there?

But something about the Harry Potter story endlessly lives on. I recently started re-reading the books (now on an e-reader!) and am happily reconnecting with the story -- and the numerous details about the characters I had long forgotten about. The magic of these books, I think, are not so much in the overarching storyline of good versus evil but rather in the creation of a world from the ground up. A world so well described that you understand the way it operates and can imagine what it would be like to live in.

Last week, I made my way to Hogwarts (in Florida that is!) to visit the Harry Potter park I had heard so much about. So many little details made the experience magical - from feather quill pens used to sign receipts in the different stores to being able to taste the array of treats that makeup Harry Potter's world.

Even in the setting of sunny Florida, the shops of Hogsmede seemed wintery and quaint, with storefronts that recreated the magical window displays described in the books and seen in the movies. The best part was seeing dozens of amazed children (and adults) from all around the world tasting butterbeer for the first time with excited grins (it's a frothy mix of gingerbready cream soda and marshmallow-like fluff if you're wondering!). It was a little bit like being allowed into a new world for the very first time.

Entering Honeydukes was by far my favourite part. The candy store is filled to the brim with the candies and sweets from the series -- from chocolate frogs, to every flavour beans (some of the jelly beans were deliciously sweet, others purposely revolting -- like earwax, rotten egg and soap -- so much so that I had to spit a few out!). They were exactly like I pictured them to be when I read about them.

We then had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, where we sat down for a giant, smoked turkey leg with corn on the cob and some fish & chips and a glass of butterbeer.