The King's Cross station in north London is the main train station for journeys from London to the north east of England and Scotland. The actual station itself was opened in 1852 and if you look carefully you can still see parts of the old buildings. About 10 years ago the inside of the station was modernised and a new roof was installed. It's a stunning piece of work and is described as a reverse waterfall where water gushes up from the ground and spreads outwards above you. It's a mesmerising view, so much that I spent so long having my coffee on the terrace looking at it, I nearly missed my train to Edinburgh!!
It was the beginning of November when I was here, and November is always a poignant time for many countries due to Remembrance Day. Every year we wear poppies to remember those who died in the war. Poppies can be found all around the country in different forms and there was one single massive poppy in the center of the station concourse. A dash of red attached to the white structure. Almost like a drop of blood on a piece of white paper to remind people of the past. A subtle but vocal message.
COP26
In November 202, UK hosted the COP26, the UN climate change conference. It was held in Glasgow in Scotland. Since many attendees probably fly into London they would have to catch the train up north from King's Cross. There were massive banners all around the station as it was a major global event.
When we arrived at Edinburgh Station, there was a massive gathering point for COP26. Edinburgh and Glasgow is about 75 km apart and it seems some attendees were staying at Edinburgh and commuting over to Glasgow. To be honest, it's a bit ironic that a climate change conference generates so much carbon footprint...
Platform Nine and Three Quarters
King's Cross station is probably most famous for one thing, and there's a special reason why I took a photo of just these two platforms. Harry Potter fans will know why. Platform Nine and Three Quarters is where students from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry go to catch the Hogwarts Express. I wonder if many real passengers who catch a train on platform 9 or 10 will try to look for platform 9 3/4? 
For real HP fans, you can see the wall which Hogwarts students dash through to get to the platform. It is located by the Harry Potter shop which is conveniently located by the real platforms 9 and 10. I was going to take a photo of it, but there was a constant flow of people. I decided to go and get a coffee first and come back later for the photo, but then I ran out of time because I had to catch my train. Sorry to disappoint you guys and girls if you're a HP fan.
Time to catch my train
The purpose of my visit to King's Cross was to head up to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. I've posted about that before and if you're interested to find out more about Edinburgh you can check out this post of Edinburgh day and night and this post about a very picturesque village called Dean Village.
I'll show you what the platform looks like here. I love the blend of the airy ceiling and the beautiful arches supporting them. It's like I'm gong across some viaducts even before the train has left the station here.
Four and a bit hours later, I arrived at Edinburgh Waverley Station. The station is in the center of the city and is a lot more impressive than it looks from this single entrance. Pity my 48 hour visit to Edinburgh didn't give me enough time to explore the station.
Luckily I managed to take this photo in the waiting room when I was waiting for my train to return to London. Now you know what I mean when I say impressive?
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Darn it, I have to go visit London because I want to see the mesmerizing roof 😅 I don't think I have ever been to the King's Cross station. In fact, when I am in London, I tend to walk everywhere possible. Absolutely hate the tube.
Once I walked 1 h to point A and then 1 h back to Euston to safely return to Birmingham 😂
London is actually very walkable and because there's so much history all around, it makes delightful walk, you never know what you may come across
Very true! London is unique, two different architectural styles can sit beautifully next to one another. Sometimes I wonder how London has been built because there are too many layers and styles.
I like walking around London. Lots of cool back streets and squares to explore. I used to walk from King's Cross to The Strand when I was working down there. I could vary the route a bit.
I am glad I am not the only one choosing to walk. My colleagues were questioning my sanity. 🙂
That's quite a long walk isn't it? How long did that take? It's really fun taking the different back streets around London, you always find something new don't you?
Not sure how long it took as it was a few years back. Probably about 20-30 mins. Some days the Tube would be so rammed you would have to wait for another train and I'd rather be outside on a nice day. I was doing some work for the BBC at Bush House.
That's true, it can be a very nice walk around London especially in summer. I used to walk from Waterloo Station to my in office in St Paul's, it was lovely walking along the Thames
Ditto that! Walking around the city is far more enjoyable, plus you get to see so much more that way
Exactly! What's the point of going on the Tube and looking at people and dark tunnels? Far more enjoyable and healthier too. 😊
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I was in London 13 years ago for a long weekend. I remember hearing a lot of people talking about how busy it was, I thought it wasn't so bad. I enjoyed walking around the old part of the city. I didn't go to any museums. I want to go back.
Parts of London can be very deserted over the weekend, like the main business districts around St Pauls Cathedral if you went there. Hopefully you can make it over sometime again, but given it's quite long journey from Korea, please spend longer here this time, it's totally worth it!!
Both stations look class. I got into train stations whilst living in Germany. I love Berlin Haubtbahnof and I also like FRankfurts one as well. Strasburg's station was pretty class because it was all glass. But I love them,
I've never caught any trains in Germany before, I can imagine their network being pretty sleek considering German engineering is so good.
I only tried riding a train once (on a business trip to China). Reading through your posts makes me want to ride one in a different country. Hopefully sooon!!!
I'm hoping people will post about trains from their own country, would love to see what it looks like from around the world.
If you see the longest one in PH, you'd be afraid to ride it haha, not to mention people steal the rails every now and then! Tsk! 🤣
That train station looks really cool. The reverse waterfall is a nice art piece. I would definitely check out the Harry Potter shop and 9 3/4 platform if I went there.
I don't come to this station much as I don't go up north often so it was definitely very nice to come and see what it's most famous for ☺️
this rooftop is amazing design . Such a nice photographs.
Thanks. It's certainly very pleasing on the eye
The architecture here is really impressive; I hope that in the future, my city will have modern high-speed trains like this. Thank you for your contribution.
Is train travel very popular in Vietnam? I notice you guys travel by motor cycle a lot.
I've taken the train several times. However, trains in Vietnam are very old, and their speeds are quite slow. A day on the train can take you to a specific city in Vietnam. But sometimes sitting on a train at such a slow speed, you can see the scenery of Vietnam through the glass window. Hope you will come to explore Vietnam one day
If you have time, travelling by the train is definitely a very relaxing thing as you get to see so much. I've been to HCM and Hanoi, but based on what I've seen from Team VN, there are so many beautiful places beyond these two cities, I hope I can go to Vietnam sometime again in the future
I'd like to ask you a question, if I may, I have @triplug account here in hive platform and I am a member in haveyoubeenhere community since account creation, and please if you can answer my question, why the posts made by me in the community are not voted, at least the last 3 posts were not voted almost at all, can you please tell me where I am wrong.
I have tried my best to post quality blogs but unfortunately they are not voted and at some point I thought about leaving the platform, because I spend a lot of time in this community.
Maybe you can give me some advice for the future.
I apologize if I have bothered you with these questions.
Your post really is amazing and the pictures are very accomplished.
Have a nice evening!
Hi there, thanks for dropping by.
The haveyoubeenhere community has seen a big influx of content recently and we regularly get well over 60 posts everyday so it is not possible to curate every one of them. You've pinned 27 posts on Pinmapple, of which 7 were featured by us in the past, that is actually a pretty good %, so please don't feel deflated.
I see you're posting across many communities on Hive and that is great but given you've been on Hive for four months, you're not following many people and you don't have many followers. This limits the support you get from the community as a whole. Building your network is the most foolproof way to get support in the long run and I think you'll find once you do that the desire to leave Hive will lessen.
Hopefully this helps and we'll continue to see you on Hive.
Thanks a lot for the good advice, the next period will be a period of reflection for me in the sense that I have to make a decision about the @triplug project, part of me is telling me to quit, another part is telling me not to quit.
I'll keep posting until I make the best decision for me.
With all due respect @triplug.
I've been using King's Cross for decades. I remember the old mechanical departures board before the built the extension. It used to be quite a seedy area around there and the station has been really cleaned up. It's all very smart round the back with Google HQ and other companies plus loads of restaurants.
They moved the Harry Potter trolley when they added the shop. Now they seem to take the trolley away at night so you can't even get a picture when they are shut. It was never in the place it should be in the films, but then Platform 9 3/4 would not be there anyway as 9 and 10 as off in a side bit.
I have been through Waverley too. We can go from where we live to Edinburgh pretty easily by train and it's nice as it goes along the coast.
I remember seeing the trolley on the platform ages ago in photos so was a bit surprised to see it by the shop. There was even a staff from the shop to take proper photos for people, I imagine you'd get it in a pretty HP photo frame as well. They certainly know how to make money!
Those mechanical boards, is that where they flip the letters through the alphabet, those are really cool. I wish we still have them, so very nostalgic
This is the old trolley when my kids were small. It was fun for my daughter at least as we had read the books to her.
The mechanical board had the station names on flaps that would clatter around. I wonder if it was preserved somewhere.
This is the daughter who's doing her Phd now? You must be a proud dad!
Yeah. Where did the years go?
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Huge Harry Potter fan but I've never been to Kings Cross before 😅 But not disappointed at all that you missed the picture. First things first coffee! 😎
What did you do during that 48hrs in Edinburgh?
I went to Edinburgh coz the train I caught was a newly launched service and they were doing promotions, too good an offer to pass! But I took the opportunity to visit a friend whom I hadn't seen for years, and the rest of the time was really just wandering around the city.
Always nice these kind of promotional offers! 😎 Hope you had enough time to chat with your friend?
yes, we had a long chat one afternoon and only left because she had to pick up her son from school otherwise I'm sure we could have chatted for ages.
By the way, good to see you back again!!
sigh children... 😜 they always ruin good conversations 🤓🤣 Good to hear you had a great chat together! Hope you had some good time with her son as well?
Actually never left the hive blockchain played my daily quests everyday🤓 but didn't have the proper time to create blogs. I (still) don't know how some people will do like @tarazkp for example writing these essays everyday. Because I need multiple days to write a decent post😅
How are you doing? What are you up to these days?
Great pics!
Thanks
Amazing photos 👏
Thanks
I love train stations in the UK, it looks like each of them is a piece of art.
Wish I could see more of that 9 3/4 platform.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
You're welcome, I was a bit gutted I didn't have time to go back for the photo as well, maybe wil have to go back again sometime!
哇~ 這個車站滿漂亮的! 結合現代與傳統!
Hey Stranger 你回來了，很久不見！甚麼時侯來英國？ 😃
好久不見! 現在疫情還沒有一個定案,很困難啊~ 😂
你們往後都確定在英國定居了嗎?
The roof!.. a masterpiece!
I want to visit London!😢
Welcome always welcome you! Come over sometime
I definitely will!
Thank you!
Nice views of the station. My first thought after reading the title really was if that's going to be an article about Harry Potter 😅
I take it you're a Harry Potter fan? I'm sorry to disappoint you if you are 😃 but hope you still enjoyed the post!
Kind of crazy to still be a fan at 33 years of age, but yes. The Harry Potter world has been a favorite of mine forever. But I still enjoyed the post😀
As a big Harry Potter fan, I think it's great that you told us about platform nine three-quarters again, I've always wanted to go there, but never got around to it. But the main thing is that you still got your train, it would have been annoying if you had missed it because of the photo. Thanks for sharing this post with us!:)
Have you watched all the movies and read the books? I've never actually been a fan, I think I've seen maybe 2 of the movies, but seem to have ended in various Harry Potter locations which I thing HP fans may be quite jealous 😅
The movies I know almost by heart, the first books have also read, but at the fourth I think I stopped;) haha there I'm also quite a little envious;) but so I see the locations through your blog;)