London / Liverpool - September 2013

Bench dedicated to Kirsty MacColl

Yes, that's THE crosswalk

 London

A pub in Belsize Park



Cavern Club

The last time we were in London was 1995. Not a whole lot has changed. London is still a massive metropolitan area with a lot of noise, action, people, taxis and more people. The food seemed quite a bit better though. The Indian food was fabulous! We stayed at a small flat in Belsize Park for most of our time there. Bed, small fridge and cooking area. Twas a real dump but it served our purpose, and it was clean. We walked around and took buses and the tube everywhere. We went to several museums, The British Museum I believe. Was ok. I was able to find a bench in Soho Square that was dedicated to singer Kirsty MacColl. Left us too early, pity. One day we were burned out walking and stopped for a coffee. While sitting in the coffee shop sipping our joe and trying to stay awake, Joni noticed occasional busses going by with Abbey Road on the marquee. She said let's hop on one of those and see where it takes us. (Love her sense of adventure as much as I love her!). So we got on, upper deck, of course and off we went. Sure enough after about 20 minutes I noticed a crowd of people hanging about and there it was, Abbey Road Studios. Jumped off at the next stop and walked back. There it was. The famous zebra crosswalk that's on the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album. There were people walking across, 4,2,3 whatever. Friends snapping pix and there was even a photographer offering instant prints for 15 pounds, About $23. Gotta love it. They stopped traffic to get the shots. I'm sure the locals cursed the bastards every day. We thought it was rather cool.

Off to Liverpool

This was the real reason we came to England. I am a huge Beatles freak. They molded my life as a youngster. This was going to be a trip to Mecca. We hopped a bus called the Magical Mystery Tour. It was great. I'm not normally one for organized bus tours, but this is the only way to do it. We were taken to all the childhood homes of the Beatles, Aunt Mimi's house, John's art academy, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, the roundabout where the pretty lass was selling poppies and it ended at the Cavern Club where it all started. It's actually a reproduction of the original in the same spot.


Lime St. Station Liverpool

After the Cavern Club we went over to the Beatles Museum on the water front. For a Beatles devotee it had everything one could ask for...including an expensive gift shop. One of the most wonderful sights that day was seeing a school group on a field trip to the museum. They appeared to be 8 or 9 year olds. They all had something Beatle about them, long-haired wigs, Beatle t-shirts, painted on moustasches, even the teachers! Liverpool truly embraces their native sons. It was quite a sight. We got into Liverpool at around 8 am. We left London on a 5:55 am train. So we were quite burned out. That includes recovery from an early morning McDonald's greasy breakfast sandwich. We almost got the ragin' shits, but managed to blow them off. We walked into the beautiful Lime Street train station and nodded off on the 2+ hour trip back to London. Had a second wind, got some Indian food and finished the night in a classic British pub in Belsize Park. Carried each other back to the flat, spent a couple more days in London and then went home. Heathrow to ATL non-stop, Business class.......yeah, yeah, yeah.











Beatles Museum