Today is the longest day of the year. Here we'll have daylight until about 10:30 pm! On my run home from work (with massive backpack on back...not fun. I'm not sure how often I'll be doing that...) I noticed that there were lots of celebrations going on in Regent's Park. Near my work was the first night of Taste of London--a showcase of restaurants from around London. There were people streaming in! Thursdays are a pretty big night for going out here and things seem to be getting pretty festive now that the days are long and the weather is nice (mostly).
Last weekend, the weather wasn't so nice and Jim was drowning in work, so Aurelie and I decided to forgo our planned country walk and walk around London instead. We chose to join this guy:
a self proclaimed Beatles expert on a stroll through The Beatles' turf (which also happens to be the area where we work...and the area where I live...so nothing too new and exciting really).
Our tour guide is the author of several Beatles books and also the owner of a Beatles coffee shop, where Beatles paraphernalia is sold. I can't really describe his tone and style of talking without doing it, but it was very rehearsed sounding and went from a lower pitch to a higher pitch with carefully timed laughing following his jokes. I think that either he relaxed or I got used to his voice because I only really noticed his lilting style in the beginning of the walk.
We began our walk outside of Marylebone Station, which is where the first scene of that famous Beatles movie, A Hard Day's Night, took place (you know, the one where they were running down the street with screaming fans chasing them). The guy who stuck his head in the picture was from California and was quite annoying. His girlfriend was from Quebec and overwhelmed Aurelie with personal information in French. The guy, used to having to translate for his girlfriend, insisted on repeating everything that the tour guide was saying, slowly, to me. Instead of reminding him that I, too, speak English, Aurelie and I just edged away:
Needless to say, most of the people on the Beatles tour were American. And more than a few of them were total weirdos.
Here is where Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr got married. Here is also where our tour guide got married. Aurelie was feeling sorry for his wife, but we came to the conclusion that to be married to such a Beatles fanatic, you would have to be somewhat interested yourself.
This was the scandalous picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono (minus the newspaper covering their nether regions), which led to a drug bust and eventual legal issues later down the line. Behind the tour guide (and also featured in the first picture) is an apartment that Ringo Starr owned and where John Lennon and Yoko lived AFTER Jimi Hendrix and his girlfriend lived there. Many of the people in our group flocked to the steps for a picture. I felt sorry for the people who live there now.
Here is where the Apple Store used to be. I spaced out during part of this explanation, but it used to have psychedelic graffiti art all over it (not approved by the council so it had to be removed) and they also used to sell clothes there,on which the silk tags cost more than the actual clothing. People also regularly stole clothes from the store and eventually the Beatles just opened it up to whoever wanted to take clothes and shut it down. (apparently, they were not the savviest of business men when it came to selling clothes. Mostly they were doing it for the "art.")
Finally we got to the famous Abbey Road Crossing!!!!!!!! We live about 10 minutes from it and I walk past it twice a day every day on my way to work. There are always people flocked around there, taking pictures of each other as they walk across (and dodging traffic). Here is Aurelie with the crosswalk! (it started pouring at that point)
And here is Aurelie in front of Abbey Road Studios, where, if I remember correctly, many famous musicians are currently working on a remake of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
At this point, we ditched the rest of those yahoos and walked back to our house to have a sandwich and regale Jim with our new found Beatles knowledge. Alas, he was out getting fish and chips and, when he got back, was more interested in taking a nap than hearing interesting Beatles trivia.
