All You Need is Love, Love....

....Love is All You Need...

I'm a huge fan of The Beatles, thanks to my mother and influences from my high school music teacher. So when there was a Groupon for a walking Beatles tour, I grabbed one for both Nick and I. We planned to go on Saturday and it started to rain shortly after I booked our appointment so we rescheduled for Sunday. 

We met up at the Marble Arch near Hyde Park. The arch was erected as part of the newly rebuilt Buckingham Palace in 1825. It's said that traditionally only members of the Royal Family were allowed to pass through it. It stood as an entrance to the East Gardens until 1851 when it was closed, and the arch was relocated as a monument near the park. 

I'll be honest, I had NO IDEA what the arch was but I made Nick take a picture with it anyway and googled it after :) 

Although the arch has no Beatles significance, it made a great meeting place. We headed down the road and passed the hotel that Jimi Hendrix was staying at when he died, The Cumberland Hotel. On the way down the road we saw Madonna's flat she bought and lived in with Guy Ritchie. Apparently, tried to buy a entire building of houses but the development committee turned her down, so she purchased the left side of this flat for £7 million and the right side for £4 million wanting to turn it into one large home, but again the building committee turned her down again. So now she has two medium flats next to each other instead :) 

We continued down the way to what used to be called "The Most Rock N Roll Flat in London" where Ringo lived. He threw tons of parties from the time he lived there until he moved out with his girlfriend. He sub-let to Jimi Hendrix and finally to John and Yoko. The basement had a recording studio, and is said to be the first place that "Yesterday" was ever laid down. The basement is also where John & Yoko took the photo for the cover of "Two Virgins" which was taken in their bedroom, not a studio. 

The blue plaque you see is put there by the "English Heritage" to certify where a celebrity lived. There's only about 100 official plaques in London. To get one the celeb must have been dead for 10 years, or born over 100 years ago, which ever comes first... In 2010 John Lennon got his at this flat where he and Yoko lived in 1968. 

We continued along the way and saw where Paul lived with Jane Asher. Our tour guide told us of the day Paul woke up with a tune in his head. He swore up and down he had heard the tune somewhere before but couldn't figure out where. He asked everyone in the Asher house where he was living and they all told him "No that's not a song, you just made that up" He quickly put some words to it "Scrambled eggs, oh baby how I love your legs" the tune turned into "Yesterday" 

We went to Trident Studios that they used to put down some of their songs like "Hey Jude"

It was in a little alley and totally disguised, you'd never know it was there or that it was significant at all unless you read the one legal sheet of paper taped to the window with a list of what bands and what songs they recorded there.

We went through soho which was an amazing area that I can't wait to return to!

We saw the Palladium and the Marquee Club where the Beatles played while in London, walked through New Bond Street (another MUST revisit for me!) and along to Sevile Row (Yes, the tailor's road) to see where Apple Corp, the Beatles' own media company, was.

The rooftop is where the infamous rooftop concert took place. It was their last public appearance and was completely unannounced. Unfortunately, one of the tailors on the road called the police and the show was shut down after just 45 minutes. 

Around the corner from the Apple Corp, and old Bond Street was Jimi's blue plaque. 

We saw Paul's house he bought in 1966, and still lives in. The house is just a few blocks from Abbey Road studios

We finished our tour at Abbey Road studios and of course had to go across the zebra crossing which has changed just slightly since the famous photo. They added the zig zag lines which alert the motorists that a Zebra crossing is adjacent, and they've almost moved it by about 3 meters. 

The tour lasted for almost three hours and we saw a lot of London in addition to the Beatles landmarks. Nick and I both agree that it was well worth the money for the tour. 

I have a tour of Harry Potter landmarks with this same company coming up soon too, so watch for that! 

London 2012 Goin' for the GOLD

We went to our second Olympic event last weekend at Eton Dorney which is about 15 minutes from our place. Everyone thinks its weird they are calling it Eton Dorney because its on Dorney lake which is at Eton college. The crowd was getting really into it, more than at the volleyball match we went to. 

The races were over so fast, but it was so exciting to see a medal ceremony live. The first ceremony we saw was for a Team GB for the Gold which was pretty intense. Everyone was really into it! 

The Prime Minister was there to see the races too. We're starting to miss OUR sports though, with Football season starting its making us homesick for our American sports! 

A Night at the Museum...

No Ben Stiller here... just Big Ben 

Nick and I made a date out of it a few Fridays back. We went into London to the British Museum. Where I learned not to allow Nick to take pictures of me. He has no patience for the right angle/moment etc. Which is why you only get pictures of Nick today :)

Most of the museums in London are free to the public. The British Museum has some amazing exhibits. First thing I wanted to find was the Rosetta Stone. They have the actual stone on display, as well as a replica in a hands on exhibit. Seeing how detailed the carving on the stone is was pretty awesome. 

They had some of the medals for London 2012 on display that we checked out

We saw some of the statues from Egyptian tombs.

We mostly went through the Egyptian exhibits and saw all of their mummies. They have Cleopatra's mummy on display which I thought was the coolest part.

The detailing on the caskets and mummies was absolutely amazing

They had a mummy that had been unwrapped. Pretty creepy looking if you ask me!!!

After the museum closed we hopped on a bus for about 10 minutes and went to see Big Ben.

The British Museum is HUUUUGE so we only got to see a small portion. Its definitely one of those you need more than one day to explore! I'm already planning a trip back :) 

London Bridge is NOT Falling Down...

Ignore all the rumors. 
(and my ridiculously Red hair)

OK so this is the more impressive "Tower Bridge" but its much more interesting to look at than the "London Bridge"

WOW I'm a big slacker... I can't believe I haven't posted at all this month.

I think its safe to say we're feeling more and more settled, and missing home more and more!

We're starting to get more accustomed to the British ways. I catch myself saying things like "mum" or calling potato chips "crisps" and fried "chips." I drink tea most of the time in the mornings, and even tried my hand at Fish N Chips (First meat I've had in over 9 years!!!)  When in Rome (or England...) right?!

Best of all, I can actually UNDERSTAND people now! No more walking away from conversations looking at Nick and going "Do you have any idea what they just said?"

I went exploring in London a few weeks ago and visited the London Bridge area, I wanted to make it out there before the Olympic Rings came down off the Tower Bridge. I walked across the London Bridge but didn't get any photos of the bridge, its actually quite plain.

It was an awesome little neighborhood with loads of walking paths and photo ops like the one above. If London does one thing right its tourism. Compared to places I've been in New York where all the tourist hotspots (Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building etc) are all working buildings that people operate out of, so far the places I've been here have been easy to get to, and not too crowded to stop to enjoy the view and take a few photos. 

The neighborhood is full of little "dungeons" or haunted houses, so I have plans to drag Nick back in October! Nick LOVES haunted houses..... ok not so much but I do! 

This was a sign outside of the WWI Museum which I didn't have time to go into...maybe next time though. 

I have loads more photos to share, I'll make another post with some tomorrow!!!!!  We went to the British Museum and to see Big Ben a few weekends ago and also to another Olympic event... I have us booked for a nighttime cruise of the River Thymes (pronounced Tims) coming up as well so look forward to some amazing pictures then!