Rock on!

As you might expect, today was a bit of a slower day.  I had purposefully not scheduled much for us to do today, anticipating that last night might have been a late one.   And it was.  Although bacon butties at 3am... just sayin'....

What we did have planned was this - and ManpanionTM and the Squids were particularly excited about one particular component of it.....

Delve into London’s legendary rock music history on this morning, afternoon or full-day tour. 
Hop aboard your coach and check off the English capital’s top rock ‘n’ roll landmarks, 
from ‘Tin Pan Alley,’ where the Rolling Stones cut their first record, 
to the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing. 

This small-group tour is limited to just 16 participants, 
ensuring a more intimate experience with personalized attention from the guide.
 \See all of London’s famous rock 'n' roll sites
 Visit Abbey Road, Apple HQ, Paul's House, Ringo's House, 
Jimmy Page's house and much more
 Enjoy personalized attention and hear insider stories about 
your favorite musicians from your knowledgeable rock guide

Read more about London Rock Music Tour - London | Viator at: 

https://www.viator.com/tours/London/London-Rock-Music-Tour/d737-5081ROCKMUSIC

Yep - today we would get to recreate (probably badly!) the classic Beatles cover photo for Abbey Road!!  Here's one (mildly) interesting fun fact I remembered from the tour - the Beatles were originally going to name that album "Everest", not Abbey Road.  But, they changed their minds and called it "Abbey Road" at the last minute (presumably because of the street name and the photo).  The Beatles did not name the album after the recording studio - the Abbey Road Studios - as the Studios were originally called something different (can't recall) what and it was actually the Studios who ended up changing their name because of the Beatles Album.  Life imitating art, right?

Rainy NY day in London.  Have no idea why I took this picture
now.  I think it was because the lights - that you can't actually
make out in the trees - were pretty.  Ah well.

Anyway, our tour was scheduled for 1pm so it was not what you would call an early start, however, it was a bit of struggle to get our asses out of bed, have breakfast (2nd bacon butty of the day - yeah!) and head down to the tour guides offices (Evan Evans tours).   However, everyone rallied and we actually ended up getting there a bit early, so we went to a pub next door to wait for 20mins and to use the loo before our tour.   After a week of being back in Blighty, I'm obviously starting to access my latent inner Brit as it would have felt (to me) too rude to walk in, ask to use the loo and then leave without buying anything.  So, I took one for the team and ordered a gin and tonic - and then ManpanionTM did the same and ordered a Guinness.  By this stage of our trip, everyone had discovered the joys of a good bag of salt and vinegar crisps, so the Squids were also fed and watered too.  Of course, as we were sitting there paying our dues to spend a penny, two girls came into the pub, asked where the loos were, went - and then just left!  How rude!!

At 1pm, we met the rest of our tour and hopped on to the mini-bus.  It wasn't a massive bus, just a 16 seater, so we arranged our tired bodies across the back row seat.  As you can see from the very few photos I actually took during the tour, it was absolutely chucking it down with rain and, given this was a tour that basically involved us being driven round parts of London, taking pictures wasn't really going to be an option.  Other than a stop at Abbey Road to take pictures (which was, frankly, the only reason we were all here!) I wasn't sure what else to expect.  I also didn't know how long the tour was, assuming it was about 90mins or so.

Wrong.  The tour was a good 3hrs long!   And, while it was interesting in parts, basically it was just us being driven around Chelsea and Notting Hill in a big van, looking at buildings through rain-stained windows that we couldn't really see out of!  Actually one of the best parts of the tour was marveling at our guide's driving abilities (as well as narrating, she was also doing the driving!) and wondering how on earth she managed to navigate this fairly sizable vehicle so fearlessly through the narrow London streets!!  So it was probably a good hour too long for our interest and energy level, although there was something inherently rock'n'roll about us being on this bus, with loud rock music blaring at us, slumped on the back seat, half-asleep and mildly hungover.  We could have been on tour with the Stones.  At least none of us puked up at any point to completely authenticate the hungover rockstar persona (and before I start getting calls from Child Services, obviously the Squids were not hungover!).

Jimmy Page's house from Led Zeppelin.
Kinda weird andchurchy looking - very apropo.
Not pictured - Robbie William's house next
door.  Apparently, they do not get along.

OK - what did I learn?  I didn't realize that the Kings Road in Chelsea was such a hotbed of activity in the 60s as it relates to music, rock and roll and the punk era.  I always knew about the fashion connection, but it makes sense that the worlds of fashion and music would be deeply connected.  Halfway through the tour, we stopped at the Sticky Fingers restaurant, owned by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones (who I remember more for his choice in underage brides than for anything else) so that was good to be able to stretch our legs and re-caffeinate.  We also saw the houses of Jimmy Page (above), Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney (who still has the same house he's owned for the last 40yrs or so) plus the "squalid basement flat" where Jimi Hendrix met his premature end in what some folk consider suspicious circumstances (http://www.woodstockstory.com/jimi-hendrix-murdered-conspiracy.html) as well as the rooftop where the Beatles played live together for the very last time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles'_rooftop_concert)

BUT.... I know that's not what you came here for - here it is - our homage to the Fab Four - slightly soggy and not quite synced up but a decent effort nonetheless!!  As you would expect, there was a steady stream of people doing exactly the same as we were, so presumably, if you were a local, you'd try and do everything to not have to drive through that zebra crossing!  Otherwise, mostly the cars were patient and waited the 10sec or so while people got their pictures, though there were one or two assholes for whom that was too much of an inconvenience and who beeped their horns and looked pissed off.  I asked our guide about it and whether that was usual and whether she got shouted at by motorists as the one who was taking all our pictures.  She then let fly with a rather colorful collection of expletives basically saying that if people couldn't take a few seconds out of their day to wait for the fans to do what they had come so far to do, then then could...well.  I won't repeat it here.   There may be Squids nearby.  But you got the impression she felt quite passionately about this subject.

Almost indistinguishable from the real thing!

Our tour finally came to an end around 4pm - we hopped off and immediately doubled back to Baker Street, both to see if we could sneak in a quick visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum (we couldn't the lines were insanely long and none of us fancied standing outside in the rain for 2hrs) and also to visit the Beatles Store memorabilia shop.  Unfortunately we didn't have the chance on the tour to go into the Abbey Road studios gift shop (probably the only gift shop in existence that ManpanionTM wouldn't mind being in!) so this seemed like the next best thing.  We pootled about inside for a half hour or so, then went on a somewhat unproductive quest to find additional record stores that were open for browsing, including the London branch of Reckless Records - which also happens to be round the corner from my place in Chicago!  Small world!!  But - this being New Year's Day - everywhere was pretty much closed, so we were out of luck.

For full transparency, I had actually booked us a Jack the Ripper walking tour at the last minute for tonight, starting at 7pm.  It had gotten great reviews and I thought it would be fun to explore the spooky streets of Whitechapel with a proper guide, rather than the dreadful crap of the London Dungeon "experience".    As I hadn't expected the Rock Tour to last so long, I thought we'd have plenty of time to finish the tour, then go back to the hotel to rest up for a bit before heading back out but alas no.   - but it was cold, pissing it down with rain and everyone was beat, so we collectively decided to skip it.   The fact that the Season 3 premiere of Sherlock was also on tonight at 8pm had absolutely nothing to do with our decision.  At all.  Honest.

So with that decision made and with tummies also starting to rumble, we decided to find somewhere for food, so we could also get out of the cold and wet.  By complete chance - as I was trying to navigate us to a different destination - we stumbled across this great pub on Baker Street called The Volunteer.   The atmosphere was great and the food was even better (think fish & chips and shepherd's pie - yum!) so we sat and played Euchre again while waiting.

Then finally it was time to start to wander back home as everyone was completely knackered.  En route to the tube station, we ended up back in the same general area we'd been the night before - there were still a few fences up from NYE, but it was basically back to normal.  The Christmas lights were beautiful - I didn't take too many pics as my phone was about to die, but I did take one just to give you an idea.

And with that, it was time to slump on the couch and get ready for Sherlock!  Huzzah!!