Abbey Road

And here it is. The one thing I absolutely had to do on my London trip. This is it. Although it could have used a bit of a painting.
Outside of Abbey Road Studios (where hundreds of records have been made, up until this very day) is a wall that is painted white that you can sign. And sign we did. Abbey Road Studios is about 40 feet from that famous crosswalk above.
Proof. That white house in the background is Abbey Road Studios. You can see the sign above the door. And if I looked really hard, I could see the receptionist in the window to the right of the door with "Abbey Road Studios" above her on the wall in gold.
Right there, front and center. Our mark will forever be on the Abbey Road wall.

Until they give it another paint job.
Rachel did the duties. I really like this picture.
A picture of a part of the wall.
Rachel crossing. It is really harder than you would think to get the pose right. And it didn't help that this road was really, really busy. You had to stand out in traffic to get a decent picture.
There were a couple German guys there trying to do their best. I thought it was funny as hell, even though they were doing a better job than us.
It's hard. Trust me.
And I thank Rachel for sacrificing her life out in the middle of the street to get these.
A look just up from the crosswalk. This is the beginning of Abbey Road. You can see how busy the street is as well.


Mikey--I have more pics, I'll show you when I come home. It's just a pain in the ass to load them all.

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Now playing: The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun
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Pay to piss, please.

This pic was taken on our way back to the hotel. The commuter trains that you would use to go to any of the outlying suburbs have drink carts that come by every few minutes with (you guessed it) brewskis. Of course I had to buy one (or two) and say I've had a beer on a train in London. Awesome.

What wasn't so awesome was this bathroom at the train station. Notice the sign. You had to pay 2o pence (40 cents) to piss. What the fuck? And they even had change machines next to the bathroom. Amazing.

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Tower of London

I confess. I wish I knew more about British history before I went to England. I'm sure if I had known more, I would have appreciated the Tower of London more. It's the number one tourist spot in London, and with good reason. This castle/fortress/prison/place of execution has more history then I've ever seen in my life. The newest part is over 800 years old, and the buildings contain more history than one could probably get in a week. It really is an amazing place, somewhere I'll visit again if I ever go back to London.Yes, the Tower of London has the crown jewels. Yes, I saw them. No, I could not take pictures. The crowns I saw are probably the single most expensive things I've ever seen in my life. Holy fucking shit were they cool. There were probably about a dozen crowns, amongst many, many other diamond studded objects. Really, really amazing.
Me, listening to an audio recording of something. We had these headsets to guide us along. We could have gone with a live guide, known as a "beefeater" but they had huge crowds following them and it was really hard to hear what they were saying.
That has to weigh a ton. This picture (and the next couple) were taken inside one of the many, many buildings in the Tower. This particular building housed the armory.
See?
Cool.
In one of the courtyards. You can see how close the Tower Bridge is in the background.
The sight of many executions. See the next sign for who.

Rumor has it if those two falcons ever leave, the tower will fall. Good thing they clipped those bastards' wings. Note the armed guard to the left watching the birds. That's his only job.
Traitor's gate. Read.
Some cannons.
A picture of traitor's gate. You will know what this is if you read above.
Just inside the Tower. Look at all the people. They were everywhere in London. Everywhere.
So I realized I don't have a forward facing picture of a beefeater. So enjoy this one.
The entry to the Tower.
Looking at the walls to the Tower and what used to be a moat.
Read.


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River Thames Cruise

We bought this "London Pass" which got us all kinds of free shit (thank god because London is fucking expensive) including a free river cruise on the Thames, right through downtown London. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip one because I like water and two it is a unique way to see the city. Although it seems like hundreds of other people had the same idea. The river was clogged with big sight-seeing boats, just like the streets are clogged with the huge double-decker sight-seer buses. Anyway, here we go (in reverse chronological order, I've gotten pretty good at fucking up the order of pictures.)
This is the HMS Belfast, apparently a floating Naval museum. We didn't go.
Remind you of something? Looks alot like the lift bridge back home. I'd be willing to bet this one is older.


The newer part of London. These buildings are all built on reclaimed docks.
I thought this building was cool. Apparently it was designed so that every flat in the building would have a view of the Thames.
Part of the Tower Bridge.
A close-up of the Tower Bridge. The lower center part (where the boat is) splits in the middle and raises for larger boats. The upper part is so pedestrians can cross even when bridge is up.
A farther away view of Tower Bridge. Notice the other tour boats.
The Tower of London. If you look carefully, you can see on the wall "Entry to the Traitor's Gate." That's where they used to bring in the prisoners. Long, long history on that building.
So as we were going under this bridge the guide announced that it was "the" London Bridge. As in "London Bridge is falling down" London Bridge. I don't have another picture of it other than this one because it looked like any concrete freeway bridge you'd see in the states, and I wasn't given time to take a photo. Apparently after it fell they thought they'd build a plain Jane bridge. I don't know why, because the rest of the bridges through this area are all pretty bad ass.
See what I mean about better bridges?
This is the "wibbly wobbly" pedestrian bridge installed in 2000. A weird looking pedestrian bridge that sways when you're on it. Count me out of crossing that bad boy.
Some supports for a long lost bridge??
This is the oldest thing in London. This is an ancient Egyptian obelesque (sp?) complete with hieroglyphics given to the city by Egypt as a gift god knows when.
Another cool bridge.
The open topped, double decker boat we were on.
Another shot of the boat that we cruised the river on.


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London eye is london expensive...

So I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but school has started and I've been really busy. I've got 160 students, and the beginning of the year is always pretty hectic (which means I need lots of sleep) since I've got to get my room together, get to know the kids, establish rules, etc. But, the first couple weeks have gone off without much of a hitch and things seem to be getting into a routine. And, it's now Ramadan--WHICH SUCKS ASS. For those that don't remember, Ramadan is the holy month for Muslims. They fast during the day, which means I'm not allowed to eat in front of anyone during daylight hours. It's even illegal to eat or drink in public. So that means nothing is open until after the sun goes down. Oh yeah, and you can't go get a beer anywhere during the month--even after sundown. I hate Ramadan.

Anyway, these are pics taken opposite of the Houses of Parliament. The really big merry-go-round is the London Eye. I wanted to go on it because on a non-cloudy day you're supposed to be able to see for 25 miles. Well, once I found out it was going to be 30 bucks a head I said screw that. The building next to the London Eye used to be the city hall.

And Grandpa--I hope you get better. Love ya!
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