The day began with a trip to the famous Abbey Road to see where the Beatles actually did the recording and, more importantly, the album cover. We planned on taking the Tube there, but this weekend, they decided to close down most of the important lines of the Tube to 'perform maintenance.' So we took the shuttle buses, which didn't bother us because they were red double-deckers. The area around Abbey Road is not touristy at all. It is a very pleasant and livable area. We followed the directions I found online and found the crosswalk. There were a couple other small groups of people doing their poses like the album cover and writing messages on the gates outside of the studio. Jenna and I worked on getting a good photo of each other walking across several times, and finally managed to get one. I imagine the people who drive in that area are continually frustrated by people like us slowly walking across the road.
After seeing the Road called Abbey, Jenna and I made a trip to see exactly where Harry Potter and Ron Weasley entered into the wizardly world on their way to Hogwarts. That's right - we went to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. The station was under construction, so the 'platform' was set off out of the way, enough that they had a sign telling silly folks like us where to find it.
Jenna and I left Kings Cross knowing that we were only muggles. We made our way to the Tower of London. The Tube stop nearest the tower was closed, so we got to make a walk through the Square Mile - the business district. The coolest building ever is there, called the Gherkin. We thought about going up close, but we could tell (from our experience in trying to walk to the Eiffel Tower - it is right there!) it was a long haul to get to it. We got to the Tower, which is actually a complex of 20 or so buildings, and bought tickets for a Beefeater (Yeoman Warder) led tour and watched the Asian tourists flock to the Fish and Chips stands like kids to candy. The beefeaters are very jolly and have sinister senses of humour. Our guide was no different. He loved to take stabs at the French and Americans, in addition to scaring small children by using his finger to 'slit' his throat while talking in a creepy voice. He also loved mentioning how 3 queens were executed on the grounds (2 of them wives of Henry VIII). There was a fantastic amount of history in that complex. For hundreds of years the sovereigns lived there and kept their most important prisoners there (including those queens, a few princes, and Walter Raleigh). The main building in the central of the complex was the oldest standing building I have ever seen, dating to about 1050. Inside was an extensive exhibit on Henry VII. There were rooms full of his sporting equipment, armour, weapons, and heraldry. The Tower of London is also where the Crown Jewels are kept. They are stunning. The gems are nearly blinding. There is a tale that 6 ravens must be kept at the Tower at all times or the kingdom will collapse. Being there (mere yards from where princes mysteriously 'disappeared' and queens were killed) on Halloween at dusk was creepy enough, then the ravens flying around at the top of the building dating from 1050 made it more creepy.
Nearby was St Paul's Cathedral, which is Christopher Wren's architectural masterpiece. A masterpiece indeed. It was so large that you have to go hundreds of metres away to see the dome on top. It was brilliant. This was the place that is immortalized in the WWII photo of smoke from German bombs wafting over London.
UPDATE:
I forgot to mention the great restaurant we ate at. It was literally next door to the hotel. Frontline Restaurant, as it was called, is put together by a group of journalists who have a mission that puts them somewhere between Amnesty International and Journalists without Borders. They own a farm that provides produce for the restaurant, and they try to get the other food from local and organic sources. I had a wonderful wild hare pie and Jenna had beef with hashbrowns. The dessert was probably the best part (duh), chocolate almond cake and lemon tart (for Jenna).
London was full of great sustainable food. There were several grocery store chains that highlighted free range, British (which means local for such a small island), organic, and fair trade. There was a coffee shop called Pret a Manger on every other corner that boasted no artificial anythings, real food, freshly made, and lots of instances of sustainable ingredients. There are Prets in New York (I hear) and I saw some in Edinburgh and Glasgow too.
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