The Sawyer Stories

Day 20 London

London! We made it! For me, Amber, this feels like an exhale. I look back on all the travel we’ve done and see this last stop as a swan song. I feel proud that all we planned actually worked and feel so blessed for all we’ve been able to see and experience. Now on to a fantastic few days in a city I feel like we loved before arriving. So much of our favorite movies, books, shows, and music come out of London. Insert to focus on today’s tour: music! This post has SO MANY PHOTOS. You’ve been warned.

Highlights from day 20:

  • We had a slower morning because our tour didn’t start until 11. We enjoyed no alarm and found a quick breakfast spot for vegan sandwiches and tea, of course.
  • We then hopped on The Tube to an undisclosed location. Michael was clearly moving with intention but not saying much. We found ourselves on a quaint and quiet street in front of a building marked RAK. This is in fact where Green Day recorded part of their most recent album!
  • We then headed to the Sherlock Holmes statue to meet our tour guide for the day. Our tour was a Beatles tour around the city to important sites in the lives of the Beatles (and a few other musicians). This tour was perfect. We got to walk all over SoHo and find hidden treasures we would easily have walked by without any note of significance. We even recreated some famous photographs/movie scenes. I’m going to do my best to add photos with captions, but it was a lot of information to retain.
  • First up, re-enactments. Liam’s acting skills came into play.
Opening scene from A Hard Day’s Night
Back of Ziggy Stardust record
Young David Bowie
Scene from John Lennon short film
Steps of Old Marylbone Town Hall, where several Beatles weddings took place. There was a wedding party on the steps when we were there too.
So this was Ringo Starr’s flat, but John and Yoko lived here for a time. Jimmy Hendrix also lived here. An early version of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was written here.
This is Jane Asher’s parent’s house (Paul’s girlfriend for a time). He lived there and would sneak down the neightbor’s fire escape to meet his driver out back. Here he wrote ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Yesterday’.
This is Trident Studio with a crazy long list of songs recorded here from many artists: ‘Your Song’ Elton John, ‘You’re so Vain’ Carly Simon, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Dear Prudence’ The Beatles, as well as Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and the list goes on and on. Incredible, and you’d walk right by it!
Here’s a cool one! This is Apple Studios where The Beatles performed their last concert on the roof. They could only hear them not see them from the ground below.

Alright, that’s a lot, so let’s break for a photo montage of other stops and sites.

  • Now for the part of the tour we have been waiting for: Abbey Road! We excitedly texted family and friends to look for us on the live webcam as we crossed. Again, one of the best parts of booking private tours is having a built in photographer. This was especially appreciated when we took our Abbey Road record cover replica. Touristy? Yes. Do we care? Not even a little bit. We then got to sign the wall outside the studio (It’s a thing, not unwanted graffiti. Promise.) 
  • Momentary pause to shift back to the middle of the tour. The guide brought us to The London Palladium theater where The Beatles played several shows. While he spoke of The Beatles, my attention was entirely captured by what was in the theater now, Hello, Dolly! Not only is this a musical I love BUT…BUT Imelda Staunton was cast as Dolly! She’s the actress who plays Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films. I giggled and instantly looked up tickets at the off chance there were a) some available that were b) affordable. My context is Broadway where last minute tickets in partial view seats are $90, so I didn’t have much hope. To my surprise, I could get decent seats for far far less! Eek! I asked the younger of my two beaus on a date and booked two tickets. 
  • To get back across town we took a double decker bus (check that off our list of must do things in London). We got to sit in the very front of the top deck. It was a bit unnerving and I was certain we were going to hit a pedestrian (really feeling that Knight bus to the Three Broom Sticks vibe).
  • Before the show, the three of us had the next must-do London experience: we got vegan fish and chips. So yummy! We said goodbye to Michael and headed to the show. Wow wow wow, fellas (a line from the musical). It did not disappoint. I had goosebumps the whole time. Dolly was incredible. When she sang ‘Hello, Dolly’ while descending the stairs, the whole crowd lost it. There’s truly not much better than live theater in my opinion. It was such a delightfully surprising night.
As you can see, I am the only one who actually got fish and chips because the boys have never liked fish.
  • Michael met us outside after the show. How did he spend his time, you might be wondering? He got another massage. Everybody wins. 

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