London by tube
I had a free day today. Linda and Hope were off to the Victoria and Albert Museum (they said it was great) and Rob was being hosted for a walking tour by local friend John (which he said was great) and I was originally planning to head out to Chessington World of Adventures amusement park today to get some new coasters in.
But I try to avoid amusement parks on weekends, due to them being crowded. Doubly so when it’s a holiday weekend (like this one). Infinitely so when it’s a holiday weekend with a major event like the King’s coronation coming up in a few days. London is packed right now and I can’t be bothered to wait 2 hours for a smallish coaster when I could go some other time and have a lot more fun. So… I grabbed my Oyster card (pre-paid card that you use for public transport in London) and hit the road. I had everything written out on a piece of paper, including what order to do the stops and which tube lines to use and what stations to get off at. It was all very organized. London Transport has an app where you can type where you want to start and what you want to see and it tells you how to get there. Very handy. I knew that Abbey Road was first on the list (it opened earliest), so I typed that into the app and whaddayaknow - there’s a tube station for it and everything!
So off I went….
The first detour was just about ten minutes in, when I heard the announcement that the next stop would be Westminster. That would be Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, etc etc. And unlike when I saw them a few days ago, the weather is bright and sunny and beautiful today, so I bailed off the tube and headed up to ground level for some better pics.
Oh, that’s much better, yes. No gloomy grey skies this time.
That’s Westminster Bridge, but locals have a nickname for nearly every structure in town. This bridge’s nickname is “the penis bridge” because around 1-2pm on sunny days when conditions are right, the sunlight/shadows along the bridge’s walkway… um…. well, here’s a pic I swiped from the internet:
The London Eye was looking nice next to the giant building housing the Shrek Adventure and some other touristy schlock.
The National Covid Memorial has a heart for every person in London who died of Covid-19 and families have filled them in with names. It really hits home how many lives were taken and families broken by this virus.
Back on the other side of the Thames, Westminster Abbey is getting ready for the big coronation ceremony.
Then it was back to the tube and off I went to Abbey Road.
Today I learned that if you take the tube to Abbey Road station, you exit nowhere near Abbey Road. (The small black circle is the Abbey Road I wanted to go to. The larger blue oval is where the Abbey Road tube station is.) WTF, London?
And just like that, I wasted an hour and made all of my carefully organized written plans obsolete. Time to turn off Airplane Mode and just eat the roaming charges to figure out how to re-route my day. The closest thing on my list was Babylon Park, which I would get to via Camden Town station. So back to the tube and up at Camden Town and wow. Just… wow.
Wasn’t expecting this! The neighbourhood has been around since the 1970s and it’s the centre of counterculture, live music, nightlife, and weirdness.
That wasn’t the only wild couple or freaky hairdo or crazy outfit I saw, but it was the first that I could snap a photo of without being noticed. And you might wonder, “where would someone even buy clothes like that?” And the answer to that would be Camden Market.
For every street food vendor or trendy coffee shop, there’s also a counterculture shop selling goth clothes, piercing jewellery, or witchcraft supplies. It was pretty fun, looking at all the variety. But I was here for a new coaster credit! Somewhere near here is an amusement park.
Found it!
It’s an indoor park with kids as the target audience, which seems very strange in this neighbourhood. It’s a cute park, heavy on the eye-popping decor, and the coaster is a model I haven’t ridden before.
Got three rides on it. Fun enough for three rides, but not enough to keep me there all day. More things to see - like the Cartoon Museum.
When I saw it on the map, I figured it would be fun to see. I wasn’t sure if it would be cartoons from animation or comic strips or comic books or what, but it didn’t really matter. Turns out, it’s about British political satire cartoons that run in the papers here. Not having lived here, a lot of the humour involving specific people or incidents was lost on me, but others were easily deciphered.
From there, it was back to the tube and off at St John’s Wood, the actual tube stop you want when you visit Abbey Road. If you’re wondering why the name Abbey Road sounds familiar, it’s a recording studio where some of the most famous artists have laid down tracks, and it’s also the name of a Beatles album with this iconic cover:
Abbey Road studios were on the map, but I wasn’t sure how I’d know which crosswalk to look for. Turns out, that was pretty easy. I was hardly the only one looking to make the crossing today.
Of course, I made sure I had on appropriate attire!
Just a few metres from there is the recording studio.
In addition to the Beatles, Abbey Road handled recordings for Glen Miller, Dinah Shore, Connie Francis, Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Deep Purple, Olivia Newton-John, Wings, Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Rush, Pet Shop Boys, Radiohead, and the list just goes on and on.
Last stop was Hamley’s, “the world’s finest toy store” - there on the left.
Just inside the entrance, there’s an (almost) life-sized Lego model of King Charles III on a throne.
But the store doesn’t limit how many people can go inside at one time, so even though you didn’t have to wait to get in, the experience once you’re inside was mayhem. I couldn’t take it for very long and made a hasty exit. Perhaps I’ll visit later when the kids are back in school and it won’t be as crowded.
Dinner was back at the hotel restaurant, where I had the same thing I had yesterday. It was that good.