A quick trip to London

Nick and I spent a lovely long weekend in London, England! Flying out on Thursday morning, we arrived in the evening and quickly adjusted to the time difference. Flying makes the day feel 5 hours longer anyway! I was happy to eat some room service for dinner and drink the most delicious bottle of Heineken I’ve ever had then go to sleep. Those Europeans sure know how to make beer.

Nick had meetings on Friday morning and early afternoon, so after ordering some breakfast and doing a bit of work in the hotel room, I happily wandered the streets alone for a few hours. I felt very proud in remembering the area from last summer and never had the feeling that I was going to get lost. You see, my sense of direction when I was younger was horrific.

I wandered the streets of Picadilly Circus, taking photos and window shopping. The only thing I ended up buying, besides a stockpile of Cadbury chocolate of course, was the British version of 1Q84. Look at those cool black pages!

Was also tempted to buy this neat British pressing of the first Harry Potter book, but took a picture instead.

After that, I wandered some more until my feet hurt and I began to feel hungry. I had a very British lunch with some Earl Grey tea at Caffe Concerto. I ended up sitting beside two very chatty Polish women and laughed to myself that I could have just done this at home in Greenpoint, the biggest Polish neighbourhood in New York.

Friday night was the reason we were there – Frank Turner‘s headline date at Wembley Arena! Nick and I headed over there around 4pm to see everyone and make sure things were going smoothly. Everyone was in a great mood, a little anxious, but very excited. The show was being photographed and filmed for a documentary, so we got to see lots of photo ops, like this one. Can you spot Billy Bragg?

It was really cool to walk around the deserted floors of Wembley Arena, but after a couple hours, I was happy to have convinced Nick to leave for an hour to eat some Indian food for dinner. Yum!

The show was great. The fans were ecstatic to be there and responded to Frank’s every word.

The finale was the best part. Between the end of the set and the start of the encore, Frank ran off stage and got “Wembley Arena” and the date tattooed on his arm, the whole thing filmed and broadcast on the big screens to the crowd. Naturally, they went nuts and confetti cannons showered the entire arena.

Backstage later, the band was presented with framed gig posters and little glass trophies with their logo on it commemorating the show. We toasted with Veuve Clicquot and everyone’s great moods continued. It was so great to be there for such a moment!

The next day, Nick and I ventured up to do the only touristy thing I wanted to do on the trip:

See Abbey Road!

There were many other people there, doing the same thing as us and annoying traffic in order to get a photo, pretending to walk across the street where the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road was taken. Myself included!

I can now say I’ve been to one of the best music history landmarks ever! I wish my Dad could have been there too, but for now, these photos will suffice :)

A great trip, all in all. Short and sweet, just how I like it!

Edit: Thanks to Angela for sharing this link – Abbey Road Webcam –  watch Beatles fans prance across the crosswalk and take photos and see exactly what was happening around me as Nick took the photo of me crossing. Hilarious!