Here Comes the Cars: Abbey Road
As we’ve probably said elsewhere, London is a tourist’s dream, and probably has at least a dozen things that could be on most people’s bucket lists. One such attraction is Abbey Road. A completely regular road for Londoners, but for many tourists a pilgrimage site. We aren’t the biggest Beatles fans of all, but we have definitely heard of them! Few things are more iconic than that fateful album cover of good ol’ 69′. Ah what a year! (neither of us were born then…)
Thus, we made it our duty to sneak in some Abbey Road time. The road itself wasn’t necessarily right in the middle of things for us. We were staying in Hammersmith (on the west side of Londo) and most of our activities were centered around the Thames River. We decided to spur of the moment add it in while waiting to see our play Henry IV at the Globe Theater. The play was scheduled for 7:00 PM and we had an extra 2-2.5 hours to kill. We decided to pull the trigger when we noticed that the Southwark station located 15 minutes walk from the Globe Theater could take us north on the Jubilee (Gray Line) all the way to St. John’s Wood which was one of the closest tube stations to Abbey Road. The tube ride would take an estimated 30-40 minutes. It was this, or maybe miss Abbey Road if we didn’t have time later on so we decided to go for it.
Fortunately, the tube ride went well. We arrived at St. John’s Wood with ample time. Unfortunately, we got slightly lost looking for the exact Abbey Road crosswalk but eventually we found it. The catch is that Abbey Road is a long road! There are multiple intersections. We were determined to find the exact intersection where the 1960s photograph was taken. After asking several people if we were heading in the right direction and being more or less shunned, one lovely lady responded to us that it was a few blocks down and we “couldn’t miss it.” We quickened our pace eagerly and sure enough when we got to the road we realized we were there. After all, there was a fair group of similar minded tourists already doing the deed! (The location is at the corner of Abbey Road and Grove End Road).
Abbey Road was actually an interesting experience. First of all, we were amazed at the endearing awkwardness of the situation. It was rush hour. Our tourist comrades (soon to be us) would hang out in the middle of the road to take a picture of each other walking across while traffic would literally be forced to stop. It was kind of unreal. The danger and excitement blended together in the air to form a sense of “is this really happening?” The good news is that it’s a zebra crossing so the pedestrians technically have the right of way. When we had our chance, we each made our brisk walks across the road and snapped away on our phones. Now, honestly, if there are any Londoners reading, we apologize for this behavior, but please understand that it was meant with respect and love for the cultural icon your street has become! Thank you for letting us enjoy your city, and thank you for not running us or our fellow tourists over with your lethal cars.
All in all, for any Beatles fan, casual or serious, Abbey Road is a fun site to experience and see. Our pictures don’t do the album cover justice and the scenery in the background has changed, but it was still a good time. Importantly it is free, since it’s a public street. Scheduling-wise, it will be busier during rush hour (around 5 PM when we went) and if you want an easier time getting pictures, then you might want to avoid this time. Additionally, you can visit the Abbey Road Studios as well, located right at the intersection (featured in the banner photograph for this page).
Also, in case anybody is wondering, we made it back in time for our Henry IV play at the Globe, which we thoroughly enjoyed!
