Chapter 1 - London, England

We begin our trip in London, England--a place we haven't been in years.

The Astor Court hotel—right behind the BBC headquarters— told us we could check in early if we go have a cup of coffee while they prepare our room. Which we gratefully did, because, you know, airline coffee…

Plus we were tired!

Day 2: Being groupies!

We began our tour of London with a visit to Abbey Rd. Studios along with dozens of other Beatles fans.

Here is Joe, re-creating, the famous album, cover!

Believe it or not, there was a line of people waiting to make that crossing, including a bride and groom, and a Paul McCartney wannabe crossing barefoot! And cars and trucks and busses were plenty—and pretty patient.

We continued our groupie-ness with a trip to Richmond which has to be the prettiest London suburb.

This is where Ted Lasso is filmed, and so we had lunch at his pub and walked down the street where he lived.

The Theatre District
Thursday night we got to enjoy London’s longest-running play, Agatha Christie’s the Mousetrap and it was fabulous! But at the end of the play they made us promise that we wouldn’t tell you the ending! Sorry!

Day 3: Strange Restaurants and Harry Potter land!

There is a coffee shop/breakfast place we happened upon that was a former men’s “loo”. They had really great coffee and excellent omelets. Plus streaky bacon—our English phrase of the day!
And good company too!

On Friday we went to the Warner Brothers, Harry Potter studio tour, where we met up with dragons, owls, hippogriffs and wizards.

It was really fascinating seeing how they computer-generated the creatures. Joe even got to control Dobby for awhile.

We saw a few fiends too, and somehow became some ourselves!

Mary Quant, Where Are You?!

On our way back from Hogwarts, we accidentally came across Carnaby Street!

Ah, the 60s! Hippies, mods, rockers and miniskirts!

It’s no longer just a street though, but a big artsy, trendy district!

We took a tour of the Beefeaters Distillery since gin is so associated with London. The place has been in production for over 200 years and every drop is made in that building. It was an interesting tour where we got to handle and taste several botanicals like juniper berries, coriander seeds, Angelica root, Italian iris root powder and licorice that flavor gin.

Of course gin and tonic seems to be the cocktail of London and we got to taste one made by an expert out of top shelf stuff.

Last Call

Our last day in London and we went out to see the traditional sights. Big Ben, the London Eye and some great little saxophonist on the bridge!

Next stop—Dubrovnik