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| With the Beatles |
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With the Beatles at Madam Tussauds in London. Of all the wax figures here, I like these the most.
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At Liverpool finally ! |
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Since we were put up in London, we had a 4 hour train ride to get to Liverpool. We got up at 3:00am in the morning, rushed to the train station, took the 7:00am train and made it to Liverpool by 11:00am. The train journey was pleasant. When we landed at Liverpool the weather was cloudy and cold. It was raining a bit when we got there. We went to a shop where I asked the girl if the weather was always this way - to which she replied "yeah, pretty much". Kind of explains why the Beatles has so many songs about sun - "Here comes the Sun", "I'll follow the Sun", "Good day Sunshine" - did I miss any ?
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| The Beatles Story |
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The Beatles Story is a museum dedicated to the Beatles. It located in Albert Doc. We spend a lot of time roaming around in Liverpool and reached the museum only after lunch around 2:00ish. Great place, I only wish I had more time to spend here.
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With Beatles memorabilia |
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With a couple of things I purchased in the museum. Few t-shirts, a couple of mugs.
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| The Magical Mystery Tour |
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Outside the Magical Mystery Tour bus. We embarked on the "Magical Mystery Tour" at around 3:30pm. The tour took us to all the well known sites related to the Beatles. In all the tour was great, enjoyed every minute of it. It was truly magical and is a must see for any Beatle fan !
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Penny Lane |
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Our first stop was Penny Lane at 4:00ish. When Penny Lane was released by the Beatles the street signs that you see here would regularly "vanish". It got to a point where the authorities decided against putting up any more signs and for identification wrote "Penny Lane" on the walls !
We saw the barber shop (where "the barber shaves another customer") but not the fire engine. We did see the bus stop where John, Paul and team would wait to take a bus home, at times for over an hour just so that they could ride the bus driven by Johns dad - without having to pay a penny !
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| Strawberry Fields Forever |
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Strawberry Fields Forever - it used to be owned by Salvation Army until recently bought out. The new owner plans to redo the entire place, but vows not to touch this entrance which is visited by so many Beatle fans from around the world. John used to spend a lot of time here, when questioned by his aunt mimi, he replied that it was no big deal and it was not as if they would "hang him for it". Sounds familiar - "Nothing to get hung about, Strawberry fields forever".
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George Harrison |
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Place where George Harrison was born and brought up.
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| John Lennon |
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A glimpse of the place where John Lennon spent his childhood. The tour bus did not stop here as the house has long been sold. However the tiny room where John and Paul spent so much time composing their songs remains untouched.
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Sir Paul McCartney |
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Outside Sir Paul McCartney's house in Liverpool
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| Final stop - The Cavern Club |
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The Cavern Club was our final stop in the "Magical Mystery Tour". We reached here by around 5:30pm. This picture of me with John Lennon was taken right outside the Carven Club.
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Outside the Cavern Club |
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Taken right outside the Cavern Club with my wife, who does NOT happen to be a Beatle fan. For that matter she does not listen to rock-n-roll at all. However, being a true sport, she enjoyed this trip with (or rather for) me :)
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| Inside the Cavern Club |
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A view of the stage where the Beatles gave many of their performances just before stepping into superstardom. Most of the fans who were lucky to witness these performances here agree that these were their best.
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Goodbye Liverpool |
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Its 6:00pm, we have to head back to the train station to catch our train back to London. If I look a bit sad its because I have to leave Liverpool. I never dreamed of making it to Liverpool but I finally did. It was a great treat for a Beatle fan. I hope to return someday in the future ...
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| The Albert Hall - London |
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Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall -
Not statisfied with visting Madame Tussaud's and Liverpool, I went around London looking for other Beatle related sites. The Albert Hall was one of them.
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Its Abbey Road ! |
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Yep, thats me at Abbey Road. I kinda ground the traffic to a halt while trying to take a few pictures at the zebra crossing here at Abbey Road !
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| All you need is love |
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All you need is Love, us Beatle fans know that well. Most of the walls in Abbey Road have been scribbled by Beatle fans all over the world - I saw signs scribbled by fans from Russia, Jakarta, NYC..
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MPL - London |
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I decided to take the "Beatle Walk in London" to see some more Beatle stuff in central London. We visited many sites, among them was MPL, Sir Paul's recording studio.
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| ...the rest of you rattle your jewellery |
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Prince of Wales - The site where the Beatles performed and during one of their performances John Lennon announced "Those in the back seats clap your hands, the rest of you just rattle your jewellery"
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Help ! |
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John Lennon was taken by the police for using some certain "substances" and placed in here for a night. While in here he penned "Help".
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| 3 Saville Row |
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3 Saville Row - Does this name ring a bell ? Its the site where the Beatles gave their final performance. Fans lined up the entire place to see them play. Someone decided to call up the police which were located just a few blocks away (acutally at the police station we saw earlier). However such was the number of the fans that the police took a full 45 minutes to get here.
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I hope we passed the audition |
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The terrace at Saville Row where the Beatles gave their final performance. At the end of it John Lennon remarked "I would like to thank you on behalf of the group and myself and I hope we passed the audition !"
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