My Pilgrimage to England
(click on any picture to see the full version)
For any Beatles fan making the trip to England, I definitely recommend books like The Beatles' England by David Bacon & Norman Maslov, The Beatles' London by Piet Schreuders, Mark Lewisohn & Adam Smith, and Guide to the Beatles London by Richard Porter (who's a really nice guy by the way). You can order these from www.thefestforbeatlesfans.com. They're absolutely essential to getting your way around Beatles-related sites, especially the obscure ones.
In July of 2000, me, my sister Shawna, and my best friend Holly (who introduced me to the Beatles), made the trek across the Atlantic to visit the birthplace of the Beatles! It was really a dream come true. Just getting off the plane at Gatwick Airport in London, and being on British soil, was a thrill (I was tempted to kiss the ground). I was 19 at the time, and I'd been planning it for 4 years. For half that time, I had a sign on my wall to remind me - just in case I was tempted to spend my money on anything else - that read "I'm Going To England!"
Intersection of Abbey Road & Grove End Road
Once we got gathered our wits about us, our first stop was, of course, Abbey Road. Stunned as we were, we didn't believe we'd actually found it (we didn't expect there to be a roundabout nearby) until Holly pointed out that there was a group of tourists snapping pics, so it must be it. We did the essential walk across (one small step for man, one giant leap for Beatles fan). In this picture, Holly is in the lead and I'm right behind her (with Shawna snapping the pic).
3 Abbey Road
Just up from the crosswalk are the studios where magic was made. It was under some renovation at the time, and we were so tempted to walk right in. The stone alongside the sidewalk in front of the building was absolutely covered with Beatles fan graffiti. (I wonder if they ever bother repainting it?) We were good tourists though, and didn't leave anything but the echoes of our squeals.
7 Cavendish Avenue
A short walk from Abbey Road is Paul's bachelor pad, which he moved into in the summer of 1966. Incidentally, this is the location where a female fan "came in through the bathroom window." According to The Beatles' London, Paul still owns the house.
57 Green Street, Flat L, 4th floor
This is the location where, for a short time, all four Beatles resided in the same flat (in autumn 1963). Can you just imagine all that talent (and charm) in one place!
57 Wimpole Street
When Paul left the Green Street flat in late 1963, he moved into the attic of 57 Wimpole Street - where his girlfriend, Jane Asher, lived with her parents and brother Peter. This is the room where "Yesterday" was born (Paul explains waking up with the tune in his head).
Westminster Registry Office, formerly Marylebone Registry Office
This is where Paul and Linda were married on March 12th of 1969. In this picture, me and my sister pose for a "We Were Here!" memento.
1 Soho Square
This is the headquarters of Paul's company, MPL (McCartney Productions Limited). We discerned that Paul wasn't in London during our visit, so we didn't hang out here as long as we otherwise might have. We did, however, use our videocamera's zoom option to peek into what a window office which had a framed "Paul is Live" cover.
24 Chapel Street
This was Beatles manager Brian Epstein's home. It also happens to be the site of the Sgt. Pepper album premiere party on May 19, 1967 during which the Beatles were photographed on the doorstep I'm standing on here.
Travel on to Liverpool
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