weekend in london town: saturday

Living in London and putting up with the tube and the crowds every day means its really easy to forget to be a tourist. Once in a while its good to get out and see all the things you normally rush past.

I still haven't gone up the stairs to the top of Monument, seen the smallest police station in Britain or spotted the random nose on Admiralty Arch (I've tried but failed so far) A couple of weekends ago I did go and see some Grade II listed road markings though…

My parents visited and that's always a good excuse to get out and about and look at interesting things. Despite being a huuuugggeee Beatles fan I still hadn't gotten around to visiting Abbey Road Studios and the famous zebra crossing outside of it. If you don't know the crossing I'm on about, please leave now.

I crossed the crossing…multiple times. There were quite a few other people there too, all making a nuisance of themselves.

1. They insisted on stopping in the middle of the road to get their photos taken in bad walking poses while the traffic was forced to wait.

2. They got in the way of me trying to stop in the middle of the road to get my photo taken in a bad walking pose while the traffic was forced to wait.

Turns out Abbey Road is pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon and I got a total of zero good photos of the actual crossing. The photo for the album cover was taken from right in the middle of the road with only a couple of cars in the distance. A photo from a pavement with a queue of buses and a load of other tourists hanging around isn't good enough!

As the place is only half an hour walk from my current flat I've decided to go back at 5am at some point when its more likely to be clear…Is it even light at 5am these days? I might have to wait until next summer now.

As is tradition, I added my scribble to the wall outside Abbey Road Studios. Note to self: take a better pen next time. If you cared to look (and search for hours) you'd find my 'AliceInPepperland 2011' on the wall directly opposite the door of the recordings studios.

Being a proper fan, I also wandered a few streets away from Abbey Road to Cavendish Avenue to see Paul McCartney's 60s home. I think he still owned it until pretty recently. There was no Paul to be seen but no other tourists either which meant a smug I'm-a-better-fan-than-you-are feeling overrode the disappointment of no photos of the zebra crossing.

A blue plaque told me that Billy Fury (real name Ronald William Wycherle. Ha) also lived on the avenue in the 60s. I think I should get a time machine and buy myself a place there...

The walk wasn't over for the day. We carried on past Lords cricket ground and through St John's Wood to Regents Park. After stopping for a lollipop we left the park and went on to 221b Baker Street.

We didn't go inside Sherlock Holmes' house this time but when I saw a photo in the museum shop of Dustin Hoffman posing with a policeman outside the famous door I felt a bit better about having to stand there for what felt like 10 minutes while other tourists waited for a turn while my Dad took a photo.

Next door was another little London gem: the Beatles store! Many many things in there I wanted to buy. I'll have to go back sometime when I'm feeling rich.