Editor’s Note: Speaking of rock music, don’t forget to enter Viator’s New York City Rock n Roll tour contest. Tell us in 10 words or less: Why do YOU rock?

Memories of the Beatles are all over London

It’s a sad fact that many London visitors only ever get as far as seeing the West End, The Mall, Big Ben and The Tower. Many travellers don’t ever make it to where Londoners actually live, which is a very different place to the high-traffic tourist zones. That’s not to say those places aren’t important, but you might get just as much enjoyment out of an afternoon on the Kings Road as you would from yet another “must see” attraction, but how do you make that call: Westminster Abbey or Chelsea? That’s a tough one if you don’t know what to expect.

The London Rock Music Tour is a great way to solve that problem, and it’s a lot of fun if you have any interest at all in the Beatles, the Stones or any of the big UK pop and rock acts of the last 40-odd years. The tour picks up at the Hard Rock Cafe on Picadilly and winds its way though parts of London you’ll just never see unless you move there. And it’s a slightly surreal experience passing a huge monument of clearly important historical value and then hearing the guide start explaining — not about the monument, which remains a mystery — but about the cake shop on the left that’s run by Paul McCartney’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Asher. And she works there some days, so you can go right in and get your picture taken with her, because she’s a really nice lady!

And that’s one of Mick Jagger’s London homes right there, the one with the Vespa in the front yard; and that’s Bill Wyman’s restaurant, Sticky Fingers, and here’s Abbey Road, where we can all get out and have our photo taken crossing that crosswalk, you know, the one on the album cover?

Yeah, it’s all sort of corny but as it happens the rock and roll world is and was centered on Chelsea and Kensington and Earls Court and all the parts of town that really are still such fun today, so by the end of the tour you’ve figured out exactly where you want to go for dinner tonight, or shopping tomorrow, or just for a stroll in a part of town away from the crowds but with a history a little more relevant to your own life.

At least I can say I’ve been there…

And who knows who you might run into? But stay cool when you do, you’re a traveller, not a tourist…

–Rod Cuthbert

Planning a trip? Book a London tour to suit your fancy, or do like Rod and try the London Rock Legends Tour for something a little different.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Destinations, Europe, Musings from Viator's Founder, Travel Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Get articles like this one delivered to your favorite RSS feed reader.
Subscribe to Viator Travel Blog now.