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Home , London Eye, Tate Modern, The Fab Four (tribute)

PAGE 30 THX-E01-S2 The Herald, Saturday February 11 2012 Holidays During a trip to , TRISTAN NICHOLS decided to avoid the usual shopping and tourist haunts to seek out a stroll with a difference –a veritable magical mystery tour...

ICONIC IMAGE: A Beatles tour of London wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Abbey Road Studios and its famous crossing, right, featured on the album cover Abbey Road. Above: A plaque tells visitors why a property is important TRAVEL facts

BEATLES WALKS: LONDON Walks Walking in footsteps of offer more than 100 walks around the capital throughout the week. There are at least three Beatles- themed tours, but the firm also offers historic, ghostly and Olympic walks. Visit www.walks.com for further details. the Fab Four is capital TRAVEL: FIRST Great Western offers It’s also believed that Paul wrote 30 direct trains a day between WHEN you’re in need of help, Plymouth and London, including the magical mystery tours at the ‘Eleanor Rigby’here. And just a few streets away from overnight sleeper service. weekend can rekindle your here is ’former Apple office, Prices start from £13.50 each way spirit of adventure and awaken and the house where Paul wrote the between Plymouth and Paddington. your soul. first chords of ‘Ye s t e r d a y ’. All fares and timetable information are And if you’ve had a hard day’s night, For a passer-by, as I have been until on our website and been working what seems like now, many of these sites are simply www.firstgreatwester n.co.uk , it’s worth consid- soul-less buildings, now lived in by ering getting away for the weekend. normal people like you or me. ACCOMMODATION: ONE So while many people visit London to But it’s only when someone points YOU’d be hard-pressed to find a go shopping or visit the countless at- out the small circular blue plaques tractions on offer, it’s worth considering better-placed award-winning hotel in fixed to the front of the properties that . this day trip-per. you realise what once lay within. Okay, I’ll stop the puns now. The plaques act as guides to visitors, One Aldwych boasts luxury at an If you’re a fan of The Beatles, and offering a small snippet of information affordable rate, and comfort in fancy a wander, why not walk in the on the site’s history. abundance. footsteps of the Fab Four? Of course, a Beatles tour of London The hotel is situated right in the middle During my trip to the country’s cap- wouldn’t be complete without a trip to of London in , between ital I booked myself onto one of London Abbey Road Studios and its famous the City and the West End. Wa l k s ’Beatles Walks tours taking in crossing –featured on the album cover many of the most famous areas where It’s within walking distance of 15 Abbey Road. theatres; shopping; the financial Beatlemania struck a chord with the The site is now what it was then, I’m nation’s heart. district; art galleries ( Modern, ABOVE: The sure –pretty unspectacular. Now I know what you’re thinking... Beatles are seen , , the London? Beatles?! Saying that, though, there is a buzz ); the and running up this around the place. Why not go to –i.e. their street in the S h a k e s p e a re ’s making it birthplace? beginning of the As it’s on a busy main road the traffic a perfect home from home for many of is relentless –even when people are Good point. However, much of the film A Hard Day’s London’s attractions. band’s life was based in London with trying to re-enact the famous album Night cover shot –and the only truly colourful Its much talked-about restaurant, Axis the four moving from Liverpool in a bid Tour guide at One Aldwych, is also worth a to further their careers. LEFT: aspect of the scene is the graffiti writ- Richard Porter in ten all over the walls of the studio’s booking in its own right with high- On this particular tour, named the quality food and a lovely ambience. ‘In My Life’walk, I was amazed real- front of a property front entrance. ising that many of the areas of London in Montagu Square, Even so, the site is a chapel to music Rooms at One Aldwych are priced from I have previously strolled through and London, where fans with some of the finest albums and £239 plus VAT per room per night. past, were in fact backdrops to some of and artists in the land having captured They boast complementary wireless the Fab Four’s most famous exploits. Yoko Ono lived moments of beauty here. broadband in every room; Bowers & Marlyebone Station, which I have It’s only really when you take part in Wilkins iPod docking stations; Bang & visited on countless occasions, was the a tour like this that you realise just how Olufsen televisions; and fresh fruit and setting for many of the early scenes in The site also recently played host to and leased out to John and Yoko in the important and incredible The Beatles flowers daily. the film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. the recent wedding of Paul and partner late 1960s. were for this country –and indeed how loved they are even today. For further information, call One A short distance away is Marylebone Nancy Shevell. The flat became famous in its own Aldwych (London WC2B 4BZ) on 0207 Register Office where Paul and Ringo A short distance away in Montagu right as the site where the couple were So as I walk away from the hustle married their sweethearts in the photographed nude for the ‘two virgins’ and bustle of the big smoke with my 3001000 or visit www.onealdwych.com. 1960s. Square is the flat which Ringo owned album cover. ticket to ride, I have to say: .