On my second trip to England, I travelled with my friend, Setsuko. A friend of her's, Mito, who was studying in Cambridge took us to some places on several occations. My first trip was a package tour with guides, so I can say that my second trip was actually my first. I didn't know where any place was. One day, we got on the underground as Mito said and arrived at Abbey Road!
She said, "Everybody wants to visit here. The photo in which the Beatles were walking on the zebra crossing was used for the cover of 'Abbey Road^*', one of their albums."
"Really?", we said. However, Setsuko and I weren't their fans, so we were not so excited, but still we took some photos there.
Since then, about fifteen years have passed. I'm addicted to England, so almost every year, I visit. Amazingly, I'd been to England twelve times!! Then, on my thirteenth trip, I decided to go to Liverpool which I'd never visited, although some times, I'd included it in my options to visit.
Talking of Liverpool, probably everybody will imagine the Beatles! When I was looking at a map thinking where I should visit, I found out that Abbey Road was near from Bayswater which I planed to stay on the last night. Actually, I'd been there before, but I thought that it was a good idea to visit Abbey Road once again. Because　Abbey Road must be a suitable place to conclude my trip related to the Beatles. Thus, I planed to visit Abbey Road after going to Little Venice from Bayswater.



That day, the weather was wonderful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
"We rarely see such a beautiful sky in England, don't you agree?". We were happy.
From our hotel, Tsukasa, my friend, and I walked towards Abbey Road via Little Venice seeing the very blue sky. After walking on a road full of green trees for a while, Tsukasa said to me, "I think that Abbey Road is near here. Do you remember the scenery?"
I answered, "No, I don't at all. Because the previous time, I was taken without notice and saw Abbey Road quickly."
While waiting for the traffic lights to change to green, we saw a man who seemed to be Japanese taking some photos in front of the sign of "Abbey Road".
"Ha ha--. Everybody thinks the same thing!" We laughed.
The lights changed to green.
Firstly, we took some photos in front of the sign, "Abbey Road". Soon, we could find Abbey Road Studios ; On the wall, there were many messages, which maybe had been written by fans of the Beatles. So while there, we took some photos.
No sooner had Tsukasa said, "They call this street Abbey Road, so there must be an abbey" than we found a small church on the opposite side of the studio.
"Finally, we simply have to take some photos while walking on the Abbey Road."
However, Abbey Road was a quite busy road. Actually, there wasn't a constant flow of traffic, but we couldn't find a break in the traffic. Soon after the last cars had passed, the next car appeared! Whenever we attempted to cross over the road, another car always appeared. After some attempts, we finally got on chance!
Click!

^*”Abbey Road ” is an album record of the Beatles, which made the most sales. Amasingly, fifteen million copies have been sold in the world. "Abbey Road" released before but recorded after "Let it be". Therefore, "Abbey Road" is their last album. On the cover of "Abbey Road", they were walking on the Abbey Road. However, only Paul McCartney was walking with bare feet, so there was a rumour that he had died when it was released. It includes "Come Together", "Something", "Here Comes The Sun", "Because", and so on.

		the left in the first line : The Abbey Road is on the left hand side. the right in the first line : There is a small church on the Abey Road. the second line : Abbey Road Studio. On the wall, there were many messages written by fans of the Beatles.

I took one photo of the beautiful blue sky! In conclusion, I must tell you once again. We couldn't find a cloud in the sky. Maybe, we rarely see such a wonderful sky in London.

How beautiful...

(2004.4.17)

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Trip to England

I really love London!