Thursday, July 10, 2008

A Magical Mystery Tour and some Royal Horses

Today was a busy, busy day. We started with the Royal Horse Guards Parade. We went, as a class, down past Trafalgar Square, to the Royal Horse Guards Parade Ground, and watched the Royal Horse Guards parade around. For our photography focus, we were supposed to work on action shots, on showing movement, mine didn't work out so well. Mine either look blurry, or you can't tell anything's supposed to be moving at all. I'll work on that again tomorrow. One thing I thought was funny was the sign that warns that the horses may bite or kick. That made me a little nervous, I must say. The guards don't move and don't talk to you, unless you do something you shouldn't, like walk too far under the arch, and then they can tell you to move where you're supposed to be. Of course, how would I know that???? One poor little guy rolled his eyes as if to say "Tourists" however, whenever Jessica and Julia from my class stood next to him, he didn't roll his eyes. We thought he needed a little treat from the other groups he had just been photographed with; we gave him two attractive young ladies instead. The parade involved a lot of the guards sitting perfectly still, while the horses, of course didn't. The horse closest to me was having some sort of tongue issue, and then I decided he was an ADD horse, if there is such a thing. He was having a very hard time standing still.


After the Horse Guard Parade, and lunch, we went on a Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. We had our own special guide, who is a Beatles expert. Now, what I know about the Beatles could probably fit into a tea cup, with room left over for tea, but it was incredibly informative and I realized I knew more than I thought I did. He showed us the office for McCartney Productions Ltd., which apparently owns the rights to all kinds of music, including songs from Buddy Holly, and some musicals. We also walked past the Palladium Theater, which according to our guide is where "Beatle-Mania" really began. Now, "The Sound of Music" is playing there. We walked past the studio where "Hey Jude" was recorded and the club where Paul McCartney met his wife Linda for the first time. We actually stopped in an exhibit of Linda McCartney's photos, and they were amazing. We went on to Abbey Road, where the Abbey Road recording studio is located. We actually ran across the same crossing zone where the Beatles famous album cover was photographed. We ran across more than one time trying to get some good pictures. I actually knew Abbey Road, because one of my favorite musicians, Steven Curtis Chapman, has some "Abbey Road Sessions" and even his album has a crosswalk on it. Apparently, the crosswalk is one of the most famous places in all of London, and all sort of groups, and people come and pose in the crosswalk. There is even a live web-cam that shows the crosswalk – here's the link: http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/visit/

If you'd been looking at the right time, you'd have seen us making multiple trips across the crosswalk. Mr. Everhart took a group picture of us sitting on the steps of the Abbey Road Studios. He had a plan, he got us ready, organized, marched us in there and took the pictures and marched us out. All in all, it was a busy day, entertaining, yet informative. I'm attaching a slide show of pictures.




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