Rock n Royalty

From Royalty to Rock n Roll, our short stopover in London was about enjoying the best of what England’s capital offered.

We visited London two years earlier (almost to the day) and spent that time packing in as much as possible, from Westminster Abbey to Notting Hill, a Harry Potter Studio Tour and London Tower, we had already had our fair share of famous/historical sites.

So returning to this city two years later gave us the opportunity to hit a few spots we missed, and revisit some of our favourites.

One of London’s most recognised landmarks would be the home of HM Queen Elizabeth II – Buckingham Palace.

While catching the Changing of the Guard ceremony is a sight to behold and worth seeing, we opted this time to visit the State Rooms, which are only open to the public during the summer months.

The ticket included and audio tour and took us through the lavishly furnished State Rooms including the elaborate and beautifully designed Throne Room.

There was also a special exhibition featuring hundreds of gifts the Queen had received from other leaders around the world. We couldn’t help but feel a pang of patriotism and pride when the first item displayed was an Australian State Coach. The coach was presented to Queen Elizabeth II of Australia and the United Kingdom as the official gift on the occasion of the Australian Bicentennial on May 8, 1988 and first used in November of that year at the State Opening of Parliament.

There was also a special exhibit to Lady Diana to mark the 20th anniversary of her tragic death.

While we couldn’t take photos inside, we enjoyed a hot chocolate and took a few snaps from the Royal Cafe in the gardens before leaving the Palace grounds.

Making our way towards Trafalgar Square and we spotted a Hard Rock Cafe (Tom always likes to peak at the memorabilia), and wandering in Tom quickly realised we had struck Rock n Roll gold!

The original Fender Stratocaster left by Eric Clapton to mark his spot at the bar remains exactly where it was placed in 1979, alongside a Gibson Les Paul donated the next day by Pete Townsend of The Who, with the famous note “Mine’s as good as his!” This is the story of how the Hard Rock’s memorabilia tradition all began.

Chatting to the manager (An Australian guy who shouted us a couple of pints), he told us about the other Rock n Roll treasures just next door.

The neighbouring Rock Shop featured an underground vault with its most precious rock history pieces. The shop runs free tours every 20 minutes to show off collection items including the Gibson Flying V played by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 1969, Jimmy Page’s famous Les Paul Custom and other guitars once belonging to the likes of Keith Richards, David Bowie, BB King, Jeff Beck and many more.

Other famous pieces include clothing worn by Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Prince and Guns n Roses during famous concerts, film clips and interviews. Needless to say Tom was in is element!

We joined our ‘Girles Gone Wild‘ friends Steph and Tyrone for an English pub dinner later that night, before heading to West End to see Aladdin. Based on the classic Disney film, the costumes, sets and musical numbers where a feast for the eyes and the magic carpet “I can show you the world” scene was phenomenal! (It’s coming to QPAC in Feb 2018).

At London’s centre stands the imposing Houses of Parliament, the iconic ‘Big Ben’ clock tower and Westminster Abbey, site of British monarch coronations.

Having seen the latter two on our last trip, the Political nerd in Jess was buzzing to explore the House of Parliament, which was once a royal palace.

With Parliament sitting, guided tours weren’t available until after we left London, however all was not lost. We saved ourselves £60 without a tour and instead witnessed the House of Commons sitting from the Public Gallery for free.

After witnessing Members talk about the devastation Hurricane Irma had caused British islands in the Caribbean, we left to fulfil Tom’s passion in Camden Town – guitars and live music.

We met up with our mate from back home – Trav – and his lovely girlfriend Amy to hit up a concert at the Electric Ballroom to see Dispatch – a three piece rock band from Boston, Massachusetts.

It was a fun couple of days in London and having visited twice now, only gave us more motivation to return again.