The Road To Mecca

I apologize for offering this up as my first look at London, but I have about an hour before I get picked up and it is the most expedient. I wanted to get these photos posted before my wi-fi goes away.

I will happily confess that I have been to Graceland. More than once. Before and after The King passed away. Not that I’m a die-hard fanatic, but the phenomenon that is “Elvis” fascinates me.

But the Beatles? Yeah, they have a prominent place on my go-to playlist.

I was born in 1957 and for people my age, the Beatles were a big part of the soundtrack of our lives. Just like Smokey Robinson, Little Stevie Wonder, the Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin.

So, if you’re making up a list of sights to see in London and you have 48-hours to cram it all in, what is near the top? A pilgrimage to northwest London to Abbey Road. And maybe have a photo taken of you walking across the street, just like on the album cover.

Abbey Road is just a street. It’s the home of a recording studio. Some famous people have recorded music there. It’s not Elvis’ mansion in Memphis. Or Jim Morrison’s grave.

But still we come, as if drawn there by aliens, like in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Graceland has a Wailing Wall out front along the sidewalk on Elvis Presley Boulevard. So does Abbey Road Studios. I found the sentiments amazing. Even inspiring.

The wall is white-washed regularly. The inscriptions covered up. But the love, the adoration, can never be erased.