Walking Tour

The Studio 90 crew hit the ground running yesterday, heading straight from Heathrow into central London to begin filming for the first leg of the international series. Some highlights of the whirlwind tour of the sites:

• No men in red? Disappointed to get to Buckingham Palace and not see those famous guards dressed in red and big hats standing post. They did have sentries posted inside the gate, including one with a really big machine gun who politely informed us we couldn't film without 'permission from the Queen'. We replied we would be happy to ask if we could have her cell phone number. OK, we didn't say that.
• SoHo Square - Home to the modern looking headquarters of the English FA, the building is cloaked in a rather non-descript looking door at the front. You'll see shots of the trophy case and views from the roof in the show. Paul from security was nice enough to give us a tour, and he broke out the original FA Cup trophy for us to film. Well, the second original trophy anyway. The inaugural cup - which is much smaller - debuted in 1872, while the current version has been in use since 1911. Aren't you glad we payed attention on the tour?
• "Look kids! Big Ben, Parliament!" As die-hard fans of the National Lampoon 'Vacation' films, the opportunity to belt that out in the center of the park proved irrestible. It was so noisy that no one could hear us anyway. The buildings really are quite impressive, and its easy to get romanced by the weight of all the history there. Plus there was a sign at one end of Parliament that said 'Sovereigns' Entrance.' How's that for VIP?
• Random notes: traffic is quite literally insane ... gas is $12 a gallon ... there are over 1,000 security cameras mounted around the city ...curry shops are everywhere ... please, please, please, remember to look right first when crossing the street ... we actually saw the sun - in England! [Editor's note: The weather is England is famously gloomy]

Since the group is ensconced in a hotel in the countryside, that was probably the last look at one of the truly great capitals of the world. Time to hit the pitch ...