So I had a meeting down in London and the last time I been there was over 10 years ago when Shinkai was there for a live interview.

Since I was down there any way I thought I'd visit some of the places; mainly museums. Then it occurred to me the K-ON Movie was also set there so I thought why not visit those too if they're nearby?

It's actually almost 10 years since the movie was released in 2011.

Natural History Museum

My first stop was the Natural History Museum. It seemed to have some interesting displays on and the building's architecture alone seemed worth visiting.

With Covid still on the loose, everything had to be pre-booked and as I headed towards the entrance I could hear the staff apologising to people who wanted to go in that all booking slots were full.

Site actually says you can try dropping in but I booked anyway so lucky I did.

There was supposed to be a bag search but I was allowed to go straight through. Maybe because I had a giant 6kg backpack still full of my stuff...

I admired all the arches more than the displays themselves because they were just replicas or, at least that's what they looked like to me.

Don't think many people noticed the carvings of monkeys climbing up the pillars.

A more modern side of the museum, "Orange Zone" where all the wildlife related exhibitions were.

Didn't spend much time here although there was also a second cafe area here where you could get some sandwiches or pastries for a break. Another was nearer the entrance but obviously all crowded being a tourist spot.

I still had a bag full of clothes and gadget I hadn't dropped off at the hotel yet so wouldn't have been fun if they went through that...

The other places I wanted to visit weren't open on Tuesdays or required bag searches.

So I decided to save the other tourist spots for next day and went ahead with K-ON spot hunting.

K-ON Movie

Closest stop to the museum was the Gloucester Arcade so started my walk down.

Red telephone boxes still around although in Scotland they're blue. I think they're worth preserving so it reminds people how we used to make calls pre-mobile phone days.

Quite a few statues around too.

Walked through some lanes that had some nice looking buildings. Part of the fun of going Anime spot hunting.

Quite a few luxury cars around so I'm guessing it's a bit of a wealthy area.

It was a 20 minute walk from the museum just at Gloucestor Station.

Then it was the arcade just round the corner which was mostly occupied by Waitrose.

Unfortunately, the clock wasn't there and I think they take it away for maintenance because I saw on some Japanese blogs it was sometimes there, sometimes not.

At this point, my legs were hurting. Probably because of the heavy bag I was carrying around but I pushed on... Probably my late 30s showing now.

Saw a Wasabi Japanese take-out place along the way so thought I'd drop by for lunch. It's actually a chain take away founded by a Korean.

I got some salmon onigiris. They're bigger than the portions I got from the combinis in Japan but the ones they sold were like rice and salmon paste mixed in. Not very impressive.

Next was World's End where the girls take a break along King's Road. Wasn't hard to find. In the movie, that blue blurb of a sign is actually supposed to be Carphone Warehouse which was gone now but you can still see it if you use Street View to view the older photos.

Spot was also used for a promo poster but someone was sitting there so I didn't take a full shot.

Nearby was the Vivienne Westwood Shop with the clock that ran in reverse.

Nice looking pub along the way to the cafe.

Before long you reach the "teapot cafe", Troubadour.

Almost 10 years later in 2021 the cafe still has a picture of K-ON on their store front.

Not too further along were the tenement flats too. You can see the number 24 but if you go there it doesn't really resemble what you see in the show as it's missing the black fencing at the top. It was rush hour too so I just snapped whatever I could and moved on...

I had forgotten about the crossing nearby but by the time I remembered I was too far away to walk back again so I decided to miss it.

Heading on towards West Brompton Station we find the cemetery Yui hangs around.

An odd choice for a cute,comedy like K-ON really...

It was getting so dark I had to bump up the ISO like I did during the 5cm walk so it still looks like day.

After walking pass the West Brompton Station was the Ibis London Earls Court Hotel the girls stayed at. Could have waited until it was completely dark but it was starting to rain.

Quite a few colourful stores around the area.

Since it was dark, it was harder to shoot clear sharp shots too. Less traffic outside the station itself though.

Looked quite interesting inside with all the bridge you had to walk on to get onto the different platforms.

Nice apartments but wonder what the noise is like from the trains.

My knees were aching to the point where it was painful to go down stairs so I fairly much went for the lifts when there was one even just for one floor. So I don't block the way or slow anyone else down too of course.

So as you can see, most of the spots are actually concentrated around station so if you don't have much time, you can go here.

I had been up since 4am so it was time to check-in to the hotel and continue the next day.

Went for an expensive room with a view so I could do a time lapse shoot with London's landmark in it too.

Well, hopefully legs better tomorrow. Vivosport says 25495 steps for the day which is just about over 12km for the day.