London

Let’s face it, no one is doing any traveling anytime soon. I’m pretty sure any Summer vacation plans I had are now off. That means now is the perfect time to revisit some past trips! If you know me, you know I love the MCU. That’s why back in April of 2015 I headed over to London to visit Katy with plans to visit numerous Marvel filming locations, and to hopefully take part in some “Avengers: Age of Ultron” premiere events. I’m going to break everything down by movie to make it a little easier and make the post flow better.

Thor: The Dark World: Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London

One of the first spots were checked out was the Old Royal Navel College in Greenwich. It’s where the big battle takes place in the movie. It was really exciting to see how movie magic was used and to imagine Dark Elves and Thor battling it out everywhere. I even took the time to stare out a window in the Painted Hall just like those dummies did in the movie. I mean, would your rather flee for safety or stick around and watch Thor fight? It’s an easy choice in my mind. We really lucked with perfect weather that day. Plenty of people were out and about. Remember when people would go out? And were allowed to be in groups? Ah, it feels like many moons ago.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Millennium Bridge, London

This bridge has been in a number of movies but you’ll recognize it as the bridge located on Xandar in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” You’ll really notice it during the large battle near the end of the movie where everyone is rushing to safety. If you search online you’ll find tons of filming photos which are really fun to see. It’s an interesting pedestrian bridge and if you find yourself in that area, I’d check it out.

Captain America: The First Avenger: Liverpool & Manchester & London

I could honestly write an entire post just about these locations. They were at the top of our list where where we spent most of our time. It’s a really weird and amazing feeling to see a place and just know. The interesting part of this is how far apart the two locations are in real life, but how in the movie they made them seem like they were just down the street from each other. Movie magic really is movie magic. The stretch of Dale Street between Port Street and Lena Street in Manchester were dressed (and re-dressed) for the car chase that then ended in Liverpool at Stanley Dock, which is now home to the Titanic Liverpool Hotel. That’s where we stayed during our trip but at the time of filming, there was no hotel there. And I must add it was a great stay and I highly recommend it! Our room was fantastic and of course we requested a view of the bridge. I’m sure people thought it was weird to watch two women randomly take photos of alleyways and a bridge. Manchester was just a day trip where we checked out the “store fronts.” It was hilarious to run around and try to match up the exact spots with screecaps from the movie. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic that day and it was easy to just randomly run from one location to the next.

Another spot that we checked out was the pub where Steve recruits the Howling Commandos. Now, it’s pretty easy to find if you search online but I’m not sharing it. I know, it’s weird. But I feel like this little spot belongs to myself and Katy. It’s changed owners and styles a few times. We’ve actually been there twice and our second visit was probably a more comfortable or better visit. We did talk the manager into giving us a little tour of the place the first time in order to see more of the pub. The second time around they had more of the bar open and we could sit anywhere we wanted. Of course that means we sat in the same spot that Bucky and Steve chatted and where Peggy made her appearance in her red dress. The drinks were pretty amazing and the bartenders were really nice. But that was a few years ago. It could be under new ownership again for all I know!

The funny thing is, when I started writing this I had no idea that when I would publish this post, it would fall on the 5 year anniversary of this trip. It was such a fun time and Katy did such a fantastic job of planning everything. She created an entire S.H.I.E.L.D file called OperationMAIL that included clues of where we were going, recommendations on what to wear. She really outdid herself. It’s just one of the reasons I love her and why she’s one of a kind. The Steve to my Bucky! I can’t wait to visit her again once everything is back to “normal” and we can make another trip to “our pub” and maybe try and see some new locations. There are still a few spots we missed out on the last time around and I know she’s been planning and scheming, trying to figure out ways to gain access to some of the locations.

Have you visited any filming locations for movies or TV? Let me know if you have!

I can’t believe it’s been two years already! I went to London back in September 2017 to watch the Baltimore Ravens play. That’s our football team if you’re new here. I booked a package through a travel group that specialized in these trips. It made the entire trip very easy plus took care of things like our game tickets, transportation, and hotel. They offered fun touristy things too like a trip to the London Eye, special events, and a riverboat dinner cruise. If you’re someone who’s thinking about following your team across the pond, I highly recommend looking into something similar. I did book my own flights though since I was going over earlier than needed. I added a few extra days that way I could hang out with Katy and do some stuff away from the group. It was honestly a fantastic time even if my team lost. It was cool being part of something like that and hanging out with a bunch of other fans, even if myself and Melinda were the youngest people on this trip. Plus London really gets into the NFL thing. There were banners up everywhere, special pep rally’s at local pubs, and a really awesome interactive area at the stadium before the game. At the game it was amazing to see jersey’s for every team. That’s not even an exaggeration. Eagles? Check. Colts? Check. Dolphins? Check. Packers? Yup. And some of these jersey’s were old school players! It made me wonder if they were expats, if they traveled over just for football, or if they were locals who just some how became attached to a team. Here are a few photos from the football part of things. I might write another post going into more detail about everything else I did but we’ll see. My memory is crap and it’s been awhile!

Another part that was really nice was walking around London and running into other Ravens fans. The city really was painted purple. It was hilarious how we’d all just do a little head nod in passing. Of course being the person I am, I didn’t talk to any of these random people I came across. Why would I do something like that? But you really did feel like you were part of something special and different. I recommend visiting London either way, but if you can add a football game to it, I recommend it even more! They really know how to throw a party and the largest citywide tailgate I’ve seen.

That Time I Visited Some MCU Filming Locations

It’s Been Two Years Since London