giovedì 31 maggio 2012

London Twenty12

I'M BACK, again (too early of course). London is awesome. We had the best time ever, everything was just perfect: the people, the hotel, the city, the weather, EVERYTHING. Talking about the weather we had the hottest days London have ever seen, not a drop of rain.

DAY 1, May the 24th.

Well, we left home al 6 am. Once we got in London we were compleatly lost. Finally around 3 pm we got to the hotel, which was fantastic. The neighborhood was very pretty and we had the best room of the whole hotel. Just perfect.





We left all the suitcases there and we went to see the Big Ben, Westminster, the Parliament House, and Prime Minister's home. To get there we crossed St James park, and it was so pretty and peacefull i was speachless. I don't know if it was because we haven't got parks here, but it was absolutely beautiful.



Even though i had seen heaps of photos of the Big Ben, and that area of London, once i got there it was completely different from how i had imagined it. It was bigger, more beautiful, simply stunning.








On our way back to the underground, we met this AMAZING singer. He was singing No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley. I started crying in the tube and we stopped to tell him how good he was, and he sung us a song just for us. It was really emotional. I think he should not be singing in the tube, he should be famous so everybody could hear that beautiful voice and soul. I loved it.



Once we got to the tube we went to Embankment to have a drink before we collapsed in our beds for the tiredness.


DAY 2, May the 25th.

We woke up rested and ready to explore every corner of London. We started with the National Gallery: gosh i saw some of the most beautiful and famous paintings in the whole world. I saw Van Gohg's Sunflowers, i couldn't believe it. That painting reminds me of my last year of high school. I spoke about it at my art exam. I can't describe, the feelings that hit me when i saw Manet, Monet and Van Gohg's paintings. I was, and i still am when i think about it, speachless. 




Close by the National Gallery is Soho and Chinatown which were beautiful but i reckon it's not the prettiest area of London.




Then we went to Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street. I had seen Piccadilly in lots of movies so it was nice walking there with my best friends. 




Close to Piccadilly Circus, it is the M&M's store. We spent something like 3 hours in that shop, it was more like a museum. The people whom worked there were the friendliest i've ever met and made us laugh a lot. 





Regent Street was the shopping paradise. But even though i'm a student (a broke student) and i couldn't enjoy too much that haven i couldn't help my self from buying, i bet all the women that are reading understand what i mean. 



That night, our friend that lives in Luton, Letizia, joined us and we went to Piccadilly once again to have dinner.



DAY 3, May the 26th.

We lived in Notting Hill and Portobello Road was next to our street. On Saturday we went to the famous market. It was busy but worth to see: very colorful.



We had lunch at Green Park and in the afternoon we went to Madame Toussaud, the wax museum. It was huge, much bigger than what i expected. We spend a fun afternoon. 




And we got a bit carried away. 






That night we met a friend that lives in London and he took us to Sticky Fingers the restourant opened by Rolling Stones's, Bill Wyman.

DAY 4, May the 27th.

On Monday morning we were determined to see the guard changing ceremony. So we woke up early and went to Buckingham Palace. It was probably the hottest day of the week, and we arrived there early to be able to get good places and see all the ceremony. It should have started at 11.30, around 12 we got closer to the gate to see if it was happening something and this is all we saw: 



After that disappointment we went to the Tate Modern, which was a complete success. Much better than what i thought. 


Then we went to Harrods, even though we couldn't afford anything it's pretty amazing to see. 



After Harrods we had walked all day and we were exausted even if it was only 5 pm. Two friends went back to the hotel; me and Benedetta wanted to go to Covent Garden but since it was Sunday all the shops were shutting. So we decided, or i did, to go to Tower Bridge which was 15 underground stops away.
Forty minutes later we finally got there but we couldn't see the bridge. At last we found it but we arrived from the wrong side. We were to tired to walk to the other side and get a better view so we took the tube back to Notting Hill Gate. That will definitely be the first place i go to next time in London. 


Then we had to hurry to meet our friend in Liverpool Street. He took us to a really nice indian restaurant.

DAY 5, May the 28th.

The second last day we went to the British Museum. It was huge, really nice even if it was not my favorite.


We spent there all morning and then we went to Covent Garden and Oxford Street. Since it was the end of the holiday, we hadn't any money for shopping but they are still really nice areas to visit. 
We went out for dinner with our friend Andrea and once we got to the hotel Benedetta and I had the longest chat we had had for a long time sitting out on our balcony. It was nice to talk to her, it's one of the person i missed most of all when i was in Australia. She is my best friend, but since i had been away for a really long period and we had had different experiences in the last months i was a bit frightened that our relationship wouldn't be the same. Luckly this holiday confirmed that we are probably closer than what we were. Being apart just made us notice that we can't live without each other.

DAY 6, May the 29th.

Well, that was the day to say goodbye to this beautiful city. A bit sad. We walked around Notting Hill and took the famous red bus. Then we had to get to Gatwick with the underground and the train that took a while. We arrived in Nice at 9 pm. Long day. It was nice to sleep il my bed even if my room is still a mess.