London - A week in this frantic european capital

Il fascino e l'atmosfera della Londra notturna sono intriganti e fortissimi
The variety of attractions to visit is surprising, for all tastes and all ages how to pass the time is guaranteed
E 'reputation that London is one of the most expensive city in the world, you spend a lot for everything!
The pollution is terrible, and if it affected only a few days after you take the habit meters
In addition to soot pollution and the city seems "gray" because the weather is clement, the sun is really a rarity, the pioggierellina constant
Ask the Travel Card at least weekly for the first two areas of London is the most practical and less expensive to use at any time of the subway or bus
Keep your eyes open and stare attentissimi to "Pickpocket", or to pickpockets, is a good suggestion constantly repeated by many posters to each stop of meters
Do not ever bring things of value of the stock exchange
The London "British" do not abound in some warmth, the rush and stress of the great metropolitan city are felt. If information is sought must grasp the fly's response because there will be time for questions ...

 

Flight and accomodation at Hyde Park Hostel

Parto with Stefania, who has already lived in London for two years and wants to return to greet his dear friend Silvia remained there to study. Take the bus from Alghero and Cagliari to travel on Ryanair flights Stansted-Alghero (reserved from the Internet at a minimal fee, a gift is offered). Buy tickets on board the Stansted Express train to London, at a price much lower than full payment directly to the station.
The flight is punctual and Stansted is now the train, passing frequently, and in about 45 minutes to reach Liverpool Street. E 'already dark and the impact is exciting: the station is a marvel, and it seems to be in the film of Harry Potter!
Think of doing well now TravelCard weekly (we even brought photos from home just for that!), Which saves considerably on transport: you can do to the different areas of London and is valid for both the meter and for the bus.
Are about 22:00, we meet Silvia and look for accommodation (the Hyde Park Hostel, also booked by the Internet). We are moving loads of luggage to take Metro to Hyde Park, and after a short walk finally find the hostel. E 'in a prime location, a stone's throw from the metro and city center, facing right in the famous park "Hyde Park" which takes its name, and also from outside it seems nice, with the classical white marble facade and columns typical construction in London. But inside is a total disappointment! Poorly organized, dirty and decadent are the first words that come to my mind, better to leave the next ... Internet seemed much more pretty, perhaps naively, I used to hostels in Ireland, something else ... This will be the only big huge neo this trip, although fortunately the squalid accommodation invoglierà us even more to return as little as possible, or only to sleep at night, while all day every day turn for London (in Prague, however, was so good back in that hotel dell'Ariston gem!).
Omitted the "special" for the hostel, where we were just purely because we pay before you see the room the appearance deceived outside, at a rate to be in London no less than special, because it booked from the Internet (let alone what should be the full because for us that is already expensive) system, the stuff we sleep disconsolate and weary from a day trip.

Hyde Park; Kensighton Garden; Natural History; Victoria Albert; Big Ben

The first morning in London not to late to make us understand that the climate is not very forgiving: it's cloudy, raining and cold there is a fair (indeed, we are in January!). Enter the nearest point of access to Kensinghton Garden, arriving between fun games fountains until Kensinghton Palace, where huge ducks that seem to go quietly and ostriches swim in the lake, and then in Hyde Park, observing that, as is well known, certainly the green to the British is no shortage ...
Soon after we descend further south to visit the Natural History Museum, one of the largest and most famous among the many museums in London. Outside is a work of architectural art, but it appears from my eyes anything but a museum (of course, thinking about the "narrow" conception of the typical museum that I find in my part, where you enter, there are a number of things on display, and if you are not an expert concerned you bored after half an hour). The various sections into which is divided by the Natural Museum Hystory are spectacular, at the edge of science fiction. The huge entrance hall with a dinosaur it anticipates the grandeur, impossible to visit well in a single day. The only thing we can do for tourists (as indeed we do), you walk and choose the most interesting things that you want to see.
We begin with the dinosaur that is legendary, making the rounds in various rooms, then going over a raised step that shows the reconstructions from the skeletons and ending in a dark room, where he performs the show a big tyrannosaurus, animated very well, which is devouring a smaller Bestione!
We continue in the section on the Earth, also missed. From a very large hall, divided into three floors, accessed by different play of light on escalators and go "in the middle of the planet while you climb, the walls watching the starry sky simulated. In other plans, there are exhibitions devoted to various natural phenomena, including the disaster (there is even a room used as a supermarket where the earthquake is simulated, suddenly the floor trembles and move the walls and the shelves!), While the top floor we talk about energy than that produced by natural events as an alternative that tries to exploit (with lots of examples to try and manually).
Going back downstairs and thinking that nothing else can now more surprise, I must immediately refute facing another section dedicated to nature, to say the least extraordinary: you enter a corridor with all white space above the air passages which unite the party right with the left. Once at the bottom of the corridor, a huge screen, which seems the earth through a careful game of mirrors, show a spectacle of lights and colors from "2001 Space Odyssey," and you will enter the halls, which are responsible for sensitize the visitor to the environmental balance, with examples showing the interaction of giant plants with the environment and so on (it goes from one place to another through the air passages before seen ...).
Finally can not miss the huge section devoted to animals, from insects to mammals and so on. So like an amusement park rather than in a museum!
It is time for lunch and sit in one of the many benches in the corridors of the museum to eat our sandwiches, after completing a visit to 16:30. E 'already late, given that in this period in London everything closes at 18:00!
Walk until you arrive at the Victoria Albert Museum, having only time to visit briefly to some room.
Then we move a little 'to the center to Piccadilly and Leicester Square, and back for a moment all'ostello restaurateurs. For dinner we go with Silvia in a Chinese restaurant in the Soho area, and very little spartan, eating very well (as is used here, we pay a fixed and all that we want a buffet, a real gem for lovers of this cuisine ).
Immediately after dinner we take the metro and to dispose of the complete intense day with a night walk on the banks of the Thames. The feeling when you exit the metro station is phenomenal: the Big Ben and high tick suddenly gloriously illuminated! We head towards the bridge and cross the Thames in a splendor of light reflected from the river. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament behind it show their greatness in front of us while there is the London Eye, immense and famous Ferris wheel, just in front all'Acquarium. An exceptional performance and certainly one of the most fascinating parts of London at night!
In this amazing and complete day in London the goddess of the hostel is very sad vanished, but now again threatening his shadow as we fall asleep ... hurled us immediately to bed and we fall asleep despite the loud music of the pub below all'ostello (which, in theory, were it not for the fact that we sleep on the side, was to be a point in favor of the place because if you stay for no pay nothing to come ...).

London Dungeon; Tower of London; Tower Bridge; Oxford street

Alzati good time, take a walk exactly where we finished yesterday. Go to Waterloo station with subway and along the Thames for a long time. In fact, a beautiful large piece, maybe even too much, as to divert rain and there is a strong wind (so keep the umbrella becomes a nightmare).
We must get to the infamous London Dungeon, the attraction "horror" the most famous in London, but we thought it was definitely closer ... in practice we half south London on the banks of the Thames from Waterloo to Tower Bridge, and one that should be a walk has become a trek in the rain! The vast palaces (but not high) offices and public facilities alternate with huge squares of cement (is not this a green but very modern), with athletes running to do some 'of jojjing in the rain and teens you train with rollerblade and skateboard. People across London, tourists are only us!
We arrive finally at the Dungeon, and we remain queued in the drizzle in a discrete row to enter (one of the few to tell the truth made so far, since there are so many tourists in London because of the winter period and the events of ' September 11, with the attack in New York of the Twin Towers).
At last we can enter, pay the ticket rather expensive and begin the adventure horror! The attraction is guaranteed, even if in fact something more maybe we expected. Entrance immediately shoot a nice photo charges in a gloomy room, where all content Stefania takes an ax in his hand and I support his head ready to behead me. Then we enter into the bowels of the earth in a dark and gloomy with strange smells rotten and death. Cross sections that reconstruct medieval torture, being imprisoned and tried by a "court" old-style, end up in hell over a vagoncino sailing on the water, retrace the story of Jack the Rippers and finish the tour of the fire ' Fire of London in 1666. So all very happy, given that good players are well paid to dress witches schizophrenic and frightened to death!
After the London Dungeon, which lasted about an hour, have lunch "box" in the metro station which is on the side under cover, as it continues to rain steadily. To rejuvenate a little 'and take a nice warm cappuccino "large", very popular here in London, which consists of a glass as big as the large Coca-cola, the difference is that inside there's a good cappuccino bollente. The effect of caffeine is insured for several hours after considering the size of the glass (almost half a liter just to give an idea)! Obviously we Italians like to take many a little coffee 'at a time when Londoners will give blow once and for all and we do not think more ...)
We continue to walk towards the nearby Tower of London and the coast with a walk, following the main road that leads up to Tower Bridge. E 'already nearly dark but we still find it still open (not even 17:00), while with our great regret the way the bridge is interrupted by work and you're all closed. At least insist on a panoramic tour to admire the beautiful exterior of this exceptional monument, which lights up more and more as the darkness descends. Obviously, the background of the Thames is no exception, with all the shining lights of the buildings and bridges that are reflected on the river, a magnificent view!
Past 18:00 now all we do one last lap in the center to find something open, and so take the metro and walk to Oxford Street and Regent's Street, teeming with people, shops and a bus does not stop.
Enter by Hamleys, a huge toy store (one 5-storey building), with bins of every kind, from dolls, to trains, to radio, to the gigantic LEGO buildings (including one of Darth Vader and the mythical robottino Star D2R2 Wars). It 'a real fun, you can find any type of toy ever created by man!
For dinner we go to Silvia, who lives in the district of Soho studio in a very nice, as is typical of many workers-students here in London, Italian and otherwise. It 'a real joy to make a nice plate of pasta as it should, given that the diet here is pretty weak ...
Let us look a little 'of British TV and we comment the usual attitude in the British do "complain" to everything, especially in the area of shops and restaurants. The design of the customer in England is very different from ours, here is a sacred and sovereign, and this leads to a decidedly different. In any business there is the figure of the manager, always recognizable and present with a card, which is "above" the common personnel working in contact with the public (waiters or committed for example). When someone has a problem, or is dissatisfied with a product, or simply want to rant so much to complain about anything he thinks not fit in that spot (by the organization, staff, even the physical structure and layout of the premises or services ), are pronounced the magic words: "I want to speak with the manager," and it makes a complain. And the British are the masters of art in this, they complain for everything and for any trivial thing (sometimes very difficult even to conceive for us Italians, so that here, with some examples that I have heard, there would be sbellicarsi with laughter! ). In any case there is to consider the rewarding part, because every complain accepted (including letters written at times and not only for oral complaints) you receive a voucher, or a "voucher" for the next time you return to example, in a restaurant or a shop and so on ... (and economic change we are talking about !!!). For all customers who feel misunderstood, London is the place to go to the limelight!

Notting Hill; St.James Park; Buckingham Palace; Trafalgar Square; National Gallery; Trocadero Center

We begin the day by taking the subway and get off at Notting Hill, quiet and famous district of London. The succession of houses painted white or pastel give this district a very homogeneous, it seems to walk the streets of the successful films of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, especially near the famous Portobello Road market, when I recognize the shop Tattoo referred to Grant speaks at the beginning of the film. In contrast to expectations but the market is pretty desert, perhaps because it is Sunday, perhaps because Drizzle, but the stalls are very sporadic and people as well.
We walk a couple of hours and the lunch we move with modern meters nell'enorme and Victoria Station, to take some sandwich packed and mega-capuccino much more functional than any tiramisu.
Some other metro stop and we come close to Buckingham Palace. We wander for a bit and the Green Park we stop at the square in front of the tourist palace for photos of the rite. The fountain and surrounding gardens are very beautiful, after all, the strap is not particularly striking in its entirety but I assume within the discourse changes dramatically.
The walk continues to the St. James Park is fun for the presence of wildlife, in addition to the beauty of the parks. The various species of ducks and geese along the birds will not even count, but the peculiarities are certainly the squirrels, quick and sfuggevoli which are to take the peanuts out of the hands and a rocket climb trees. Very clever and suspects, sometimes you even leave to go climbing on the shoulder, but never becoming caress, and sgattaiolano from one part of the park so very funny. The light is small and unfortunately it is difficult to pose in a photo with decent zoom, but after several attempts (the advantage of the digital camera!) Are managed with great satisfaction and without a flash to pick up in this city who eat little of nothing less that our Pringles (as we have not bought the peanuts and not have anything else edible). Who knows if the stomach of the squirrel was glad of chips, at least for ten minutes is still alive and continues to follow us for a while ', perhaps glad of succulent culinary news ...
A short distance from the park is Trafalgar Square, another famous big square in London, and also dutifully decorated with large fountains and water features. Is located opposite the National Gallery, definitely a must for those who have at least a minimum of taste for the art of painting. To me, for example, the painting has never impressed, but I can not help but to remain astonished in front of the magnificent halls decorated with thousands of masterpieces of every era. Particularly affecting some paintings by Van Ghogh, and most of all the works of Canaletto, huge paintings with photographic accuracy of the details clear and absolutely incredible, with whom he played beautiful images of Venice ... Extraordinary!
At the National Gallery is already dark, and stop in a Coffee Republic (a very popular chain in London), next to the Virgin store, taking a hot cappuccino caterer must.
Yet we walk towards the center between the lights of London, including the Trocadero Center, a real palace of fun! At the entrance there are some great shop, full of all kinds of souvenirs in London, and a colorful and succulent sweets shop! Inside cross a large living room, on the one hand you can go to the cinema, while escalators colored lights space you can go up to the upper floors, filled with games of last generation. At the center of the structure there is an attraction to scream: a pipe that starts from the ceiling to the floor where the seats are installed, which in turn suddenly falling from giving to the poor seated feeling of getting into the void for a few seconds ... There's music everywhere, you hear all the screams of all the victims who are thrown into the nice attraction, there are young kids and not in an environment more like a spaceship than a video game room. We buy some chips and go over the plans to play as children, although not very much fun being at all frequenters of this type of attractions.
Later we pass by Silvia in Soho, which offers us a delicious slice of cake, and come back exhausted all'ostello.

Leads Castle (park, maze & Grotto, birds); Acquarium; London eye

Get up early in the morning, we head to the station where the 9:00 train for part Leads Castle. We bought tickets yesterday to avoid incurring long queues and files, and we realize that they have done well. Among other things there is a combination ticket train ticket Leads Castle (entrance to the castle and visit to the park), which costs much less than buying the tickets separately.
Leads the Castle is a much-publicized 'anywhere in London through brochures and the Internet, and has become a classic tour to do in the day for tourists in south-east of England. It is about an hour by train from London, and lets you enjoy the peace and tranquility of the English countryside. The entrance to the park is impressive: it runs along a path that initially the lake, seeing the ducks and some peacocks running freely, so easily that it just passes over without notice. All around are the background a green really relaxing and some trees and flowers perfectly cured. The trail then goes inside and after a mezz'oretta finally appears in the distance a magnificent view of the castle. We now enter into the walls, the facade where the entrance of the castle seems perfectly intact and beautiful (it will be because finally there is the sun and the colors are turned on like never before!).
Within the visit is not to be missed: you run the various rooms, lounges with lake view, bedrooms, the beautiful library: everything is perfectly intact and well kept. After the visit to go out again in the main courtyard, where a door on the left is an exhibition on the history of the castle and its owner, along with a small shop for souvenirs (imagine if missing).
Then take the path to the inside of the park, finding first two curious specimens of birds like flamingos, but with a ridge in the head with colorful punk that makes them really funny (I can not say precisely what they are) and still continue around a street with strange forms of other cubes that are not pruned hedges that masterfully.
Beyond the road is exposed to a very interesting exhibition of parrots from all over the world. Some hide, others looked curious, and a single white parrot finally decides to speak with a long greeting and acute "heeellooo"!
Tourists today are really very few, and typically find themselves with nobody around, with the possibility to fully enjoy all the peace and tranquility of this fabulous place!
We arrive at the end of the park where a famous attraction of the place awaiting us: the Maze & Grotto, the maze of hedges (characteristic of many English gardens). Contrary to how I had always thought about, the purpose of the maze is to get to the center, where there's just the Grotto, and not exit. Also because the exit is right there! Enter curious and after several laps in a vacuum, the most amusing is that the center is always visible, because the spot high above the walls of the maze of hedges, and you see people arriving at the Grotto that try to give advice to poor as us who try to get there.
After trying for about an hour at the end desist overwhelmed by hunger, and emerge from (with some difficulty!) To eat a sandwich in some more benches at the bottom, in front of a beautiful landscape. But this failure we rode the liver did not manage to solve this little puzzle is not acceptable!
Even more determined then, just try again after lunch to find the seriously Grotto in the labyrinth, this time with more method. Moreover, the maze is not very great, and after a lap around the sides will sense the structure, but without yet being able to understand the final gear and returning always to the same initial point. Finally, thanks to the actions of a Japanese simpaticissimo come before us at the Grotto, succeed in our business and it is really worth! From above we can see the entire maze and poor running a vacuum as we lost a few minutes before: the satisfaction is immense! We take some photos as a memento of this glorious victory, but the most interesting part is yet to come: with stairs descend down underground to the Grotto, a cave decorated in a very particular artistic. A huge "face" rather terrifying monster spits water everywhere, creating strange reflections of light, and a tunnel passes directly under the labyrinth to emerge in a small door near the main entrance ... that's where the exit is!
After the maze with great enthusiasm, going around the park, leaving behind this tale, to borrow the van to the station and then the train to London. It 'too early, around 16:00, so we decide to take the underground to Westminster. Here, crossing the river, we enter nell'Acquarium, in front of the wheel. The aquarium is not among the main things to see in London, but inspires us to make a very interesting walk in the undersea world. The structure is shaped like a huge barrel in the middle where there is a huge tub, and is divided into zones according to the oceans of our planet. The Pacific is particularly striking, with a huge statue in the pool the shape typical of those found on Easter Island, and lots of fish with some squaletto running around. Then there are several other secondary pools with playful rays, plants and tropical fish, and so on: in short, the classic attractions of an aquarium!
At the Aquarium we move next to the London Eye, where you can buy tickets until 20:00, allowing you to see the night from London. The wheel is absolutely unmissable attraction here as in London. E 'alta a hundred meters and when is running never stops, which means that we need to go up on the fly when the car passes. Runs so slowly that in any case rise or fall are not a problem, takes about 50 minutes to make a full turn and look from afar, it seems completely stopped. Stefania decide not to come having already seen, and I go up without making a single second in a row, there is virtually none. After a few minutes the excitement begins to rise along with the cabin of the wheel. The landscape slowly with the enormous increases of thousands of flickering lights at the highest point millions have become a fantastic feeling! Together with me in the cabin is only a couple of guys and you see the car above and below in the next higher, which is the only point of reference to understand where you're going when you arrive on top, and when it begins to decline. Bellissimo!

Covent Garden; Madame Tussaud; Planetarium; British Museum

We choose as the first destination for today Covent Garden, famous for its characteristic structure used as a marketplace with shops of every kind. Rest immediately struck by a great artist wandering within an outdoor living room singing songs with lyrics and an exceptionally powerful voice (microphone not only with the musical below). Turn to various shops, focusing on interesting eastern section of articles of various kinds, craft unique items in the world that cost a figure! (a collector would have the choice ...).
Lunch in a Pret a Manger, the famous chain of Fast Food, that if we had first discovered it would have saved much suffering food! Here in fact you can choose from a wide range of panini sandwiches and absolutely fresh and made in the day, stuffed with seasoned succulent at the same price of the packaged goods market, and take a drink the classic drink or mega-capuccino.
So ended the usual strong amount of caffeine, another must-visit attraction in London: Madame Tussaud and Planetarium, the wax museum and the planetarium. Opt for a single ticket for both and save something, and it is still the most expensive thing we pay here in London, even if it is really worth.
We start with the Planetarium, entering a sort of environment that reconstructs a spaceship in the Star Trek. It comes in a waiting room that simulates the launch of the shuttle, with a relaxing female voice that is missing information on time and so on, but that at the other end is not a way to pass the wait for the next show of the planetarium. Meanwhile some of the attractions are not lacking: there is a kiosk space, models of planets in giant (Jupiter has a height of about 2 meters just to give an idea) and throughout the description of our solar system with the its features. Accumulates a little 'people and finally reaches the signal "boarding" walk a circular corridor that rises on one side the huge dome where it is played worldwide. The room is large, there are many places and the best are at the bottom, just where we are seated us. It should be with the head fully facing up, is a po 'of torticollis, but the show is pretty ... "Space"! It starts on board a spaceship and you travel to different planets of the solar system, then leave a little 'from the galaxy and take a look around the universe. The whole cast is so huge nell'enorme dome and lasts just over half an hour, making it particularly attractive to a lover of astronomy like me.
After the trip we enter space by Madame Tussaud, the more famous wax museum in London. On entering the first perfect wax, Pierce Brosman in the shoes of James Bond, the legendary Agent 007, expects to make a picture (paid) with the tourists. We then move on in a room with actors and celebrities of all kinds, from Scean Connery, Nicolas Cage to, Antony Hopkins, a Steven Spielberg, the legendary Swarzy, the legendary Marylin. Incredible scene in which expect to make the photo with Swarzy, believing that a fake is the photographer photographing before us, after a few minutes you realize that a statue like the others, whatever a girl, put there to fool the tourists! And 'well done, absolutely perfect like many other characters (not all but most), but unfortunately the photos you shoot does not make it good because the flash reflects the light of wax and shows the "fiction" of the character.
Another room shows very famous sports personalities, and then you can visit another great hall, dedicated to older times. Upon the latter's striking that among all the people in an environment so large you can not distinguish the true from the tourist statue he pretends to talk to another Surely even the lights to help fool the eye, but it is really funny! In the hall there are many famous historical figures, artists and politicians from all eras to the present day, including Madame Tussaud in person. And in the back of the room, of course, can not miss a post box on the British royal family. Another nasty figure is escaped by a hair in front of a common table of the restaurant, where Gérard Depardieu sits calmly to "talk" with the tourists ... to invent their own all!
Going over we move on to the torture room, as Madame Tussaud had been asked to play at that time, celebrated by some victims execute. Frankly, this part is much more feeling and fear of the London Dungeon, although of course is much shorter, because the statues are reproduced almost human and torture are not a joke. Even here the lights and the odor contribute heavily to "hear" a bleak and a tremendous air of death.
Ended the horror you arrive in a corridor where it is shown the process of waxes, with examples of design and production of various models. In particular, the stages are represented by Ellen McPherson, the famous model nicknamed The Body, from beginning to end, which is incredibly perfect (including wax).
Last attraction, and perhaps also the most beautiful, fun and a nice ride on a vagoncino showing the glory of London and the British with a hint of nationalism sfegatato, in a whirl of color, music and joy that have left really good mood .
To complete the tour finally comes in the usual souvenir shop dedicated to, this also features a beautiful wax of Sleeping Beauty, even through special mechanisms, breathes like a human being!
Released by Madame Tussaud is still time to visit another inevitable stage in London: the British Museum. We arrive at 16:00 and we go to give only a quick look at this gigantic museum that takes weeks to be seen in detail. The classical entrance colonnade historic and a huge statue depicting an outside face, contrasts within a completely new, just refurbished. It seems to get in a giant square, where the center is the beautiful and spectacular library at the sides and a huge circular corridor that leads to the various sections of the British, from the greek-roman, as Egyptian, to the east, and so way. A particularly striking huge high "ceiling" blue that makes the entire deck structure.
Having little time to visit this pillar of history, we devote our precious minutes mainly to the Egyptian section, then move quickly to take a look at the Roman and Eastern Europe. Everything is thoroughly explained with care and with their descriptions, even if the impact is more typical of "museum" and not as spectacular as that of alternative Natural History.
After visiting the British to walk the crowded streets of London illuminated tornando all'ostello tired. We are now almost accustomed to this kind of lumber-room that we have trimmed, with a nice TV and a broken roof dusty, where at least you may be able to sleep even though male and narrow in those small bunk beds. But the misfortune to be such, must be complete and so, in the middle of the night, we awakened to soprassalto at five in the morning by a very strong siren, some sort of fire alarm triggered by mistake, as we were told the next morning somewhere ubriaco back later ... as a bad idea to stay in a hostel in London!

Camden Town; Regent's Park; Sir John Soanes Museum; "Wild photographer 2001" exhibition; Harrods

To complete the panorama of the visits of the most famous markets in London after Portobello Road and Covent Garden, we choose today to visit Camden Town. E 'un quartiere a little' farther from the city center, north, completely different from all other visas right now. E 'of this beautiful metropolis: it happens to go to a metro stop and all seems to be in another city! The streets and blocks are very special to Camden, a succession of shops one after another, one of the most peculiar, specialized in only certain articles from metal shop, to the jeans, the piercing, clothes or strange trendy fashion and objects from all over the world. There are several stores in particular articles of cameras, with antiques of every kind, a true gem for a connoisseur of photography. And many shop, beyond the classical teaching, have in front of his building a giant "object" that they understand the type: for example, a huge skull, in a vertical plane, with a huge plastic jeans, and so on, that make it fun even take photos. The Eastern influence is very strong, given the continuing frequency of small Chinese and Indian restaurants, however, present in and around London, but here in Camden Town in obsessively. The atmosphere itself is very impressive and seems to be one of those films that portray the most remote corners of the city, with street vendors even hidden in dark alleys and deep that no one has the slightest idea where to go to finish, with that strong due to the greyness of black smoke, pollution, neglect of roads and houses at the edge of decadence and filth, with the picturesque graphite colored engraved in the walls of strange people dressed in untidy.
Spend the morning walking through Camden Town and then take the metro to go and eat in a Pret a Manger, and then enter in one of the largest parks in London, the Regent's Park. This is the most beautiful park I see, endless in its long and straight paths surrounded by classic lawns, but very different in particular in the area of Queen Mary's Circle, a corner of paradise with fountains, ponds, hedges games and flowers to the last detail, and also a beautiful rose garden that must be a glory in the spring (January to now, unfortunately, there are only planted the stems). The best vision is that of a small island accessible by bridges arched in wood, where the only people we see are a lady who launches food to dozens of ducks, a student reading in a book peace between birds and squirrels, and some sports that occasionally goes racing while training with some 'of jojjing. The city is light years away and is no longer just a visible sign of civilization even on the horizon, the traffic and noise pollution does not exist anymore, the stress vanished metropolis and the crowding of people dissipated ... possible that in a city of millions of people only a couple are in this paradise? Obviously yes, this is London!
Towards the exit of the park to witness a funny episode of a parade of dogs. Here in London to bring the dog to walk is not a necessity, is a cult, a fad, a way to distinguish themselves, boast of their beloved pet. This means that you can not have a dog any commonplace, we must find a different one from the other and, possibly, the most beautiful and showy! These of course are my final, but I'm emphasizing to get on top of the fact that dogs are one of the most beautiful, pure-bred, well-kept in a form and nell'acconciatura hair, appear figures emerged from a store plush. The owners walk proud with this more than their beautiful "doll", even the dog sitter who will walk door-to seven at a time! (a hilarious scene of the parks in London ...)
After crossing the park visit the Sir Jhon Soanes Museum, and especially old house museum today full of items collected by the lord to whom it belonged and which gives its name and that was one of the greatest architects in the history of London planning important works and structures. In his house, which has a beautiful finish, is in everything from statues to paintings to works of art of various kinds.
The tour lasts an hour and then, as it is still 16:00, come back to race again at Natural History Museum where we do not want to miss a photo exhibition held these days titled "Wild photographer 2001" on the longer shots of the photographers good to the world that have taken animals as subjects in their natural environments more harsh and savage. To our surprise we enter free also, because in London there is the rule that after 16:30, in general, no longer paying for the ticket for the museums (but not thought worth including for the exhibitions of this kind). Needless to say that the show is nothing short of exceptional! The photos are numerous, one of the most beautiful, with a description of the technical side, and the camera used with its parameters. There's also commentary by the photographer author of the photo. The subjects vary from polar bears to monkeys, to tigers, to the sharks, taken a 'anywhere in the various parts of the world in their natural wild habitat. The winning photo is that of a shark, with the image of a sub against enlightened by the rays of the solar surface: fantastic! My enthusiasm is such that I can not buy, at the book with pictures of the exhibition and the history of its photographers, authors of these masterpieces.
Leaving the show, we suddenly realize that our journey ends in London today, and we still have not bought any gifts or souvenirs to take home. Then take the metro to reach the famous shopping mall "Harrods", institution for shopping in London, a palace illuminatissimo and luxury, with plenty of staff to open the doors to let customers, escalators and modern shops of all gender. The furniture and the pomp that differ when you are just entering that Harrods is certainly a place for luxury shopping, the higher category. And the price of course confirm this since he can limit most of the time only to watch without ever buy! Only in the department of food you can make a pensierino to pack a wide variety of every taste of hundreds of British tea and cakes.
Not having bought anything from Harrods shopping opt for less expensive, way back in the souvenir shops at the entrance to the visa Trocadero, where I choose really good and I buy a lot of oggettini of every kind: from a box-shaped phone booth, the magnets in the shape of a bus, the classic ornaments in the shape of the sphere with the typical sights of London and within the snow (when it is reversed), and inevitably some of the packaging box of tea from different flavors. Now I can say that he was in London ....
Also we want to conclude the evening in celebrating the beauty in the best way our trip to London together with our friend Silvia. Choose an Italian pizzeria characteristic name "by Mr Marco, where we eat very well and where we witness to a birthday party in progress, with lots of live music and colorful balloons.

Coming back home

The only joy to the conclusion of this trip is finally leaving the dreary hostel to go to the station and take the Stansted Express to the airport where the flight Ryan Air to Alghero us.
E 'stata una settimana really intense, but superfluous to say, absolutely insufficient for a metropolis like London, which requires not less than two weeks to visit the main things well and at least some' of the surrounding area that certainly deserves a mention as Hampton Court, the Kew Gardens, and more.
I leave this fascinating city satisfied, believing that he supported a timetable really madman in their commitment to implement and learn as much as possible and hope that one day will return to investigate things not seen!

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