Five days in London, the interesting capital city of the United Kingdom

In March, sitting in a bar in Mantua to drink beer, I and my friend were already talking about the numerous exams that would inevitably characterized our summer and so we thought, "healthy" plan a holiday to take a break from studying and 'heat of the Po Valley starting to discover a city of northern Europe. After discarding many attractions the choice fell on London and so I started looking for a flight on the website of the airline Ryanair (flights from Montichiari-Brescia and fly to London-Stansted, price / r € 55 approx) and a hotel through the website Expedia.it (Alexandra Hotel 3-star bed and breakfast at 165 € each).
Since April flights and accommodation had been booked I began looking for a guide to the city and circle in red the inevitable stages of our stay. The summer came quickly, and despite the widespread sense of dread for influenza A and our friends that we do not recommend you leave, finally on August 5th we fly to London!
The city is really nice and our legs grind several miles a day, but we considered it appropriate to move quickly in the capital, especially during storms, buy an Oyster card, a magnetic card is valid for the metro and buses (including those night), we chose the period of one week (allows unlimited travel on public transport) at a cost of (about) 25 pounds.
We were both fascinated by the city and in particular by the National Gallery, the museums are free admission, and it is possible (and recommended) to make an offer to the entrance. Really nice also the town of Oxford, reached by train.

 

In this hot summer day we started in the early afternoon from the small airport of Montichiari-Brescia to London. Arriving at Stansted Airport have reached a train through the city center and from there to our hotel located near Paddington station. The hotel is small and cute, very clean, located in a quiet and well supplied by public transport, walking it for a couple of minutes to Paddington Station by the metro as well as a lot of trains. Opposite the station are also located bus stops, including the night! Besides walking for 10 minutes you can get to Hyde Park, or rather at that point of the gardens where they join Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
After depositing the luggage into the room through Hyde Park before moving to the busy Piccadilly Circus. In this area we have dinner and after a short walk we decided to return to the hotel.

After a nice breakfast buffet at our hotel and we go out, accompanied by the sun, we go to Westminster Cathedral. After visiting (admission free) go to Buckingham Palace and then lunch with a couple of sandwiches in the green previously purchased St. James's Park. Decides further, despite the long queue to enter the Abbey of Westminster. The entrance is quite expensive (15 pounds) but the church is really beautiful and really worth the cost of the ticket (which also includes an audio guide in Italian). After leaving the Abbey we go to photograph the Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye, Covent Garden, after which we reach (via Trafalgar Square) where numerous street artists perform regardless of the first drops of rain. Because of the real flood that was unleashed in the first Mc Donald that we dine there (in fact we should not get very far, you can find one every 500m!) And then we go back straight to the hotel. The night pictures are sent back to the city the next day

This morning, the sky is overcast but no rain as you walk to see through Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace and from there reach the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. Owing to the insistence that rain began to fall we decided to take refuge from Harrods, just a few hundred yards from us and hope, trusting that the weather improves. Unfortunately I do not think so and so to reach by bus the Tate Britain, one of the many London museums. The collection is vast and I'd admire it calmly but since the weather there allows it, force me to choose only a few artists, I do not want to bore my fellow traveler. In the end I opt for the drawings of William Blake and the paintings of William Turner, even though it will not, because when I enter a museum is difficult to get out, so with the false excuse of not finding the right salt I take this opportunity for a quick visit the bulk of the collection.
Leaving the museum, along with better weather conditions, go to the Cathedral of ST. Paul and having a coffee at Starbucks cross the Millennium Bridge and enter the Tate Modern. The works here are not kept like that I prefer (all contemporary art), but grant me a quick visit. Before going out, overcome by curiosity, I drag my friend on the top floor of the building (where there is a bar), from which you have a wonderful view of the Cathedral of St. Paul and surrounding buildings
After dinner in a room near Piccadilly Circus we go to see and photograph the night in Parliament and the London Eye, then go back to the hotel

Given the sunshine take the metro and we go to Regent's Park, where we walk among several squirrels until lunchtime. Quietly reach the British Museum, where we spend the whole afternoon, we go only when we politely "hunted" by the staff at 17e30 would go home to rest, but we still restless and full of energy, we decided to go to feet first in Saint Paul and then, along a beautiful promenade along the River Thames, Tower Bridge, passing by the Globe Theatre.

After you stroll through the downtown, bought several gifts to take home, wrote the last index, we head to the National Gallery, without a doubt one of the most beautiful museums I've ever seen. I have hosted numerous masterpieces from the works of Constable Raphael, from Titian to Rubens. Also from this museum would not want to leave but are forced to walk towards the exit from the voice in the speaker continues to repeat to the latecomers that the museum is closing. Once outside we decided to dine at the Hard Rock Café, we reach on foot despite the leaden sky, and after a seemingly endless row we enjoy a fantastic sandwich accompanied by a nice cold beer! After the dinner, to dispose of (at least in part) as eating, we decided to return to the hotel on foot

Despite the light rain that gives us good day, and that will characterize the whole morning, we decide to take the train from Paddington to make us a trip to Oxford (unfortunately I can not remember the price of the ticket :-(). We turn the city on foot, admiring the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library and browsing the numerous college. The atmosphere is very special: the gray sky, the light rain, a thousand steeples of the city, gothic architecture, it is almost like stepping back in time and walking through a small town in medieval times. In the late afternoon we return to London and wander around the city until you reach Trafalgar Square where we can admire the illuminated fountains with lights of every color. Here we stay until after midnight, enjoying the last night in this beautiful city, because the next day, after that, like every other morning we had breakfast at the hotel, we take the train that will take us to the airport from which Ryanair us our flight back home.