Five Days in London

On this very hot summer day we left in the early afternoon from the small airport of Montichiari-Brescia heading for London. Arrived at Stansted airport we reached the city center thanks to a train and from there our hotel, located near Paddington station. The hotel is small and nice, very clean, located in a very quiet area and well served by public transport; in fact, walking for a couple of minutes you reach Paddington station from which, in addition to the metro, numerous trains depart. Opposite the station there are also bus stops, including night buses! Moreover, by walking for 10 minutes you can reach Hyde Park, or rather that point of the gardens where Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens meet. After leaving our luggage in the room we cross Hyde Park and then move toward the very crowded Piccadilly Circus.

In this area we have dinner and after a short walk we decide to return to the hotel.

After a nice buffet breakfast at our hotel we go out and, accompanied by the sun, head to Westminster Cathedral. After visiting it (free entry) we go toward Buckingham Palace and then have lunch with a couple of sandwiches (previously purchased) in the green St. James's Park. We also decide, despite the long queue, to enter Westminster Abbey. The entry is rather expensive (15 pounds) but the church is truly beautiful and is really worth the ticket price (which also includes an audio guide in Italian). After leaving the abbey we go to photograph Big Ben, the parliament and the London Eye, then we reach Covent Garden (passing through Trafalgar Square) where numerous street artists perform heedless of the first drops of rain.

Because of the veritable deluge that has broken out we have dinner at the first McDonald's we find (in fact we don't have to walk far, it's possible to find one every 200m!!) and then we head straight back to the hotel. The nighttime photos of the city are postponed to the following day

This morning the sky is overcast but since the rain doesn't show itself we cross Kensington Gardens on foot, reach Kensington Palace and from there the Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall. Because of the persistent rain that has begun to pour down we decide to take shelter at Harrods, only a few hundred meters from us, hopefully trusting that the weather will improve. Unfortunately it doesn't, and so we think of reaching the Tate Britain by bus, one of the countless London museums. The collection is vast and I would like to admire it calmly but since time doesn't allow it, I force myself to choose only a few artists, also because I don't want to bore my travel companion.

In the end I opt for the drawings of William Blake and the paintings of William Turner, even though it won't turn out that way, because when I enter a museum it's hard to drag me out, so with the fake excuse of not finding the right rooms I take the opportunity for a quick visit to the bulk of the collection. After leaving the museum, thanks to the better weather conditions, we go to St. Paul's Cathedral and after having a "coffee" at Starbucks we cross the Millennium Bridge and enter the Tate Modern. The works kept here are not of the kind I prefer (all contemporary art) but I allow myself a quick visit. Before leaving, overcome by curiosity, I drag my friend to the top floor of the building (where there is a bar), from which there is a splendid view of St.

Paul's Cathedral and the surrounding buildings After having dinner in a place near Piccadilly Circus we go to see and photograph the Parliament and the London Eye at night, then return to the hotel

Given the bright sun we take the metro and go to Regent's Park, where we walk among numerous squirrels until lunchtime. Calmly we reach the British Museum, where we spend the entire afternoon; we leave only when we are gently "kicked out" at 5:30 pm by the staff who would like to go home and rest; but we, tireless and still full of energy, decide to go on foot first to Saint Paul and then, following a beautiful walk along the Thames, to Tower Bridge, passing near the Globe Theatre.

After wandering around the center, buying the various little gifts to bring home, writing the last postcards, we head to the National Gallery, without a shadow of a doubt one of the most beautiful museums I have ever seen. The masterpieces housed there are numerous: from the works of Constable to Raphael, from Titian to Rubens. From this museum too I wouldn't want to leave but I am forced to head toward the exit by the voice on the loudspeaker that keeps repeating to the latecomers that the museum is about to close. Once outside we decide to have dinner at the Hard Rock Café; we reach it on foot despite the leaden sky and after a queue that seemed endless we enjoy a fantastic sandwich accompanied by a nice cold beer! Once dinner is over, to burn off (at least in part) what we ate, we decide to return to the hotel on foot

Despite the light rain that greets us and that will characterize the entire morning, we decide to take the train from Paddington to make a trip to Oxford (unfortunately I don't remember the ticket price:-( ). We walk around the city, admiring the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library and poking around inside the numerous colleges. The atmosphere is truly special: the gray sky, the light rain, the thousand spires of the city, the Gothic architecture, it almost feels like being back in time and strolling through a small town in the medieval era. In the late afternoon we return to London and wander around the city until we reach Trafalgar Square where we can admire the fountains illuminated by lights of every color.

Here we stay until after midnight, savoring the last night in this beautiful metropolis; in fact the next day, after having breakfast at the hotel as on every other morning, we will have to take the train that will lead us to the airport from which our Ryanair flight will take us home.