London

21 July

I (Lorenzo) and 6 other guys (aged 17-18) set off. An unorganised trip, made on our own. London was a destination I had long yearned for and desired to reach. but let's get to the day, Wednesday 21st. morning, alarm at 4.30. no problem with the alarm given the excitement. we meet in the centre of Florence and wait for the Terravision bus that would take us to Pisa airport. we take the coach at 7 (only 10 minutes late) and reach Pisa's Galileo Galilei after about 1 hour. our Ryanair flight was supposed to leave at 10.15 but as soon as we arrived we learn of a one-hour delay. no big deal, we all go through the airport procedures and the delay increases...finally at 12 o'clock exactly the plane takes off bound for London-Stansted. No problem in flight and after 2 hours we land.

The one hour less means we reach Liverpool Street station to eat at around 3 Italian time (2 pm London time) In this period Italy was very hot and muggy so we weren't used to the coolness (20 degrees with wind) of London; and we reach our hotel Ashley in a very nice area (Paddington) after another hour and a half. after a short rest we visit Kensington Gardens which are right next to the hotel. naturally the park is immense (helped also by the size of Hyde Park right next to Kensington Gardens). we are very struck by the huge number of people jogging and skating. (one was even about to run me over). This is also the only sunny day of the week spent in the English capital. We go to eat in the Notting Hill area at Costa's fish & chips restaurant.

A guy welcomes us with the exclamation “Top restaurant” (it is indeed also recommended by the Lonely Planet guide) but we have to wait almost 2 hours before they serve us a mediocre fish & chips. We have a few beers and end the day.

22 July

Today at last the day is full and we can better explore the English metropolis. We reach Buckingham Palace but there is a huge crowd of tourists watching the Changing of the Guard. It also starts raining, and not a little (the weather literally caught us off guard!). even with a raincoat and umbrella the water soaked us because of the strong wind. Once the storm is over we take the metro and get off at Trafalgar Square where we can admire the statue of Admiral Nelson, the outline of the National Gallery and a glimpse of Big Ben. The national museums are free in London so we enter the National Gallery. among its magnificent paintings it has many great artists from our country (Leonardo, Piero della Francesca, Tintoretto etc.) Once the visit to the legendary National Gallery is over, at past two, we get ready to eat at the ever-present McDonald's.

After all we have to get used to eating good junk food constantly since the English capital is really very expensive. From here we then enter the City of Westminster (an area of London with a certain administrative autonomy). Westminster includes among its monuments the Gothic Westminster Abbey (which we do not enter since churches always have a considerable cost) and the magnificent and very famous House of Parliament with the adjacent and indeed connected Big Ben, the symbol par excellence of London. Crossing then the very dirty Thames we see the London Eye, a gigantic Ferris wheel erected in 2000 that reaches a height of 135 metres. It is the second tallest Ferris wheel in the world. Tired, we lie down on the lawn under the London Eye. Once 6 pm came, we satisfy Lisa who wants to see Abercrombie, a shop for young people very fashionable among Italian girls.

To go there we have to pass through the well-known Piccadilly Circus. We return to our beloved Paddington which hosts our small hotel. When it is already seven we head to Hyde Park, the largest city park in England, and have a mini match with our new Arsenal ball. For the second London dinner we decide to return to the Piccadilly, Soho area, which in the evening fills with people and colours. We dine in a Brasserie, where we certainly don't eat badly, but I will always remember my overcooked pasta with two nice whole pieces of fried chicken on top. They serve us a bit late so it is past 11 and we also have to get back quickly to our area since the metro closes around midnight, half past midnight.

Friday 23 July

Breakfast finished and all gathered together, it is already 10.30 and we go to take the Paddington underground (how many times we took the Circle Line and the District Line!!!) and get on the yellow line, precisely the Circle Line. We get off at Bank station where the Bank of England is. Some of our companions had to change twenty-pound notes here because they had old-style ones; new banknotes had recently come into force. Near the Bank is St Paul's Cathedral, truly very beautiful with its great dome in the style of St Peter's Basilica. We get back on the metro and stop at Tower Hill station, from where we can admire the medieval Tower of London and the other symbol of London par excellence, Tower Bridge. After the ritual group photos we go to a better fast food: Subway.

After that we get ready to take the metro to reach the Knightsbridge area where the largest department store in the world is: Harrods. The building is imposing and naturally inside it is a real maze. We can see unique pieces at astronomical prices: a globe can cost 140000 pounds; helped by the luxury of the environment, broken inside by a very sumptuous Egyptian elevator with an opera singer on a little balcony attached. The afternoon is now drawing to a close and, dead tired, we arrange to meet at 8 to go and dine in a nearby Indian restaurant. This restaurant too, in terms of quantity for the price, is terrible even though the food is very good. It is late when we finish and we decide to go to the well-known Hard Rock Café in London, at Hyde Park Corner.

Although it is the first Hard Rock opened in the world (it dates back indeed to 1971) it is not one of the most majestic nor the largest. After almost all of us bought the monotonous but nice and famous t-shirts and shirts we visit the Mayfair area. This is the most exclusive district of London, not for the shops which don't even exist but for the pomp of the very many hotels with very luxurious big cars in the car park attached and people of a certain standing with freeloading lovers and beautiful women. We always have to rush because the underground ends its service around midnight.

Saturday 24 July