DECEMBER 2006: LONDON

This was a travel that was doing a lot of illusion to me to do: London!!

Those was our first experience with Ryanair and the low cost in general. We get a good price: 80 € per person, but we had to pass throught four diferents airports: we departured from Girona and arrived to Stansted and to come back to Barcelona we had to departure in Luton with destination Reus, in Tarragona. But there was the only option, because the rest was too expensive. We also were lucky with the accommodation. By Internet we found an apartment in Killburn, the Irish town, a few meters of the subway’s stop. This town is very centric, had a lot of restaurants, bars and shops but the apartment was very quiet. It was new, only was 6 months ago that was built and, since we were three people, the price was 45 €/per night and person, what was very well. It was of design, with a white sofa that was a bed too, a plasma TV and also a DVD. There was an american kitchen with dishwasher and microwaves and a table with four chairs. Also there was a double room with a big bed and the bathroom.

We only stayed 48 hours in London and we made use them to the maximum.

    We arrived to Stansted at 12:00 and we exchange our money there. They charged us a comission of 3 €. Maybe, we’ve been swindled, but I think it was the best option. Then, we took the train that was taking us up to Liverpool Street, which lasted 45 minutes and once in Liverpool Street I informed myself in the box office to know how we could go to the apartment. The girl showed me a tube map and she explained me all so clear, also she suggested me to buy a ticket for the public transports for three days that cost 15 €, so that way we could take the tube and the buses. That was our first anecdote. I talked all with this girl in English and when she finished, I went to where Javi and Alex, our friend, were to tell them all the girl told me and when I came back to buy the tickets, the girl was speaking in a perfect Spanish with a couple, but well, it was a perfect chance to practise my English.                                  

We arrived to the apartment, that we liked a lot, we ate something, we rested a bit, and when we started ourselves it was 4:00 p.m. in the evening. In winter, in London at 3:00 p.m. is night, so we didn’t have a lot of time to see anything, but we  made the most of time to go to Picadilly Circus. As a few days were remaining to Christmas, it was all very nice, quite illuminated, adorned with Christmas motives, all the shops open,…After, at 7:00, we went to a pub and there were a very good ambiente!! Many dressed men drinking a beer after other one. Alex tasted a beer but we don’t like it, so we drunk a Coke. We stay there until 8:00 and we returned to the apartment.

FIRST DAY: BUCKINGHAM PALACE, SANT JAME’S PARK, LONDON EYE AND LONDON TOWER

It was a raining day (very strange in London, don’t you?). Fortunately this thin and annoying rain; was not raining cats and dogs, but yes, that when you realice you are drenched. The first, we went to Buckingham Palace, that as you know is the residence of the Kings of Great Britain; we only saw the outside and it was fulled of people. We had liked to see the change of guard, but it was the next day and we know we didn’t could to come back, so… It is possible to visit the inside but it is only a few days in the year, wich were not coinciding either and also it was quite expensive. Just next to the Palace there is the Saint Jame’s Pack. It is a beatiful park with a lot of very funny squirrels that, if you feed them, they have running. We walked along the park and we came until the mounted guard is. We catch it just on time to see the change, which also is very nice. Later you pass below an arch that takes you just to Downing Street, where the First English Prime Minister has his residence(Tony Blair at that time). Had a fance, but this way it is. And in every side of the fence there is a mounted guard on horseback, with is guarding the place. If you continue further, you find the English Parliament and the most famous and emblematic monument in London: Big Ben. We keep on walking some time and we arrived to the London Eye. In fact we walked a lot, because like is very hight, we thought it was nearer that it was really. There, we bought the tickets (13 pounds, 20 €) and we did a not too much long tail and at the end we got into. It takes 30 minutes: 15 to rise and 15 to go down. The truth is that it is worth while because the views that you have of London are amazing.

After we ate in Macdonald’s and we went to Tower Bridge and London Tower, which was in a due time a prion and where the Jewels of the Crown are exhibited. I’d liked a lot to enter but it was late, so we keep on walking along the sorroundings and we saw the Beefeaters and a heap  of crows . The Beefeaters (like the vodka branch) are dressed a red shirt, as the same in the vodka’s bottle. Formely, they were the minders of the Gardens and the crows of the royalty. The legend says that the day they go away of London, the city would fall in the total chaos and the misfortune, and what these gentlemaen  did was cutting the wings of the crows, so that they could not fly. For this job, they were not paid by money, but by beer and meat, so for this reason were called “Beefeaters”. In addition, in that time was a luxury to be able to eat meat every day.

To the people who love the museums, London is a great city: there is the Tate Modern, the Nathional Galery, …And of course, the British Museum. I had like to see it, because is amazing: there is an Egyptian collection, one of the most importants in the world, collections of ancient civilizations, etc. You need more than a day if you want to see it complet and thoroughly. We didn’t have enought time, but the next time I go to London (because I think to come back) I’ll go for sure and also I will enter in London Tower.

And this is our second aneadote of the trip. After being in the sorroundings of London Tower, Alex, our friend, was reading the guidebook and said to us that we could go to the Crystal Palace, a nice building. We stopped in the tube stop that was indicated at the guidebook and we went to the park where it was the building, but we didn’t see anything. So, we returned to the apartment. Once there, Alex, read the guide again and we understood why: in the guide there wasn’t a photo, but a draw and the building was nice, made of glass, but it had been burned 80 years ago! So, normal that we didn’t see it. We laughed a lot.

SECOND DAY: PORTOBELLO MARKET, NOTTING HILL, TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND BACK HOME

The last day was a very sunny day, with a beatiful blue sky. We went to Notting Hill and, as was a Saturday, we could see the Portobello Market Street. Don’t get lost it. Is very nice and the town is very nice also, with every house in a different color. Notting Hill is beautiful and if you had seen the film, it seem you are living in the movie. In fact in my mind was all the time sounding the melody “The smile on your face, let´s me know that you need me…” by Ronan Keating. It seem incredible that a place like that is in a city as big as London. Then, we went to Trafalgar Square, we walked, we saw the Westminster Abbey, where Lady Di married and we returned to the hotel to take the lugagge and go to the airport.

I give you an adivce: if you have to take a taxi, take a pirate one, because is much cheaper. Ask in reception and inform yourselve well. The people in the reception in our apartment recommend it to us and the truth is that you save quiet money..

We couldn’t leave London without have another aneadote, this time in the Luton Airport. You must pass the typical control detector and after, you must enter in a cab where you have to take off the shoes and with the hands up in the air, and they make you an scan. When Javi passed, something strange was detected and he passed again, so a police man start to speaking to him and he didn’t understand, so he ask me for help. The police man was asking him if he had coins in his trousers, and Javi was telling no. Suddenly, he get a hand into his pocket and extracted a lot of pens, which he didn’t remember he had them there. I almost die of the shame, but the police laughed and they allowed to us pass, because nothing happened at least.