LONDON

I've been there three times, the first as a young man and alone in the 70s, a second time as a couple in 74 and a third time during a stop over for a flight to California as a couple. I liked the city even if I didn't like the English, but it must be my limitation and prejudice. When I got there for the first time, I was amazed not so much by the historic buildings and famous monuments but by the colors and the multiplicity of races. I don't think I'd ever seen a black person before, but London had every race on the planet and everyone wore very colorful clothes. Then I was struck by Carnaby street and its liveliness, I remember Biba's shop but also others, At that time, a few years after '68, English music was in full swing even though the Beatles had already broken up. I stayed in a huge 10-storey hotel in the Hammersmith district not far from Kensington, connected by tube to the center which I immediately took to get around the fabulous city and enjoy its jewels. First of all the two squares in the centre: Piccadilly Circus with its colorful signs and the nearby Soho district where the nightlife takes place with its pubs, bars and discos. Further on, Trafalgare Square with Nelson's column and the National Gallery museum, an art gallery full of paintings including my favorite Impressionist ones and then I took a long walk to see Buckingham Palace, home of the Windsors and witnessed the change of guard at 10.45am (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday), I also went to the British Museum which is enormous and displays 10,000 art objects, especially the Egyptian archaeological sector which is particularly renowned. Other well-known museums that I didn't visit anyway are the Tate British and Tate Modern galleries and the Victoria & Albert Museum. The museums in London, at least the public and large ones, are free and this is a great thing but everything else is very expensive, from the cost of a bed in a hostel which exceeds 40 euros, to the entrance to the two most famous churches, Saint Paul Cathedral and Westminster Abbey (about 30 euros each, but why? and if I were a believer, would I have to pay to go and pray?) It is better to buy the London Pass, 140 euros for 3 days and 190 euros for 7 days which entitles you to visit the main attractions, London Eye, the big wheel excluded which costs £33, there is no right to the very expensive public transport for which it is convenient buy the Oyster card for £5 and load a minimum of £20, you can top it up at any station and can be used at the tube turnstiles and on buses. If you don't buy the London Pass, be prepared to spend between £15 and £35 for each entry apart from the major free museums. The London Pass includes the Hop on off bus which alone costs starting from £32 An alternative to the London Pass is the London Explorer Pass which is not based on the days of the visit but on the number of attractions you choose. Returning to the attractions. - the Tower of London which was inhabited by the English monarchs before the construction of Buckingham Palace, therefore it is medieval, there are the prisons and rooms of the royals and where an infinite series of monarchs were executed including Anne Boleyn but many others, in short it was easy to be king or queen, today it guards the crown treasure including the crowns and various precious jewels, furthermore you can see the guardians called Beefeaters in their red costumes. -the Tower bridge mobile bridge that joins the two towers with a glass walkway 43 meters high and these to the south bank of the Thames - said churches famous for royal weddings, coronations and funerals, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens are buried in one - Kensington Palace where Princess Diana lived after her divorce and Prince Harry lived before their marriage while today William and Kate live in the cottage on the Windsor estate - the large parks of which London is rich: Hyde Park the largest with the corner where one can improvise speakers, Kensington Palace at the end and behind the Kensington Gardens, then the Regent's Park and others - the shopping streets of Oxford and Regent Street but also the Portobello Road in Nottinghill, the former famous for a street market, the latter an exclusive district known for a film with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts but also for the famous and large carnival - Camden Town an alternative, hipster neighborhood where some live in colorful containers and there are many shops selling vintage products and of course you eat the typical London dish, fish & chips, in short one of the worst cuisines in Europe! - Big Ben which is the 43 ton bell. not the famous watch that is considered the most precise on the planet - the Houses of Parliament or Westminster in English Gothic style which houses the House of Lords and the House of Commons in two different rooms -10 Downing Street which houses the head of government - the London Eye, the very high Ferris wheel from which you can enjoy the view of the city and costs a whopping £33! -the Madame Tussauds wax museum, the first one then exported to various other cities and which costs over £30 - the panoramic view from the terrace of the Shard, the skyscraper designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the tallest in Western Europe, at 240 meters high, cost £28 but you can see the panorama for free from the terrace of the Sky gardens, recommended online booking Outside London you can visit Oxford, home of the prestigious university, Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare (but some believe he was actually Italian! for this reason he would have conceived the story of Romeo and Juliet well) and visit the half-timbered house of wife and then 30 km away the Warner Bros Studios which offers a tour of the Harry Potter films for fans of the genre and even further away you can visit the archaeological site of Stonehenge, but be prepared to spend a lot, London and England are definitely dear! A friend and former classmate of my daughter has lived there for about ten years and works as a translator earning over 2,000 pounds a month with which she is unable to afford more than a very small studio flat 50 km from London and commutes by train very expensive but he can't pay for his holidays. But already a very nice English teacher of mine, the only one I knew, many years ago told us that we Italians were great lords compared to the English and for this reason he had come to live in Italy where he was much better off. I think everything got even worse with Brexit, they wanted it and asked for it!