Introduction

Today I want to tell you about the second part of my trip to London. I leave below the link to my post where I describe the first part, with a quite interesting anecdote that explains my travel luck.

My first time in London - National Gallery, London Eye, Tower bridge and much more

London is a city that I find very fascinating because it is an incredible mixture of culture, religion, and ethnicities that blend (almost) perfectly. Walking through the streets of the English capital, one can clearly perceive how the world has changed in recent years. Globalization has now dropped all those borders and cultural barriers that instead marked our history in past centuries. London represents something new, it is a multicultural city as I said, where people with completely different backgrounds live together in symbiosis.
All this makes it a very fascinating city in my eyes, as I first experienced change and integration firsthand. At the age of 5, I had to move together with my parents, in search of fortune, to a new country (Italy) with a culture and traditions completely different from those I knew until then. Coming from such different countries it is not always easy to be able to integrate, because historically the new and the unknown have always frightened people. Now after now 25 years in Italy for me this has become my second home and I feel now totally integrated, but I still have well in mind what the first periods were like and the difficulties there were to be able to feel totally accepted in a new cultural and social context.

What I saw

So, let's now start to describe what I saw during my trip. Starting from:

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One of the major landmark attractions of the British monarchy, it is always crowded, especially at changing of the guard times. The visit is a bit expensive for the few accessible rooms, but it gives an idea of the effort of the grand palace, in many places adorned with gold. A visit at least from the outside is always worthwhile and afterward, relax on a walk through St.James Park.

Very striking are the entrance gates to both the main residence and the gardens, adorned with gold to add even more luster to the residence.

In front of the royal residence it is possible to admire the Vicotria Memorial, dedicate to the mamory of the great Queen Victoria.

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I have been a huge soccer fan since I was a child, so I could not resist going to see at least one of the legendary English stadiums, home of this wonderful sport. London is home to a large number of teams playing in the top league, the Premier League:

• Chealsea;
• Arsenal;
• Tottenham Hotpsur;
• West Ham;
• Chrystal Palace;
• (and many others).

Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to go to see a Premier game in my life, but I am sure I will get that chance sooner or later.
As a matter of time and convenience, among the ari English stadiums I have desciso to go to see the one with the largest capacity (90000 seats) and which has been the home of the national team for many matches: Wembley.

The facility is truly impressive, and from the outside you get a sense of its majesty.

If you are a true admirer of Sherlock Holmes, you must visit this location. If you are a casual fan, the £16 price tag might not be worthwhile (as you can do the whole thing in approx. 30 minutes). 3 floors of the Sherlock experience are available on the trip. The chambers (Sherlock's study and bedroom) on the first floor have been painstakingly decorated to fit the era and the literary descriptions of the famous detective's abode. A tour guide provides a brief history of the area.

The chambers on the upper two stories are more elaborately adorned, and there are wax figures of well-known book characters there as well. To me, this was hit or miss. There isn't much background if you don't actually know the story. The figures themselves are a little unsettling.

Overall not terrible, but I think it would have been more intriguing to learn more about Doyle's past and the origins of the books and characters. Currently, it is primarily just a well furnished period apartment. however, a nice gift shop.

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Fantastic and striking architecture that catches your eye for a long time.
Nestled in a beautiful location where walking restores your body and spirit .
It is certainly one of the most beautiful attractions in the city!

And last but not least the Lego store in the ceter of the city.

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Conclusion

If I have to be honest I think I would probably have problems adapting to living in a city like London simply because I would not be able to adapt to the rhythms and times of such a large metropolis, as I would not even be able to live in Milan or Rome. Big cities are all very fascinating, and as a tourist, I really appreciate them very much, but whenever I am in such a setting I cannot help but think about how stressful it can be to live there. Of course on the other hand they offer opportunities and possibilities that other smaller cities obviously cannot give but like everything in life, it is all a matter of compromises and priorities, for me, tranquility and serenity come first, and being able to live in a human-scale city where the stress and rhythms are much lower I consider it a priority. If I were to try to explain the level of stress one is subjected to by living in certain cities, probably the example I would use is traffic lights. Let me explain further... when you are at a traffic light and the light turns green the time between when the color has changed and someone honks behind you if you don't leave imediately, is inversely proportional to the level of stress that there is in that city.

Of course this is an exageration and also a provacation in a certain sense, but I can clearly see this difference into approaching life and comon life situations depending also on the rythms of the city you live in. And to me, living in a nice and quiet city near to the sea (especially now in summer) is a thing that has no price.

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