All the colours of India...

They say people are slave of their origins, and I found this to be true in the majority of cases. Those lucky enough to break free from this condition will discover a whole new world while eventually continuing holding hands to their own.

A process very difficult to go through in India where history has deep roots, where birth will dictate who you'll be, leaving little room to whome you could become and where among millions of people is very difficult to save your own little space.

For us, simple spectators, the journey begins:

Varanasi - The Sacred City

Varanasi is a city which longs to progress but it's dragging along a heavy religious background. The river permeates the spirit of this city everything rotates around its holy water which can give life and take it away at the same time. The "sacred" Ganges influences people's everyday life forcing each individual to make their way to the river every morning to cover their sins, the colourful flowers sellers and the many women dressed up in their vivid coloured saree distract us from a normal day made up of specific steps to take, and while the seabed conceals another body, or a "pira's" flames burn abother life away...you cannot help to stare in dismay, fascineted and skeptical at the same time.
While leaving the city you're left fascinated but a slight sense of reliefe nocks at the door, reassuring your belonging to another reality and as the train exits the city you just don't feel the need to look behind.

Accomodation: Hotel Surya http://www.hotelsuryavns.com/
There's a swimming pool but will cost you 100Rps

Agra - The "Wonder-land"

Holding one of one of the seven wonders, Agra hasn't got much to offer except the Taj Mahal: an impressive building, so white to appear unreal. You can appreciate the skills of a talented architet and the demonstration of a man's love for his passed away wife. It's probably the combination of these two factors that make this place a spectacular building.

Jaipur - The Pink City

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, its popularly is dressed in Pink thanks to the colour of the old city buildings. This fascinating city with its romantic charm takes you to an epoch of royalty and tradition. The capital is steeped in history and culture. Here the past comes alive in the magnificent Amber fort where once lived the maharajas or the Palace of the Winds (Hawa Mahal), blushed pink, whose name is inspiring and whose 953 windows allowed the ladies of the court to watch the activities on the street without being observed themselves. The bustling bazaars of Jaipur, the Rajasthani jewellery shops, possess a timeless quality and are surely a treasure-trove for the shoppers. Walking along the porches with countless bazaars can be disorienting especially when you're invited into each shop the second you lay your eyes down on one of the items, and it doesn't matter if you're not interested, the owner will continue explaining why he has the best stuff while you walk away.....
But at sunset, when all shopkeepers close their doors and the streets empty out, the city gets ready to set up a magical show: the sun, set the sky on fire, painting the orizone in red and the buildings melt in the light exploding in a pinkish glow which spreds out through the norrow roads offering a unique experience.

Udaipur - The "Venice Of The Est"

Built around the azure waters of the lake Pichola, Udaipur, with its ornately decorated palaces and exquisite lakeside gardens, is captivating.
Appropriately called the "City of Lakes", Udaipur credits also the fame of "Venice of the East".
It's probably for this reason that offers such a romantinc ambience.
Its founder Maharana Udai Singh buitlt this Romantic City Of Lakes making of it a mirage in the dry lands of Rajasthan.
After fighting at the ticket counter of the train station in Jaipur, we eventually reached Udaipur by bus. The city is cleaner and more quiet than others, our hotel offered a nice view on the Pichola lake and of the Lake Palace.
This marble palace seems to floats majestically and ethereally on the glistening waters of the lake.
Walking up to a higher point of the city offers a breathtaking view: at sunset the lake steals the colours of the sky and blushes, in a little while you're ejcting into a fairytales world made of legendary castles and heros.

Johdpur - The Blue City

After a rough bus ride we got at our guest house in Jodhpur at dawn. The city is introduced by its fame of Blue City, a name evoking heavenly belonging, but becoming reality in the indigo tinge whitewashed houses encompassed by the high old city wall. This blue dot stands as sentinel to the great Thar Desert, position that grants her the privilege to be caressed by the sun all year long and entitling her as The Sun City. Within the city atop a rocky hill, stands the massive fort (Mehrangarh Fort), 120 m above the plains.
Our first view of the Fort was at night from the rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse and we couldn’t help but to be fascinated by its grandeur.Walking through it you can still hear echoes of its past beauty and enjoy the work of unparallel architects expressed in the numerous sprawling courtyards and intricately carved windows and walls. The remaining furniture and the thousands of mirrors in the countless rooms revive the regal splendour of a bygone era. Walking along the narrow roads of the city offer a spectacular show of colours, and you just can't help to stop and stare fascinated while a woman in her shimmering purple saree hangs her green and fuchsia sheets on the balcony's parapet composing an unusual picture which blows in the wind while the blue background highlights each tonality.
At night while facing the fort, and sitting comfortably on a sofa in a rooftop restaurant you can enjoy an exquisite Saffron Lassi, and as a cooler breeze mess up the pages of your book, you realize that beyond the massive fort rests the desert, taking a pause from the insisting heat of the day, and that another spectacular city with amazing stories to tell lies ahead: Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer - The Golden City

It's early morning and we step down the train, tired after a night spent travelling we make our way through the crowd in search for our taxi. Train stations in India are small cities in the city, crowded at every hour of the day, with Chai vendors screaming out at the top of their voices, Samosa sellers, people sleeping in every corner, tourists are usually gathered in one corner of the station waiting for who knows what train, whereas Indians seems to lay down wherever there's a free spot. It's remarkable how often people travel, and are used to cover long distances, I guess this is normal in countries with a massive territorial extension, the concept of far is different there, as well as the meaning of long journey.... Anyway, we spot our taxi driver holding a paper with our name (spelled wrongly, obviously) and head toward our hotel. Reached our destination, it's still early morning, our rooms are not ready yet so the owner invites us to have a cup of tea on the roof top terrace. We climb up the stairs and while the sun start rising a wonderful scenery opens up in front of us. The massive fort stands higher than anything else in the middle of the city, everything seems to reach out for it, so we sit down sipping our tea while the sun wakes up everything around us... (also the people sleeping on the bench next to us). We jotted down a plan for the next two days, booked our tour in the desert and a minute later we were already out to see the city. We make friends with the hotel's owner who offers to accompany us during our tour, which will also mean stopping by in some silver shops here and there, but this is an unsaid clause of every agreement here.... While walking he explains us that he owns two guest houses and he's planning to build another one, we were amazed because, as he will explain to us, he doesn't know how to read or write, never went to school, but travelled a lot and learned a lot during his trips. With his business sustains and give work to all his family member..... While walking along the narrow roads of the city our sight is captured by the beautiful Havelis, that bring you back in time when merchants crowded this city and the numerous caravans passed by and stopped after a long journey through the sunset on their way from Persia, Egypt or Africa. Jaisalmer is the door of Thar desert and it's a holder of many Jain's architectural treasures. We get on the jeep and head toward the desert while the city fades away at our back we look in front of us, only to see a straight road whose end is lost in the horizon, I decide to stick my head out of the window but the high wind forces me to put sunglasses on, so I rest my head on my arm and I try to look beyond the horizon while the warm wind mess up my hair... after a long drive we get to a little village. The guides were waiting for us along with their camels, they assigned one to each one of us and our journey began... The Thar desert is absolutely fantastic, while the sun burns on our skin we rode through what looked like a prairie, then rock places and sand dunes. The scenery changes very often, making of this desert something very special, but the real idea of desert is given by the golden sand dunes that shimmer from a distance. After reaching the designated spot, we leave our camels and take off our shoes for a walk on the sand, our feet sink in the hot sand at every step while a light breeze mess up our hair. We enjoy making friends with the locals so we start playing with our guides, and later on we all sit down on the highest dune waiting for sunset. I ask one of the guides to sing something for us, not knowing they'd ask us to return the show..., I looked my friends and said: "We gotta sing now....!" - We sang a stupid Italian song but they seemed to enjoy it....! As the sun was approaching the horizon we all stopped talking and each one of us took his seat ready to enjoy a spectacular show, someone watching from a distance would have seen ten people seated in line on a dune staring ate the horizon, as if expecting something extraordinary to happen... but as a matter of fact, it really was extraordinary...

Amritsar - The Temple

In Jaisalmer, three friends part of our group, went back to Delhi, their Indian experience ended there. Their train was in the evening our bus at mid noon so after a quick goodbye we jump on the car that would bring us to the bus stop, when we got on the first bus we where unaware of the long an tiring journey expecting us to reach Mc Leod Ganj, our final destination, but before that another stop: Amritsar!
Since there's no direct way from Jaislamer to Amristar we had to stop in several cities and change transportation.
Anyway, from Jaisalmer our first stop was Bikaner where a train was waiting for us.
The drive to Bikaner was really nice, we drove through the desert and enjoyed a nice sunset, but few kilometres before our destination the bus got a flat tie.
We all got off the bus and helped out the driver to change the tire, I was directing the traffic with my torch. Before getting on the bus again I looked up and saw one of the starrier skies I had ever seen, with no lights around the milky way appeared so to real to be almost touched.
In Bikaner we parted ways with other two friends, one of them would live India two days after, the other stopped a couple of days for health problems, he'd catch up with us later on that week.
Because of the flat tire we got to Bikaner late, fortunately our train to the next stop was late so we could jump on it the minute we got to the station.
We arrived to Bhatinda early morning, and went straight to the bus station, next stop would be Amritsar. Few minutes to get some breakfast (mango juice with coconut biscuits) and five hours later, we eventually got to our mid destination (around 11:30 am -10 hours later we left Jaisalmer).
Amritsar is a sacred city to sikhs. To be honest the city in itself didn't impress us so much. The town derived its later name, from the holy tank or the Pool of Immortality, in the centre of which now stands the Hari Mandir or Darbar Sahib – nowadays more commonly known as the Golden Temple.
The temple is open 24 hours a day and priests read from the Sikh holy book continuously which is broadcast by loudspeaker.
The best time to visit the temple is at sunrise when the sun catches the golden dome (said to be 750kg of gilded gold). The temple is meant to represent an inverted lotus flower, a symbol of the Sikhism's aim to live a pure life. The temple is not just symbolic for the Sikh's however. The guru that commissioned the Golden Temple wanted to create a place of worship that united all religions. There's also a "people's kitchen", which is one of the world's largest free community kitchens.
We decide to stay in Amitsar only to see the temple and leave few hours later to the next destination, so before dawn we're already on another bus, here begings a very, very rough drive....

McLeod Ganj - The Exile

It's 2:30 am and we're in front of our hotel screaming at the top of our voices hoping the night guadian would open the door for us.... but let's start from the beginning.
We left Amritsar late evening, our bus is completely full, not even one seat, Ale is lucky enough to find one, a very kind indian men offers me his seat, Raf manages to sit on the lagguage in the corridor but Andrea has to stand the all time.
The bus is old, but it's our only option, we have five hours trip ahead to get do Dharamsala where a taxi would hopefully bring us to McLeod Ganj.
The road to Dharamsala is really windy and the bus driver seemed to be in a hurry caus drove terribly fast. At every stop new people got on the bus, we asked ourselves how so many people could fit and we descovered later, when we all had to get off the bus in order to pass on a bridge, that there were passengers on the roof of the bus too, I wondered how they could not fall off with that Formula 1 way of driving. We eventually got to Dharamsala at 1:30 am, nobody was around, but we managed to wake up a couple of Indians sleeping in their taxi and asked them to bring us to McLeod Ganj.
We will discover that the road is very steep and the car doesn't make it to go up hill with us and our lagguage on, so we have to get off the car several times and reach for the car few meters ahead (al this happened at 2:00 am after several buses, trains, taxis and 24 hours later we left Jasalmer, so you figure our conditions.....). I don't know how, but we eventually get to our Hotel, which is closed of course, then is when we start screaming and calling the night guardian, who comes to open the door in his underware and with a night cap, after 24 hour we rest again our head on a pillow.......

Coming soon....

Manali - The Clouds

Here for pictures!

Thanks to everybody: Andrea & Raffaella, Erika, Stefania, Beatrice, Mattia, Alessandro e Luca - We had a great time!!!!

Stopping time in Finland...

If you are born in southern Europe then, possibly, night will mark the end of your day, darkness will gently reset your thoughts every time you lay your head down on the pillow, and like with a book you'll turn the page, ready to face another day.
Coming to Finland during summer season turns this certainty upside down inviting you to embrace a all new dimension of time...

While leaving the city behind and driving north toward the lake region you perceive the real soul of this country expressed through the vast birch forests sprinkled with countless lakes showing off their beauty by steeling the colours of the sky and getting dressed with colourful little cabins along their bushy shores!

The few days at Sanna's cabin have been a regenerating experience, it felt like time stood still the moment we stepped in: the fish (fished in the lake by Matteo and Dennis), the wood boiler to be lighted every night (this was Kristiina's job), the night boat ride, and most importantly the sauna...

Finland is the land of sauna and the Finns are a nation of sauna-enthusiasts. I read somewhere there is one for every three inhabitants. Although it's not a Finnish invention, they have kept the tradition alive and adjusted it to their modern lifestyle and I think that as conservers, developers and intermediaries they have the right to spread the sauna round the world under the trademark ‘made in Finland’.

What you feel after jumping into the freezing lake after a sauna is hard to describe and everything is amplified by the feeble light, the still waters and the light fog rising up on the surface... in a little while you find yourself ejected into a PD James book and only your freezing legs will bring you back to reality like a slap in the face, and while your heart slowly pace back to normality a shiver along the spine forces you back into the sauna where everything starts again...

Going canoeing along the one of the many rivers introduces you to a very peaceful experience, while you row in calms waters you can enjoy a spectacular view of the green shores defined by beautiful nymphs plants and guarded by groups of lively ducks; on the other hand the summer storm (which forced us to seek for shelter under a tree) and roasting sausages on a stick for lunch felt very wild!

These relaxing days put us on track for some fun on a sailing boat, thanks to the impressive hospitality of Helena and her family.
What it's impressive is how you rely completely on wind to move forward without any engine noise, compromising the sounds of water!
We spent the night docked in a private island, and after a tour around it we enjoyed a late night sunset, the colours were so vivid and bright to appear surreal! The night was crowned by a very tasty salmon pasta cooked by Helena which was unparalleled!
On the way back I got my turn to drive the boat, after few indecisive moments at the beginning I started to understand how to use the wind power

Once back to Helsinki we parted ways with half of the Italian group, and after a shower we took a brief tour of Helsinki with Helena and Kriistina and Tony afterward, we had dinner in a very questionable Chinese restaurant (what we actually ate is still a mystery....).
Before leaving we had an interesting glance at Finnish art-painting, where again shine through the beauty of this country expressed in the wild nature.

Here are the pictures.

Thanks to Sanna, Helena and her family, Denis, Matteo and Kristiina, it's been a remarkable experience!

Dublinando...

Quando sono salito sull'aereo giovedì sera non sapevo cosa aspettarmi da questa città, forse perché nel mio immaginario l'Irlanda è sempre stata simbolo di vaste distese verdi e castelli medievali non di palazzi, ristoranti o immense shopping mall.

Dublino però è una bilanciata miscela di antico e moderno: Grafton Street addobbata da numerosi negozi e centri commerciali sfocia direttamente ai cancelli del Trinity college che signoreggia dal 1592 e che da anni raccoglie studenti da tutto il mondo.

Il moderno "Monumento Della Luce" (Spire Of Dublin) sovrasta dall'alto dei suoi 120m (la scultura più alta del mondo) O'Connel St. in onore della Colonna di Nelson distrutta dall'IRA a metà degli anni '90 mentre pochi passi più in là riposano antichissimi manoscritti della Bibbia custoditi all'interno della Chester Beatty Library.

Temple Bar colora la vita notturna della città e qui si raccolgono sfegatati tifosi di Rugby rigorosamente vestiti con i colori della propria squadra, ragazze abbigliate da festa sulla spiaggia in una serata d'estate mentre la temperatura esterna raggiunge a fatica i 5 gradi, signorine che distribuiscono volantini pubblicitari dei locali o artisti di strada che spesso sono rincalzati da un pubblico ormai cullato dall'ennesima pinta di birra. In ogni caso, proprio qui siamo entrati in uno dei numerosi pub per gustare un meraviglioso stufato alla Guinness e vino rosso.

E se Dublino vuol dire anche Guinness, vale sicuramente la pena di fare un giro all Guinness Storehouse il cui tour termina al Gravity Bar, situato al settimo piano (40m di altezza), offre una splendida vista di Dublino.

Ma si ha un assaggio della vera Irlanda uscendo dalla città per riposare gli occhi e le orecchie mentre si guida tra curve e tornanti verso le verdissime montagne. I laghi neri come la pece sono un curioso contrasto alle distese verdi smeraldo e se si ha la fortuna di vedere il sole allora tutti i colori diventano ancora più vivi e l'atmosfera cambia con essi. Ogni volta che cambia la luce si percepiscono i luoghi in modo diverso.

La prossima volta sarà interessante esplorare più a lungo la vera immagine verde dell'Irlanda!

Alcune foto!

Grazie a Paolo e Serena, è stato un divertente e meritato break.

Ski 'me to the moon'...

La parola inverno deve spesso fare i conti con un alone negativo, dovuto probabilmente al risentimento che nutriamo per il fatto che ci priva del sole, del caldo o delle lunghe giornate...
Anche in senso metaforico la parola inverno non è auspicio di buone cose: se qualcuno dovesse dirvi che state entrando nell'inverno della vostra vita vuol dire che è ora di pensare alla vostra pensione più che al prossimo viaggio da programmare......!!
L'inverno in montagna, però, assume tutto un'altro significato e diventa sinonimo di luminose giornate di sole sulla neve, vedute mozzafiato, chiacchierate davanti al camino, cioccolate in tazza e grossi maglioni a collo alto. Quando si è in montagna l'inverno non è più un periodo da affrontare a denti stretti ma un viaggio da godersi con tutti i comfort.
E noi ce lo siamo goduto appieno!!
Decisi a sfruttare ogni minuto possibile con gli sci ai piedi ci siamo svegliati ogni mattina alle 7:40 per scendere e fare colazione intorno alle 8:00 e poi di corsa sulle piste! A parte le prime discese di assestamento tutto è andato liscio come l'olio, solo una volta c'è stato un piccolo incidente di travolgimenti con Raffa...!
Tra piste rosse e nere le gambe hanno sentito il peso dello scarso allenamento.
La "pista delle biglie" (così soprannominata perché a serpentina e particolarmente stretta con le curve in pendenza) è stata parecchio divertente!
Abbiamo concluso il martedì con la pista nera usata per la coppa del mondo, un segnale all'ingresso avverte: "Solo per sciatori esperti", il che ti fa mettere in discussione le tue doti sciistiche per qualche istante, ma una volta convinto lo sciatore che è in te, ci si butta a denti stretti mentre una vocina in testa continua a recitare: "in un modo o nell'altro arriverai a valle...!!"
In tutta onestà alcuni pezzi hanno richiesto impegno, ma siamo arrivati in fondo più che dignitosamente....!
La sera eravamo quasi tutti distrutti ma i cieli blu cristallini, e le vaste distese bianche possono davvero aiutare a rilassarsi e a staccare la mente dalla frenesia di tutti i giorni.
Al prossimo inverno, allora!

Foto

Grazie a Raffa, Alle, Ruben e Simona per il nostro "Ski Team" e al resto del gruppo per la compagnia.

It's art, It's food, It's friends... It's Florence!

Despite transportations problems I finally made my way to Florence on Saturday night and reached everybody at the restaurant. Just the time for a slice of chocolate cake and we were already out on our way:
doing something as simple as walking to the car toward Piazzale Michelangelo offers you one of the most breathtaking views of Florence!

Quick goodbye to friends and a minute later we were on our way to Barbara's house, and this place deserves a random overview:
climbing up the steps at the ground floor, you'll enter straight into the kitchen with its red walls, a lunch counter with cooking books piled up next to an orchids' bouquet and mugs displayed on the wall like memories trophies.
Few steps on the left bring you in the living room, the high ceiling leaves room for a huge library which preserve books of a life, objects witnessing the passage of time and souvenirs as reminders of the crossed frontiers. The half burned candles here and there give a cosy sensation. Everything seems to be arranged randomly, but nothing is out of place (and I mean it in a good way) - You did a good job with this house!

Sunday's sun allowed us to have brunch outside, on Grazia's patio facing beautiful olive trees landscapes, while polishing bread and a variety of cheese along with fabulous pastries and coffee!

Grazia's house is gorgeous too, there's something cosy about it, especially after the redecoration. Lights now do evaluate its beauty (we gotta do something for the cubby though).
Paintings are spread all over the house, like Thumbelina crumbs, to leave trace of the artist who lives here whereas Ari makes sure there are always homeopathic drops to discourage every pain.

After the meeting we got back for one of the moment I cherish the most: aperitif time!
It’ s difficult to explain what makes of this intersocial ritual something so special: probably because it's a "curtain-raiser" for the night ahead, or the fact that you're not tide up to a chair unlike dinner, or it could be the finger food and the drink that you carry around like a relay-race baton…
I don't know what it is, but surely the Tuscany appetizers, orange bellini, and the never missing cheese made the all picture quite good.
All this whilst enjoying pleasant conversation with good friends in front of a popping fire place and pulsing candle light.
Things got even better with the “Ribollita” we had for dinner, which was unparalleled, eaten, of course, in a pottery bowl and dressed with olive oil and thyme.
Being in Tuscany it couldn't miss "Vin santo" and cantuccini to conclude the meal.

We really had a good time:
thanks a lot to Ari and Grazia, Barbara, Katia & Samuel (it's been a pleasure seeing you again, let's keep in touch!), Giorgio and the rest of the group!

Pictures...

Terme, Saune e oltre...

Come sempre queste brevi fughe del week end bussano alla mia porta senza che me ne renda conto, così ho finalmente chiuso la mia valigia alle 3:30 del giovedì mattina, ovvero un'ora e mezza prima che il mio cellulare prontamente squillasse per avvertirmi che erano arrivati a prendermi!

Pazienza, ho pensato, avrò modo di recuperare...! In effetti l'ho fatto; la maggiore fatica del week end è stato decidere come impegnare le ore che separavano la colazione dalla cena. Così, alla domanda: "Oggi cosa farai?" è stato un vero piacere non dover frugare freneticamente nel proprio cervello cercando di mettere assieme tutti gli impegni che di solito sovraffollano la giornata ma semplicemente inarcare leggermente le labbra e lasciarsi scivolare un calmo e incurante: "Non so, vedremo. Per ora finisco il mio caffè!"

D'altronde si sa, relax ed esercizio fisico sono un vero toccasana e le acque termali a 36° degli idromassaggi possono davvero lavare via un ingombrante strato di stress.
Ma non ci siamo limitati a farci cullare dal "dolce far nulla", il nostro senso del dovere ci ha trascinati in palestra quasi tutti i giorni per una fugace pedalata sulla ciclette, interminabili minuti sui tapis roulant ed infine per far sollevare qualche peso ai nostri muscoli che, il giorno successivo, hanno fatto capire il loro disdegno con dolorini in quelle parti che solitamente sono più dormienti.
Ma non c'è nulla che le mani delle massaggiatrici non possano rimettere al proprio posto e mentre le loro dita imponevano ai miei muscoli di rilassarsi, non ho potuto fare a meno che arrendermi!
Il Sauna Park è stato un'esperienza! Qui il cuore può battere così forte da esplodere o distendersi quasi a non sentirlo più. E' la sensazione che si prova durante il rito nella sauna svedese (a 90°), si comincia cospargendosi il corpo di miele, lavanda e propoli mentre un aroma di papaia o mango si fa strada bruciando tra le narici regalando una sensazione unica: sofferenza mista a godimento e vorresti scappare quando il ritualista comincia a sventolarti aria calda sul corpo, ma il calore e gli aromi ti incollano alla panca. Una volta terminato non vuoi fare altro che gettarti sotto una cascata gelata o rinchiuderti dentro la stanza del ghiaccio, un luogo dove le pareti sono ghiacciate, le fontane producono acqua congelata e l'aroma è di ghiacciolo alla menta! A questo punto la sala della cromo terapia con i colori cangianti e l'atmosfera quasi mistica riporteranno il battito cardiaco ad un ritmo naturale. Pronti per ricominciare con un bagno turco, una sauna aromatizzata alle rose o un impacco al sale....
Eh già, il posto non è niente male (per chi volesse saperne di più andate su http://www.lifeclass.net/) e il mare è stato un'ottima cornice (anche per correre la mattina) per non parlare del clima che ci ha permesso di prendere il sole a Novembre o di sorseggiare un caffè nella veranda di un bar sulla spiaggia!
Peccato che gli effetti benefici non si possano trattenere, salvarli in un angolo della mente ed riutilizzarli secondo il bisogno, ma è probabilmente per questo che sono così piacevoli.

Grazie ad Enrico e Mimma, Paolo e Serena, Olga, Tabita e Samantha

Le foto....

London's calling, nessun dorma!!

E' stato probabilmente il week end più corto passato nella capitale britannica e dormire non era tra le "cose da fare"....!
Ma in fondo non c'è il tempo di riposare durante il week end in questa frenetica città, perché tutto è sempre in movimento anche quando le metropolitane spengono i motori o i Pub chiudono stanchi le loro serrande davanti a gruppi di ragazzi ammassati sui marciapiedi che decidono cosa ne faranno del resto della notte. E non ci sono problemi se, alle 4 del mattino, senti il bisogno di mangiare ali di pollo fritte, riso alla cantonese o un panino farcito con gli ingredienti più calorici che il tuo stomaco abbia mai accolto! Si perché, proprio questo è stato l'inizio del nostro week end, quando finalmente siamo giunti a King's Cross, dopo una corsa pazza sullo shuttle dall'aeroporto. E noi italiani, abbiamo mangiato quel panino con gusto e distacco allo stesso tempo, consapevoli e un po' orgogliosi del fatto che il nostro palato è abituato a gusti più raffinati!
Poche ore più tardi eravamo già pronti per scarpinare in lungo e in largo per la città, ma prima: la colazione!
Fare colazione a Londra è un momento importante, non esiste il caffè al bancone, ma è un momento dedicato a se stessi dove prendere tempo e respirare un po’.
E' necessario spendere almeno qualche minuto in meditazione davanti al banco delle "dolcerie" per poter scegliere con attenzione il muffin che accompagnerà il nostro cappuccino, l'occhio si posa immediatamente su quello al cioccolato per spostarsi su gusti che appesantiranno meno la nostra coscienza come i mirtilli, mela e cannella, lamponi, limone e semi di papavero.......
Cestinato il bicchiere take away del caffè, comincia la maratona: molti luoghi da vedere e pochissimo tempo a disposizione, così a passo spedito abbiamo oscillato da un lato all'altro della city.
La passeggiata lungo il Tamigi dalla Modern Tate fino al Tower Bridge rimane sempre una delle mie preferite.
E' incredibile come Londra sia formata da "tante città nella città" scendi le scale della metro nella sontuosa e austera Tower Hill e le risali nella appariscente e festosa Camden Town dove nulla è al proprio posto e tutto è in discussione.
Qui abbiamo pranzato e ognuno di noi ha deciso quale cucina del mondo avrebbe soddisfatto il proprio languorino! Le signorine degli stand non hanno nulla da invidiare alle sirene che nell'Odissea tentavano di sviare Ulisse, quest'ultime usavano il loro canto, le prime invece ti sventolano sotto gli occhi piccoli assaggi quasi come se volessero stregarti!
Pomeriggio in pieno centro, qualche foto nella suggestiva Trafalguar square che funge da tappeto rosso per la bellissima National Galllery e serata in un Pub per una cena tipica inglese.
A questo punto le nostre gambe sentivano già il peso della giornata, ma imperterriti abbiamo continuato fino allo sfinimento (ci sono foto che lo provano, date un'occhiata!)

Abbiamo speso il giorno successivo su e giù per Hyde Park dando da mangiare ai mai assenti scoiattoli ("i tupàz") e tra esperti rollerblader o ligi cittadini che non rinunciano alla loro corsa mattutina nonostante il sole esiti a far il suo ingresso tra le fitte nuvole!
Lunga camminata per arrivare al Pub designato per il nostro pranzo, ma ne è valsa la pena: il mio fish and chips era all'altezza del giudizio di un inglese!
Sulla via di ritorno, per il recupero dei bagagli ai nostri rispettivi alloggi, abbiamo fatto una breve tappa a Notting Hill e poi via di corsa, l'aereo non aspetta!

Londra strega molti dei suoi visitatori, molti la ameranno per sempre altri la amano oggi e la odieranno domani, per me è sempre un piacere condividere questa splendida città con gli amici e devo dire che in un giorno e mezzo siamo riusciti a vedere più di quanto ci si possa aspettare.


Grazie a Giò, Riccardo, Giacomo e Silvia (peccato per "Il Phantom", però "Le Mis" non era male!) Fabio e Simona, Enrico e Mimma (anche per domenica notte e gli spaghetti al pomodoro, sapevano di casa!).

Ecco qui le foto!