Soon after my trip to the United States, the occasion rose and I travelled once more to London, this time for leisure, and not with business purposes as I used to some years ago. Somehow, I became very excited of going back to London, because ever since I started this blog, I was upset of not being able to write about many places I have visited in the past because I do not have nice pictures taken in those locations to upload and display on the blog. Finally, I would have from London! Said and done, I arrived on Stansted Airport very early in the morning, and at about 11 I was in Liverpool Street, on a completely sunny and jolly Sunday morning. First things first, I met up with some friends and one of them had the idea to visit a local fair in the area. It was at this fair where I had the best brunch ever: an Indian, spicy, vegetarian wrap, so tasty that even now as I am writing this article I am thinking about it. Natural leather, dresses, shoes, jewellery, and lots of interesting food and beverages offered me a great welcome to London, on behalf of the Crown’s most beloved Jewel. After installing the luggage in the lovely Citizen M near Tower Bridge, felt like taking a walk across the commercial city centre – Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, The majestic Liberty Mall, Regent Street and all the surroundings – for the sake of good old times. Apart from these known places, I was led towards new, exciting experiences, places and people, in a dance of beautiful coincidences, and synchronicities. I soon reached Neal’s yard – a hip place, with cool people sliding around cute, narrow streets, garnished with colourful facades. I absolutely enjoyed my trip to London because it was all about relaxation, having the time to stop for a proper cup of tea, with no other deadlines or external pressures, simply enjoying the city and its vibrant activity, doing some shopping and letting myself allured to cosiness and time off everything. Later, when the walk seemed to have finished, I went to meet with some friends around Farringdon and stayed there, in a local typical English bar, up until the late hours of the night to celebrate someone’s birthday; I came across friends of friends, all different in a good way, all special, and all Romanians living there. Whenever I find peaceful people, with large smiles upon their faces, with no harmful or invasive intentions, I feel confident that they will become contagious to everyone inhabiting this planet, thus making it the perfect place to live in! The following morning, I woke up rather late, a thing which I do not usually encourage while traveling. But I went with the flow anyway. After I hunted down a Pret-a-Manger desperately searching for my Yoga Bunny, the best drink in the whole world, back on Oxford Street I ate something delicious from Wok to Walk. I am convinced now that London is a great universe composed of incredible food galaxies, godlike tastes, and peculiar aromas emerging similarly to nebulas on the vast sky map. One phone call away, the guys were out for a coffee around London Fields, so down to the underground again to reach their location. This area of London I had never seen before and I was glad to visit it! It has a big park just next to the London Underground exit, and the area is quite hip, plenty of young people hanged around, enjoying a pleasant time, laughing around, spreading that good vibes we all want to see. We stopped by Okko, a Japanese place, to grab yet another delicious bite. Then I figured out that maybe I would like to see a musical show. There were some shows around the Covent Garden theatres, but unfortunately without booking tickets in advance, the chances of finding something nice to see were simply too low. I tried anyway so I took the underground back to Charing Cross; no available show, so I figured that I could go to Harrods and buy my favourite teas in the whole world instead. I and arrived soon to the amazing, steadfast Harrods. I have always adored this building, so imposing, so elegant, and so noble, with the best products ever, for all pockets. Harrods closed soon, so I decided to go to yet another all-time favourite place in London: St. Katharine’s Docks. It was close to the hotel anyway, and the time was good for walking, the evening was light and the thoughts were abundant. What I like about these docks is quite easy to understand for everyone who reads my stories: water in proximity, the Moon above my head, boats floating, and complete silence to wrap up everything in a nice tone. The following and last morning in London was dedicated to sipping a delicious black tea with milk on the terrace of the Citizen M, overseeing the Tower of London and the London Wall. You can sit anywhere inside, surrounded by books, paintings and prints in an improvised library everywhere, on chairs, small sofas or peculiar chairs. From up there, I could also spot the majestic Gherkin, the famous cucumber shaped building, and of course, the fabulous Shard, my most beloved place to go out in London. Bags checked out, one last short visit to the Buckingham Palace, just to see the crowds waiting to see the changing of the guard, and its Golden Gate. There were policemen everywhere, probably as a method of prevention against terrorist attacks…Such a pity and a shame we now must live scared and somehow controlled…I simply cannot get it why men with power try to act like gods and change the true meaning of our lives and our missions on Earth. Time flies when you are enjoying it, when people around you are what seems necessary and good for you in that precise moment, when you are relaxed and when your mind takes a rest from its mundane activities. So, I soon departed to Stansted while waiting for my flight, waving goodbye to London one more. Two days after my departure from London, I sadly read about violent attacks on pedestrians and civilians taking place precisely at the Tower of London…Where will we arrive with this violence? Men turned against men, is this our sole purpose here? What about evolution and experience? Is peace such a non-appealing subject? Bummed, and sad, and angry about all these things challenging our humanity these days. London offered me a good mood to calm down the lately tiring periods of my life. Let’s hope it does this again this October, when I am going back again to meet my cousins from Spain. Stay tuned, as a new blog post about London is coming up soon.
Until then, stay safe in our beautiful diversity and multiculturality! Look at the Moon and ask for guidance!
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