London Day 2

On second day in London, we were not woken up with snow in the window, like on the previous, but with a shy sun between the clouds inviting us to go out of the hostel earlier.
After a slight problem in the metro - Martyna's excitement to see Tower of London and Tower Bridge couldn't wait for Nuno to enter the subway :), and we got apart for one station - we arrived to one/two (Bridge and Tower) of the London's landmark(s). Almost fighting for a spot with other tourists to take the cliché picture with Tower Bridge, we made the usual photossession. The price of the entrance to Tower Bridge was stronger than our will to see it from inside, and we left for our second stop - Maddame Tussaud's.
Even though it wasn't Nuno's first time in London, it was thing that he didn't have the oportunity to visit on the first trip. Martyna's will to take a picture with Audrey Hepburn - just like her mum had one - was one of the reasons to visit it. Once inside we found more. Even though we noticed some missing personalities - like the recently new elected pope - we enjoyed taking pictures with the waxed versions of personalities that were there. We impersonated Chris Brown "carissing" Rihanna, imitated dance from One Direction's clip at the door of Downing Street, revenged the FMI and EU austerity measures in Portugal, discharging the frustrations on german chanceler, posed next to the two portuguese personalities represented in the museum and discussed matemathics with a crazy white-haired old guy...
In the end, a bonus, a 4D movie entering a life/death experience - SPOILER ALERT! - that we survived because The Avengers - saved the day and the city of London.
Who was in London knows that on the second day, if the subway is the transportation method chosen, there is a sentence that is not leaving your subcouncious and councious - Mind the Gap. At this time, this was 40 per cent of the comunication between us - "Nuno, mind the gap!" - ok, less, but at least 5 per cent, or 3. Still a lot! Too much! :)
With a good discount, it compensates to buy a joined ticket to Maddame Tussaud's and London Eye. We thought about using both in the same day, but when we arrived to the giant wheel, the Sun was almost hidding and we decided to wait for the next day.
With some energy in our batteries, we still walked in Westminster area for some hours more, and we had the first contact with Downing Street and Saint Paul's Cathedral.
Curious how it would look Tower of London at night, one more stop on the way to take some more pictures of the lightened Tower Bridge, and Tower of London itself.
Back to our "hometown" - the awaited dinner - lasagna - spicy as it should be in East Ham (if you don't know why, read our previous post!), and polish beer - chapter two. :)

London, finally!

April 2013 was the time to collect the Christmas gift for Martyna. Four months before, a jetplane inside a box and a guidebook to London gave the clue of what was going to happen soon. As a trip to London was her biggest dream, Nuno decided to make it come true.
After a two hours trip, in Ryanair, we changed from the “normal” 20º of Algarve - typical for first days of spring, for negative temperatures in London.
To get to our hostel - a "small" adventure. First, the transfer, on EasyBus in rush-hour, then the subway from Baker Street to East Ham, far, far away. We were suposed to call Susan, the lady that dealed with our reservation because the "reception" closed at 21h00, and we arrived later to London. So we did. She said that the hostel was a 20 min walk from the subway, but after we walked for 35 minutes, we had no clue where was it. There was a reason: the hostel wasn't technically a hostel. It was more like a house, so we passed by without noticing it. After calling to double-check the address, we arrived to the place. A house, typical english, with not more than four rooms. Our was next to the entrance, so we didn't have many privacy problems. Only the noises of three young asians playing videogames in their self-phones during the time of the meal in the kitchen. 
In the morning, we woke up and we saw snow in the window. Seeing Nuno 's reaction to snow falling on his face was one of the best moments of the trip! With the cold that was entering each time that the entrance door was open, we decided to wait in the confort of the room till the sun started heating up.

With the daylight we saw the neighborhood were we stayed and we felt a bit like in a Bollywood movie. The colours, smells, language spoken and people, almost everything reminded us about India – that we've never been, but it might be something like we saw. The houses, taxis and the red buses were the main indicators that we didn't leave London.

We decided to buy a daily pass to the subway - the best way to move in the city. With snow falling from the sky, our first sight leaving Westminster subway station was the imponent Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then looking at left there was the London Eye and all the landscape that made us feel like in a postcard. Martyna wanted to capture in her memory the moment of seeing the place for the first time so, as usual, she was taking million pictures. When the cold passed the layer of excitement and reached the body we decided to fight it from inside with warm Costa - the coffee - inside County Hall. To reach the coffee place some stops in the gaming machines. They seemed so easy to trick to leave with a Teddy Bear, a phone, or a camera. They weren't. And we arrived to Costa Coffee, in the basement, two pounds poorer. There we ordered two black coffees. But one tasted funny, like chocolate. So we had a bonus.

The afternoon we spent in Convent Garden, with croweded streets, performers, and a brief visit to the also croweded market. Nuno was there once, but everything seemed different. The street performers were others, in different places, so the stopping spots to see the shows also were different. Men-statues, illusionists, singers and dancers were dividing the attention of the people passing by.
At this point we decided to leave the undergrounds of London to move in the city and walk through the streets.
Before the walk, time to eat. We decided to enter a burger place, even though Martyna doesn't eat meat. But it was worth it. In the menu there was a “mushroom burger”, that we still believe that was the best that we could find in all London, if not all England.
We walked through Soho - that might be more interesting at night - with all the pubs and "alternative" places, China Town - bigger in our expectations - and we arrived to Piccadilly Circus.
The colours and movement of Picadilly Circus made us stay there till we were sure that we saw all the commercials in the giant LCD's in the buildings, and that we had the best picture that we could have. There groups of people around the "fountain" were talking, laughing or drinking. A teenager was having fun following and immitating the people that were passing by, or appearing unexpectedly in the pictures of the tourists.
In the evening, one more stop to see the “postcard” landscape of Westminster at night with quick photosession in the freezing cold.
We decided to eat in East Ham, almost a paradise if we are talking about spicy food. Spicy pizza, kebab, hot-dogs... Everything with extra spice, that happily we like. First night was "Kebab night" with polish beer - the first time that Nuno tried it, and a beggining of a story with more chapters. :)