london, england

from the first moment even before i decided to go to london, everybody told me i would love it there.. god only knows why, because it's clearer to me everyday that city tourism is not really my thing...

because of a mistake on my planning, i had more days than i needed to visit london, but the good thing is, there's so much to do and to see there, i'm glad i got it wrong..

the public transportation there is really good, so i got an oyster card, and i had unlimited use of it while i was there, which turned out to be awesome.. london is pretty big, and it's impossible to walk everywhere..

so what did i see there? well, museums, for example.. i don't love museums, but since i had the time and they have many good (and free) ones, i decided to give them a try.. the national gallery and the national portrait gallery have a lot of paintings, some from huge names like botticelli, da vinci, michelangelo, rembrandt, van gogh and others.. very good, specially if you like paintings..

the natural history museum was more interesting to me, with dinosaur skeletons and fossils, the life-size model of a 25m long blue whale, and everything else nature-related, like galleries about bugs ("creepy crawlies"), reptiles, mammals, primates, evolution, etc..

the british museum was the most complete museum i've ever visited.. it's a museum of history and culture.. it's gigantic, and they have stuff from ancient egypt, greece & rome, asia, africa, the americas, prehistoric europe, and a lot more.. and i mean quality stuff, for example, the egyptian collection includes mummies, sarcophagi, huge statues, and even a fragment of the sphinx of giza..

other than museums, the parks were also great places to go, specially considering i had good weather pretty much every day i was there.. hampstead heath, green park, hyde park, greenwich park.. perfect for a little nap between walks..

then, of course, the big names: the houses of the parliament (and the big ben), london eye, tower of london, tower bridge, trafalgar square, picadilly circus, the greenwich observatory, the list goes on.. also, very nice were brick lane and camden town, with their street markets, alternative atmosphere and good vibes..

but probably the best part was meeting friends from many years ago: going for a walk, hanging out in the park, having a drink, a bbq.. felt like home..

all in all, my planning fail turned out to be a win, and when people said i'd love london, they were very much right...

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 london eye | big ben

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 the houses of parliament

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 tower brigde

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 egyptian bust | greek statue (british museum)

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 natural history museum

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birigui =)