The end is just a new begining

9th of September 2007....

Walking down from Notting Hill Gate tube station to my pad in Prince's Square I just felt happy looking back on my last 7 months. It was an absolutely awesome time for me.

Funny enough today I remembered my days from last December when everything started. I walked along the Strand with its Savoy Hotel and near Covent Garden, I revisited Waterloo Station and Totenham Court Road tube station, 3 places that introduced me ... long time ago ... to this beautiful city.

I am taking the next step now, leaving a huge amount of memories and places behind for another day. I can conclude today that yes, London is a city where the World shows its best and I truly agree with Samuel Johnson: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

See you soon London. :)

TOP 10 places i like in London ,4th issue

I am sad to see this blog fade away and I decided to write again...

Here is the current TOP 10:

1. Primrose Hill
2. St Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridge
3. Greenwich Park
4. Camden Town
5. Notting Hill
6. Jubilee Walk (Southbank)
7. St James's Park
8. Canary Wharf
9. Soho and Covent Garden
10. Hyde Park

To see the pictures follow this link

TOP 10 places i like in London ,3rd issue

1. St Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridge
2. St James's Park
3. Greenwich Park
4. Notting Hill by night
5. Camden Town
6. Leicester Square
7. Jubilee Walk (Southbank)
8. Oxford Street
9. Soho
10. Hampstead Heath

10 days later

It's been 10 days since I wrote something on this blog. To be quite honest i will not write a normal post right now, instead I'll tell you what i was doing in the last 10 days:

- watched Shakespeare for the second time at his home: The Globe Theater (Merchant of Venice)
- fell in love with Porto and Lisbon, on a 3 day trip to Portugal
- returned to Bucharest for a 3 day business trip :)
- watched the Queen's Parade on the Mall (it's a street in London , not a shopping center)
- visited briefly Tate Modern and British Museum
- strolled through the stalls of Brick Lane Market and Spitalfields Market
- panicked due to a tube failure on the way to the best concert of my life Muse@Wembley Stadium
- sung out loud "Plug in Baby" together with 70.000 people in the best new stadium of the world

That's about it. For more pictures turn to http://picasaweb.google.com/sorin.patilinet

My first audiotape bought

It's been 17 years from that moment but I still remember the grey Racks with a cover, written on a type-machine, that listed the songs. Yesterday I got the chance to see the band I was admiring back then, live in London.

"We're the Pet Shop Boys."

The show was more than I expected. Lights, dancers, a cosmopolitan audience and 2 guys that know how to sing disco-electro music.

Welcome to the most beautiful (small) country in the world

This is the message the is shown to you first when you step into the arrivals room in Prestwick airport. And it is true!

Scotland is a place of great wonders of nature. Changing weather, steep cl ifs, lochs with fresh water and myths, mountains with snow on their peaks, an atmosphere of peace and solitude. The scenery is amazing.

I am so happy that I had the opportunity to come and see the Highlands. I'll definitely come back one day soon.

Probably the best team in the world

5 minutes. Only 5 minutes left on the clock. I didn't think it was possible but the guys wearing red t-shirts all around this country believed that a miracle can happen twice. It didn't. The team that plays the ugliest football on the face off the earth was crowned champion of Europe. We didn't deserve that title to be honest , Barca, Chelsea and even ManU are better than us. I just thought that if you win against them you can lift the cup. It was not true.

The sea of red t-shirted supporters is going home still singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".

After all it's just a game, Liverpool is still "probably the best team in the world".

I didn't vote

It seems that Basescu had 93% against it's suspension from Romanians leaving outside the borders of our country. Is it me or it seems that it's easier to vote from here for an uncertain future ?

Burst of posts

I have not wrote here for almost 4 days but many things, good and bad , happened in this period of time:

- On Friday i was part of the front row crowd of another great concert OMD . I just felt translated in time , to be more precise in the 80s. Listening to 50year old boys singing about Joan of Arc and entertaining a crowd full of people that 20 years ago had my current age :)

- On Saturday morning, i missed my first flight of my life. I was sun, beaches, Italy, Sardinia ... but everything was ruined because i woke up 3 hours after the clock was supposed to ring :(.

- Saturday was the big game of the year. I can't believe how important can FA Cup be for British people. I just realized it 2 days ago. Chelsea-Manchester was not a great game, it was rubbish. I hate both teams but i enjoyed the game in a traditional pub in South Clapham with a bunch of Australians. This was part one of getting to know a normal Saturday in London. The second part was a house-barbecue party in South London. I was surprised to see how many people are interested in Romania , would like to visit it and think that is a wonderful place. I just can't understand how stupid we are by not "selling" our country for tourism as our fellow Bulgarians neighbors do. :(

- Sunday was not a day of relaxation. After discussing the politic situation in Iran with the barber and the possibility of traveling in Romania (damm..one more) i guided a friend for an 8 hour tour of what London has to offer at it's best on a sunny Sunday afternoon.



This post was supposed to end in another way. Something more like : I love Sardinia! It's beautiful place were i would like to go again. Instead off, it will end without the "again" plus "London is a city where you can have fun unplanned" :)

London : The Biography

I am currently reading a book that is developing into one of the best radiography of a city I've ever come across. It's called simply London: The Biography. An 800 pages long bible of what London used to be from its beginnings to the modern times. The author , Peter Ackroyd , manages to capture every aspect of the city's furious history, making you part of the birth of this capital, the rise and the spectacular display of its beauty.

The book is a must for every one who wants to understand London much deeper than the DK travel guide.

A friend's view of Romania vs UK

Dust versus rain, obstructing noise vs pleasant noise, lack of security vs a trustful police warden.

Those were subjects of discussion while trying to compare life in London with life in Bucharest with a friend who visited the city today. Don't need to tell you which one was the most praised. I guess you all know that already.

I still believe that London can surprise me each day and it does.

Snow Patrol finally...

It's the year of concerts. It's so easy living in London: you get the chance to see your favorite bands playing in a venue around this beautiful town and getting a ticket is not that easy as you might believe it.

The Killers
Keane
OMD
Pet Shop Boys
Travis
The Hours
Muse
The Guillemots
and finally Snow Patrol

Is that i lineup or what ? I've seen or I'll see them live in the next couple of months.

Apart from these i would fancy a live performance from the following bands: Coldplay, U2, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party. Hardly any chance of seeing them live without a ticket in hand now, but i can say that I'm pleased with what i got already.

Unbelievable

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

I just wrote a post regarding this company but it keeps shocking me everyday. They just released today a new promotion : you can fly for free !!!! Off course it's just between Monday and Thursday, off course there are only several destinations available but the total cost of the ticket is 0.02 pounds.

Unbelievable !!!!

Heathrow Queue

Some people hate it and believe that it's one of the worst big airports of the known world. I personally like it and here is why:

- I like to stand in queue with other airplanes to get a departing slot on the run-way
- I like the rush of people that run to the corridors to get a smaller queue at the passport control
- I like the faces of indians, muslims, chinese people that are searching your bags on departures for some mysterious object that you want to "export" from UK and the same people that look at your passport picture scan it and tell you : "Welcome to England". :)
- I like the omnipresent queue of vehicles rushing on M4 straight in the center of the city (Hammersmith and Fulham)

Maybe queue is a second word for Heatrow but maybe it is for UK also.

Bloging at 33000 feet in the air

I realised that my time flying is far more interesting if I write some lines offline about Europe as I see it from high above the worries and the smiles.

The funny thing is that it almost looks the same either in Hungary or Belgium from here. It all depends on the way you fell and I just wonder how on earth did BA won the "Best Airline of the Year" if they are the first on loosing luggage worldwide and if their attendants are rushing on service the poor sandwich to have some spare time at the end of the flight. Makes you think when will they start to sell food and beverages just like the low-cost companies.