Again in London

I followed a seminar in Cambridge on financial regulation and supervision last week. That explains my silence in the blog and it also meant that after quite a long time (nine months) I was back to London, one of my favourite places on Earth.

It all started in a weird way. I landed in London City Airport for the first time and I must admit I was a bit scary when I saw water all around the plane: thanks Lord, our pilot could keep the situation under control. The airport is so small that normal planes (such as Airbus 320) cannot land there! Then, as there was a strike in the underground, I took a cab to King's Cross. I needed 45 minutes to reach the train station, as all the city was collapsing for the strike.

I was then shocked by the way the station is organized. In Germany, when you buy a ticket, even weeks in advance, you know the number of the platform where you will find the train. In King's Cross, everybody must stand and stare in front of the information panel until 15 minutes before departure... All I can say is that they are rather different approaches to the same problem.

After five days in Cambridge, which I will summarize later on, I came back on Friday to spend the weekend in London. Leaving aside the usual visits to bookshops (why on Earth I love them so much?) and the usual walks around the city centre, for the first time in my many visits to London, I went to Westminster Abbey. My most important remark after that refers to the huge amount of tombs it has: I would say it is more a cementery than a church. Anyway, I enjoyed a lot the poet's corner and was touched by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (it does not have this name, but I do not remember it, sorry).

What else? As a late Shakespeare fanatic, I went to the Shakespeare Globe to watch Henry IV, part I. First of all, the negative points: it was difficult for me to follow the story, as it was in medieval English and as English is not my mother tongue; secondly, Henry IV is not among the best of Shakespeare's plays; and lastly, the seats were terribly uncomfortable. But it was worth of it! The actors, the audience, the theatre itself (which is built according to the design of theatres at that time, see picture below), everything helped in building an enormous atmosphere as that found in Shakespeare's time. After some minutes of warm up, I started to understand most of the text! It is an experience I recommend for everybody spending a few days in London... and with a very good level of English.In spite of all I have explained in this post, I cannot help feeling that London is not as high in my priorities as it once was. To be honest, I think that, today 12th September, I would not consider living there... But in two weeks I am back and there will be a chance to change this impression.