London 2023 - My first trip abroad after the pandemic

My first post this year was about my stay in Terni, which was part of my trip to see Bruce Springsteen live in Monza. But this wasn't actually my first trip of the previous year and the first after the pandemic. That honour goes to my trip to London three weeks before that to see Bruce Springsteen (twice) and Billy Joel live at Hyde Park which was actually my first trip abroad after the pandemic (There had been another domestic trip within Greece the previous year but we'll talk about that in a future post).

 

I did wear  a mask during the flight (apart from when I was drinking my juice), and that was because in the pre-pandemic era I had caught some serious common colds during flights.

My trip came with an added bonus from booking.com. All these years with all these trips I have been a regular customer of that side, but, understandably I hadn't used it for three years. So, they gave me a special gift. A free taxi ride from the airport to my hotel! Now that can cost more than 70GBP! And the first thing I noticed when I arrived at my hotel was a Ukrainian flag at a window of a nearby building.

My hotel was close to New Oxford Street. That meant that it was a 5 minute walk to Tottenham Court Road, and from then onwards the beginning of "proper" Oxford Street. That meant I was right there in the city centre. But that also meant something else : I could save a lot of money because I wouldn't have to use public transport. Because as early as 2016 I had noticed how expensive the London Underground had become. But from my location, I could actually walk to Hyde Park where I would have to go on the days that I would be attending the BST Hyde Park festival.

I didn't have to go to Hyde Park on my first evening there, but I took a walk along Oxford Street to catch up on London life.

 

 

Imagine my surprise when one of the kiosks I encountered was selling Greek food!

The next morning, after having breakfast I started walking towards Hyde Park. I tried to spot the shop where I was working back when I was a student. It was a record shop called "Buzz Records" and it could have been one of those two. Or maybe the Ann Summers one next door.

 

 

It was on that day's walk that I discovered Takis. I saw this particular display and was intrigued because in Greek "Takis" is a male name. They have nothing to do with Greece of course. I bought one out of curiosity and when I tried it, even though I realized that they might not be a very healthy snack and they might contain plenty of artificial colours, I loved them because they were extremely spicy!. So I do eat them, but in moderation...

After the concert (it was Bruce Springsteen on that night) I walked back along Oxford Street towards my hotel

 The next day, I made my way to Hyde Park again, to see Billy Joel this time.

It was on my way there that I discovered it had become almost impossible to buy a magazine in London. There are no newsagents anymore! So I found a WHSmith's inside Selfridges and went inside to explore. The reason? On that month, both MOJO and UNCUT had Bruce Springsteen on the cover and I wanted to buy both. Unfortunately I only found MOJO there.

After the concert it was time for my walk back to the hotel. By this time my feet hurt after standing up for so much time. This time it was a Friday night so there was more life on Oxford Street.

The third day of the festival was completely different. We had been lucky so far with hot and sunny weather, but finally the rain came. It had rained a bit before I set off, but when I started walking it had calmed down. I had arranged to meet one of my Facebook Bruce friends outside Hyde Park and when we got inside a cafe it started raining cats and dogs. I had come prepared with a poncho which I wore inside the park (where I met another Facebook Bruce friend) and gradually the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy Bruce and The E Street Band in all their glory!

 

On the way back, I was able to fully enjoy Oxford Street on a Saturday night!

 

The following day, it was  time to go. But I couldn't leave without visiting my beloved Bayswater where I had spent some of my student years. So, for the first time during my stay in London I used public transport and reactivated my old Oyster card (featuring then newlywed Prince William) from 2011.

 Unfortunately, the rebuilding of Whiteley's hadn't been completed yet.

By then, it was time to head back to the airport for the trip home. Before I checked in though, I had the chance to ride the shuttle between the two Gatwick Airport terminals

 

And it was finally there, at the airport that I found the issue of Uncut that I was looking for...

Summer in Terni

There's no better time to remember the summer than in the heart of winter. So, on this, the coldest day of the winter I am writing about the week I spent in Terni as a guest in my friend's house after we had seen Bruce live in Monza. That particular concert was such a tiring and exhausting experience, what with all the kilometres we had to walk, that we needed to spend a week doing absolutely nothing. And that's exactly what we did.

So, the day after the concert we left Milano and took the train down to Rome. From Rome, Terni is only about an hour away. You have to be careful, though. Trains for Terni leave from the very last platform of Rome's Stazione Termini, which is a fair distance away from the entrance, So there was a lot more walking to do, what with carrying our luggage and all. Terni is on the same line as Ancona, so I had passed through it in 2015 on my way to the Belle And Sebastian concert that year and I knew about that particular platform.

When we arrived there I noticed a strange monument just opposite the station.

The plaque at its base informed us that it was a hydraulic press from the Terni Steel Works, in use until 1993.

The next thing to do was find the house. While doing that we noticed the trademark of the city. A very tall fountain dominating a big square. When we arrived we had to rest and then find something to eat. This is not an easy thing to do in Italy since most restaurants close early. Luckily, there was a McDonald's near the house. So, no healthy food on the first night.

The following day was spent resting (again). We had stocked up on food, but decided not to cook as we discovered that there was a lovely pizzeria opposite the house.

 

The third day was spent with trips to the local supermarkets for food and a sports store for clothes. All these were opposite the house. So no sightseeing again on that day as well.

We then decided to go out. But where? Again, we noticed that there was a bar near the house so we went there where I finally had the chance to try out an Aperol Spritz the drink everyone was drinking that summer even at the Bruce concerts!

And as it turned out, that night was a Karaoke night!

On the following day, we finally went into town. To get to the center we had to walk through a park. The nature is amazing there. If you look towards the horizon you'll see mountains full of trees in any direction.

 

On one of the cafes, I ate the best Tiramisu I have ever tasted, with coffee to pour over it. (Apparently, this is the proper way it is served in Italy).

All in all, a very productive day!

Terni looks even better at night as I discovered on the following day.

Unfortunately, the Tiramisu served at night was much smaller!

These are not ice cream cones, they are stools in an ice cream bar:

On the last day of July, it was time to go...

From the train station, back to Rome (not forgetting that long walk along the platform), and from then on to the airport to catch flights to our respective countries.