Postcards from London

London is the place where I live because in my 30s I felt an irresistible attraction to the city and decided this was the place where I wanted to develop my career and live my life. More than 20 years after, I am still in love with this city and feel amazed by the opportunities the metropolis can offer, whether one decides to take them on or to sit on the fence and watch. Surely London is the European capital I feel most comfortable in, even in spite of all the Brexit nonsense and the recent challenges to this very multicultural make up.

One of the great pleasures of living in London is the relative abundance of green spaces, dotted around the city, that make still possible a contact with nature and with the pulse of changing seasons during the year.  Especially during the winter, when one craves for early signs of the nature awakening, I find particular pleasure in discovering that the daffodils and the crocuses are venturing against cold temperatures and have started blossoming again with their brightly coloured flowers. That is indeed the sign nature is awakening again, very soon trees will also start blossoming and will pump new colours and fresh life into the parks and gardens.

London has probably one the highest concentration of art galleries and museums pro capita. There are exhibitions for all kinds of taste and preferences. My preference undoubtedly goes to impressionist painters of the end of the XIX century and, more recently, have been developing some better appreciation for modern and contemporary art. Surely have no shortage of places to visit in London, moreover for free all days of the year, to admire artworks I love, as if I had them in my private collection.    

London offers an incredible and cosmopolitan variety of restaurants and food from many different traditions and origins. Depending on the inspiration of the moment one can go from Bengali cooking to nouvelle cuisine just turning around the corner. Naturally I have my favourite spots but it is sometimes hard to catch up with an ever changing environment where restaurants can bloom and disappear much faster than one can imagine.

London has a marvellous concentration of venues with great acoustic for classical music performances of all kinds. My favourites are the more intimate ones, like Wigmore Hall or the churches in the West End, all offering a high quality music calendar catering for every possible taste, perfect for chamber music, with a varied programme of world class performances every day of the week. Big churches in particular offer a great variety of music events during the week, mostly for free, featuring their choir or organ recitals which are truly a magnificent way to enjoy the spiritual pleasure of visiting a place of worship.

Postcards from England

Postcards from Europe

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