Monday, June 02, 2008

Portugal travel letter: London interlude

On my way to Portugal i make a stopover in London. There are cheaper flights from London to Lisbon and oh so convienently S and J live in London, so my stopover lasts 4 days.

London, lovely London greets me with its regular busyness. Arriving at Victoria tube station it still surprises me how fast people walk here. It's as if they're running for a train, which they probably are. It doesn't matter if you have a suitcase to carry, you have to keep up with their tempo to not be in anyone's way. However, as i've mentioned already, the whole tube system is brilliant, once you get it, you'll find it's really simple and efficient.

I arrive at my host and hostess's place without any fuss and we have a quiet evening at home to gather strength for the weekend. The next day we decide to drive out of town. I think it's a great idea. Every time i come to visit, all i see is London, so this will be a nice change. We head for Cambridge. It's a nice town, a true student town with colleges all over the place. The centre of town is virtually car-free, so it's very layd back and quiet and perfect for a truly chill-out day. We eat and drink, learn how to make fudge (i'll add a video later), buy some jewellery from a lady who among other things makes glass beads from old Perrier and Bombay Sapphire bottles and relax by the river.



In the evening it's party time. Some of S&J's friends come over and we go out to have some drinks at Beach Blanket. I meet P, J's best mate. Whom, strangely enough, i haven't had a pleasure to meet during all those years i've known J and all thos numerous times i've been to London. Well, mistake corrected. The evening goes buy in a smooth continuous flow and we have a truly great time. There's an unexpected burlesque performance on the bar counter. The dancer's boobs initiate a dispute among us wheteher they're real or not. I think they're real because they're look too good to be fake. Later the same dancer sits next to us at the bar and during a conversation with her i find out that the performance was for her good friend's birthday and thet her own boyfriend doesn't mind and oh, the boobs aren't real, but she takes my opinion as a compliment.
The next day - Sunday - goes buy as lazyly as a hangover Sunday is supposed to pass. Me and S try to get some shopping done but since lack of time and true lack of efficiency this project is unfinished. Our prey ia only a bikini for me and a dress for S. In the afternoo we go to watch a Havana Rakatan dance show. It holds some cha-cha, rumba, flamenco and modern dancing but most of it is Salsa! yipijee! The show's really good, all the moves of the dancer's are so pure and finished and the male dancers are a class on their own - every muscle of their bodies is toned and the way they move on stage is just captivating. The girls do some high-class booty-shaking too but i think i'm forgiven for favoring the guys.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You missed out the African disease!! -;)

Hernes said...

You're right!!!!! That was the highlight of Friday night. I just didn't know you want everyone to know about it:)