This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Visiting London was upsetting. I was a young boy from the Province. It was my first time out on my own and my first time in such a metropolis.

I discover a passion for maps and subways

I was thrilled by that feeling of being a microbe in the midst of a whirling world.

I was also fascinated by that commingling of people from all over. To be on the subway between a city businessman in a bowler hat and an Indian man in a turban, for me coming from an area at the time, still not at all multicultural, was like being inside a movie.

I soon discovered how much I loved tinkering with maps and using the subway. I was able to see all the most famous places and museums.

I walked a lot and saw a lot, scouring many neighborhoods and major markets. As for the beautiful parks, apart from Hyde park, I had a chance to delve well into the others the following year, for an entirely different experience. Of the museums, besides the classics, I particularly liked the London Bridge museum and the one on the history of the Underground Railroad. I remember going into the Tower of London virtually without waiting in line; now it takes forever.

Culinary discoveries

My disposition to find taste in eating what the locals eat also quickly came out; as a rookie traveler I had qualms about going to restaurants, but kiosks, pubs and even supermarkets were always a pleasant discovery for me.

In a supermarket I found some unlikely white Lambrusco from Trentino with 4 alcohol content. Near the Tower of London I ate the first hot dog of my life after seeing so many on TV. In Camden Town I passed by several times to eat the backedpotatos stuffed in various ways; after all, they weren’t much, but I thought they were exceptional. While I found it hallucinating after a few days in Edinburgh to meet an Italian couple desperate for a plate of spaghetti.

Apart from a few sporadic encounters, especially in London, I experienced loneliness on the road for the first time, and I did not mind it at all. In particular, I remember the evening-hour tour from Parliament to Downing Street (home of the prime minister); there were very few people there, which accentuated the reflection on the historical importance of those rooms.

One evening I found myself walking through Soho, it was raining just like in the video of a wonderful Pogues song that came to me.

Also visiting London for the Beatles

But speaking of music, another reason for the trip was the Beatles and going to some of their iconic places. In London, of course, I went to Abbey Road, where their recording studios were, on whose roof they did the famous concert and where they took the cover photo of their last record. The crosswalks were painted differently and I didn’t have 3 mates; I took it of 4 Spaniards (it’s a continuous procession of people there for the same reason), but I didn’t want to ask for extras to be 4.

Home trip Making the Interrail: France, UK, Ireland

Previous Stage The top of travel mistakes? certainly in Normandy

Next stop Visiting Scotland and Liverpool, the most fun evening

Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent

Countries visited in my travel stories

Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives

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Fabio Viroli

Ho sempre avuto tante passioni, ma da sempre più o meno latenti, le principali sono viaggiare e scrivere. Tra le altre cose ho una laurea in psicologia; ho fatto per più di 30 anni l’allenatore di basket; leggo tanti libri; sono stato molto appassionato di sport e di musica rock; e faccio improvvisazione teatrale

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