London

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"Sto morendo dalla voglia di andare a Londra.." That's what I said to my italian room mate: I'm dying to go to London.. Ok in all honesty I was studying abroad in Italy, and my student visa was about to expire, and I wanted to stay longer. For some reason, my school wouldn't let me extend my program. So I had to find another way out. I had asked at the american consulate in Milan, and they said that if i wanted to leave and come back as a tourist, i would have to leave the EU. (ok i know that the UK is part of the EU but they were an exception, according to my visa) So I would go to the UK, get a stamp in my passport, and stay as a tourist. And I would finally go to London!!



The 2nd time i went to london i went to a whole bunch of museums, the national gallery, victoria & albert, and the british museum. i went to the british museum on the last day that i was there, and at that time they had a terra cotta warrior exhibit on loan from china. however, when i went to go buy tickets, it was all sold out!!! i even tried to smooth talk the ticket booth and mention that it 'was my last day in london'. but no, it didn't work. also what is amazing to see at the british museum is that they have some artifacts / pieces of the parthenon from athens.



I also took a trip on the london eye, right as the sun was setting, which was lovely to see. it was beautiful be riding on the london eye looking down at the thames, parliament, big ben, and see the city skyline at dusk.



also whenever i travel i make a point to walk around at night. It was fun to walk around, see picadilly circus, chinatown, big ben, and the tower bridge at night time. and as crazy and crowded london is, it was relaxing to sit in trafalgar square and watch the fountains in the dark.

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