1. LONDON
1st Day
Travelling to London is like diving in a melting pot.
London is one of the most visited European capitals. (Why? because of history, culture,
monuments … ) It’s a different place full of magic, culture, history and romanticism, and of course
full of different people.
We knew that because London appears in tv, like the news or other programm, but seing
it live is very different. Let’s start of by telling you how our first day was.
Leaving Portugal was a bit sad, because during 5 days we wouldn’t see our friends, our
parents, however we knew that that experience was going to be UNFORGETABLE. We arrive at
the airport and some of us were already very excited because that was going to be their first
time on taking the plane. The 2 hours flight was very nice, and we arrive at London a bit tired but
with lots of curiosity and excitement.
After picking up our bags, we left the London airport and we entered the bus that was
leading us to our hotel. Mick was the driver and he was very nice because gave us a guided tour
through London.
In the outside of the city center we saw magnificent fields fill with people playing games,
we saw houses very similar that looked expensive (suburbians) and we saw small stores where
the people could buy all kind of things.
As we were aproaching the city, Mick helped us distinguish the New and the Old side of
London. In the New side there was the London Eye, the Modern Tate,… And in the Old side there
was the monuments more famous in London, like the Big Ben, the Houses of Parlment, the
Buckingham Palace, the Trafalgar Square, the Piccadilly Circus and lots of museums…
After leaving our bags at the Royal National Hotel we went for a walk in the city. The first
thing that called our attention was the underground and the huge amount of lines that the
undergroun had. If you use the underground, you will find out that there is a hidden city made of
many people from different parts of the world: Chinese people, Spanish, Indian, black people,
and also English people from all social classes (executive, students, workers …). I was
impressed when I saw all these people. Some of them were reading books or newspapers,
others were listening to music and others were sleeping. Some of them were looking to my
friends to try to found out their nationality.
Next we walk all around the city, we saw the Big Ben, the Houses of Parlment, the
Trafalgar Square. Wecame to the hotel to have dinner and we soon realised that the food there
is very different from ours and that’s also one thing that impressed us about London, tho food
diversity.
At night we went to the Big Ben and to the Trafalgar Square. They were very beautifull at
night and, after that, we returned to the hotel to sleep because we were going to have a big day
on Thursday.

2. 2nd Day
The second day in Lond was a big day for all of us. We woke up and we weren’t
sure that we really were in London, but when we saw the window, the rithym of London
is unique and at that point we were sure that we were in London, the city of our dreams.
It’s interesting to realize that during those five days in London, my friends and I
were part of that big melting pot. The London multiculturalism is everywhere: pubs,
restaurants, museums, even in front of Buckingham Palace. People chat, take photos,
appreciate the city and learn about culture and multiculturalism. ( they learn that all
people are different but all deserve to be respected. ) Being at the Buckingham Palace
was very good because it allowed us to see the guards that don’t move, like we see
them in the tv. We didn’t see the guards wearing the big black hats, because of the
Winter, however we watched them withou moving a muscle, and that’s very impressive.
After the Buckingham Palace we took a boat ride to Greenwich, where we
lunched, and we saw the Greenwich Meridium, the place on Earth where the lattitude is
0. Again taking the underground, we returned to the Hotel. The underground became
our main mean of transport. We could take the underground or walk.
At night, came another highlight of the trip: the musical. We were all very ansious
about the musical “Lord of the Rings” because we had never seen a musical live and
we knew the “The Lord of the Rings” was getting very good reviews so we created lots
of expectations about the musical. It didn’t let us down. Quite the contrary. It amazed us
how it’s possible to create such an amazing show. The lights, the sounds, the singing,
the special effect, the set, all was perfect. The show amazed us because : In one hand,
although the musical was 3 hours long, it was always very interesting, thanks to the
effects (sound, music, set,…) and in the other hand it was very impressive the facts that
the actors performed live and without a single mistake. It was a moment that we’ll never
forget.
After the musical, we returned to the hotel to have a good night of sleep.

3. 3rd day
This day was very important, becausee the highlights were dedicated to
education. We were scheduled to see the Science and the Natural History Museums.
We start off with the Natural History. The first thing we noticed about this museum was
the greatness. The second you enter the museum you realise that it is very special. The
museum is divided in 4 distint zones : The red zone ( the changes that are happening in
our planet ) , the blue zone ( life, the evolution of species, the environment,..), the green
zone ( Earth’s ecology, the meteorites,..) and the orange zone ( the wildlife ).
We didn’t had the time to see every thing because that’s just impossible in a
couple of hours, however it was enough to see that the Natural History Museum is very
big and filled with lots of interesting things, things that needed a week, at least, to be
seen.
Next we went to the Science Museum. We had lunch there and, just like the
Natural History Museum, the Science was very big, very beatifull and filled with lots of
interesting thigs for us to see. The first thing that called our attention was the IMAX
cinema. It’s a 3D cinema that has a screen with the height of 4 bus together. It was very
interesting because we saw the pictures like they were real. After the IMAX we went to
the simulator. The problem of the simulator was the it was very short, however it still
was very fun while it lasted. We still had time to see the Energy gallerie, packed with
lots of games that helped us understand the importance of the Energy.
After the museums we went to another place for which Lond is known : the
Harolds. Harolds is a kind of shooping mall where rich people go shopping. Althought
groups weren’t allowed, we know that all of the things that were there to sell were very
expensive.
These were the highlights of this day, after all this, we returned to our hotel and
we had a good night of sleeep.

4. 4th Day
One of the bet things of the trip was the wax museum, the Madame Tussaud’s
museum. It is very amusing to see all these characters we know from the tv in wax. The
first gallerie is the one from the movie stars. Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise,
Nichole Kidman, Angeline Jolie, Will Smith, … All of these stars we’re in there and we
could touch them, like they were real persons. The funniest part of this gallerie was this
woman that was taking pictures to Will Smith. Everyone thought that she was real,
including our English teacher, however it was a wax women. After that gallerie, there
was one about the Pirates of the Caribean and the one with the movie characters we all
know. Shrek, Superman, Spiderman, Indiana Jones, … Seing this characters live was
very entertaining and fun. Then, the sports gallerie. The main atraction was José
Mourinho, however there were other sport’s icons, like David Beckam, Tiger Woods,
Pele,..
After that, there was a gallerie with inventors, the royal family, the queen, and
then one with the music stars and the politicians. In there we could find from the
Beatles, Robbie Williams, Maddona to George Bush, Tony Blair, the president of Cuba,
…
Then the Live Horror Chamber. It was a bit scary, however that was how London
was a long time ago. At the end of the museum, we took a litlle trip to know more about
the history of London.
In the afternoon we went to the Notting Hill Street Market. In there you could see
lots of cafe’s where people were performing live and others were seing and enjoying.
Also, it was filled with stores of every kind where we could buy all we wanted. Although
it was raining, the rain didn’t stopped us from having fun.
At night we went to the Trocadero, at the Piccadilly Circus, where we could buy all
the souvenirs we wanted, because the Trocadero is a big mall, where people can go
shopping. Then we went to the hotel, where unfortunaly we were spending our final
night.

5. 5th Day
The final day of our trip. For all of us this trip was short because we needed much
more to see London. Although we were a bit sad, we tried to enjoy the last day the best
we could. We start by seing the British Museum. This Museum impressed us because it
was really, really big. The museum managed to turn a boring subject, History, into
something very beautiful and very intersting. There were two things that amazed us.
One was that all the civilizations were represented in there. The egypcians, the
ethiopian, the chinese, the asian, the greeks, the indian, the roman,.. All of them were
represented here, and that’s something very difficult to do. Another thing that we
enjoyed was the mummies. Seing real mummies in there was very impressive because
only in the film “Mummy” we had seen this creatures, however, the museum gave us
the opurtunity to see them live.
After the museum we went to the St. Paul’s Cathedral, the place were the
Princess Diana and the Prince of Wales got married. The arquitecture of this building is
amazing beause is huge and it is perfect in every detail. It’s a place where everyone
would like to marry.
Then we had the oportunity to see the New and the Old side of London at the
same time. As we were crossing the Millenium Brigde, in one side there were the
Cathedral, the Big Ben,.. and in the other the Tate Modern, the London Eye. We had
lunch in the Tate Modern and then we picked up our things at the hotel and we took the
bus to the airport.
Leaving London was hard, but we missed our parents, our friends, Portugal.. We
entered the plane a bit sad, but seing our parents gave us a big smily in our faces.
London is going to be in our hearts for the rest of our lives, and we want to return
there all together again, and relive the moments we spent there.