First of all we savoured the last English breakfast: I had filled the dish again but that time I had dispensed with sausages and I made up my mind to try some baked beans. They are sweeter than I had expected, but good after all. After the last bite of toast with butter I had a drunk of apple juice and we went to our room in order to bring the cases down. We looked through the room and, apparently, we had picked up everything. I say apparently because we hadn’t looked into the wardrobe, where I had left my jacket, and I didn’t realize that it was missing until we had given the keys of the room to the receptionist. At least there was something positive; I would practise English asking for the key. I went fast to the room and, luckily, the cleaning lady hadn’t arrived there yet (she was into the adjoining room).
The destination was free choice and we chose the Portobello Market, in Nothing Hill. We got the tube and it seemed like we had been doing it all our life. The market of Portobello Road is very famous, but it takes place on Saturdays and it was Tuesday. Then, apart from shops, there were only a few fruit street markets, but even so it is a good place to visit. It was raining but it was fine and it lasted a few moments. One of the first shops we visited was very unusual because they sold all kinds of metallic plates. I was thunderstruck when I saw the price of clothes and shoes in the market: everything is extremely cheap. I saw a pair of trainers that, in Spain, cost about 60€ and there cost 20 pounds. I can’t believe it yet. It’s a shame I didn’t have space in my case.
After the walk we seized the opportunity to shoot a scene of Portobello Road for our video project and we went to the station to get on the tube. We had moved far away from the centre of the city and the tube station was different than others: it wasn’t underground but outdoors. We were going to lose a lot of time with the journey, but we were still able to visit another place: King’s Cross railway station.
King’s Cross is very famous because it’s a very big station, but it’s also one of the places where the story of Harry Potter, a best-seller novel well-known around the world, takes place. The novel has been adapted for cinema and one of the scenes was shot in the station. Of course now it isn’t decorated like in the film, but there’s one place which has been designed to satisfy the fans of the story, specifically the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, which represents the connection between the normal world and the world of magic. We knew the existence of that place, but we didn’t know where it was. At first, when we entered the station we saw the first four platforms and we thought that we were in the wrong place, it was very different than we had seen in the film. But it changed with the platforms 5-8, the ceiling was so familiar. We went excited to the next platforms but there was a disappointing problem: we needed a ticket to enter. We desperately tried to use our travel cards and, miraculously, they worked! A few meters separated us from the Platform 9 but, when we reached it, there was nothing between platforms 9 and 10, no sign of Platform 9-3/4. The hike had been in vane. And there was another problem; the machine didn’t accept the cards to get out from the station. We had to explain to the guards that what had happened and, luckily, they allowed us to leave. While we were thinking how to return to the hotel, we saw an orange poster addressed to those who were looking for Platform 9-3/4! There was a map explaining its location into the station and we finally found it. It was a brick wall with a sign and half shopping trolley stuck on the wall, perfect for a photo.
There was a restaurant between our hotel and the nearest tube station. The owners were from Spain and they also knew Catalan. I would have preferred to eat something typical, but we didn’t have time and I chose beef with pepper sauce.
We arrived on time at the hotel (teachers had been penalising us these days with fifty cents per person if we were late) and the bus came to pick us up. I was so tired and I slept the entire journey, but when I woke up I realized that the temperature of the bus unbearably high. Those British are nuts.
Once into the airport, we had to weigh our case because it couldn’t weigh more than ten kilos. I didn’t have that problem because at the beginning of the trip I had about eight kilos and I had bought only two postcards and a pin. My problem wasn’t a matter of weight but a matter of space. Some people had bought many things and they had to wear most of them because they exceeded the then kilos. Then we had to go through the scanner. The luggage check hadn’t been very strict in Spain, but that time was very different. I left the case on a conveyor belt and I took off my clock, the mobile phone and the wallet, but I forgot the belt, which has a metallic clasp, and I noticed it too late. The alarm rung and the security guard inspected me. It had been very awkward. After that we were in a floor with loads of shops and, there, there was no limit of weight. I hadn’t planned to buy anything, but I went to a library to have a look and I asked for The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter novels, and I found it. It’s a thin book with five short stories. I haven’t read it yet but I’ll do it when I have time. Videogames were also very cheap there, but I didn’t allow myself to be swept away by that.
We were leaving England; the trip was coming to its end, stepping on English floor for the last time (at least, for the moment) and getting onto the plane, with a one-hour flight ahead and some miles on the bus. When we arrived in Spain I thought “we are home”: there was no fitted carped and people were standing in the middle of the steps of escalators. That was the end of an unforgettable trip, with a unique company in an extraordinary city. It was worth and I would repeat it again without any doubt.
domingo, 10 de mayo de 2009
LONDON (V)
sábado, 9 de mayo de 2009
LONDON (IV)
First of all we visited some constructions near the river, we crossed the Millennium Bridge, which was designed by Norman Foster, and we stayed a few minutes near the Tate Modern, a contemporary art museum, before entering into the Globe Theatre,were we would do the only guided tour of the trip. I have to say that the reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre is one of the best things I’ve watched in London, the place is so interesting and the explanation was better, very clear and easy to understand. Most of the building is made of wood and the thatched roof doesn’t cover the whole theatre, but sonority is very good.
After that, we had free time. We hurried up because we had time to watch the change of the guard. Then, we got on the tube to the Buckingham Palace. When we arrived, it was going to start and it was full of tourists. Some mounted police officers were controlling people in order to leave a free way for the guard. It was very difficult to see something but, suddenly, a group of guards went through the square near the palace and we started to hear music from a band. It was a strange melody, I had heard it before. But it couldn’t be possible because I had never been there and I didn’t know anything about the change of the guard. After some seconds I recognized the song, it was an adapted version of The Cup of Life, by Ricky Martin. Maybe it was a coincidence and the songs were similar or, perhaps, Ricky Martin had plagiarized it. But the following song was from the soundtrack of Rocky Balboa and it couldn’t be a chance. As it seems, the band of the guard adapts famous songs for that event. That was shocking and a bit disappointing.
We had arranged to meet near the Tower of London at lunch time and we arrived just on time. It is near the London Bridge and there is a square with some shops and takeaway restaurants. Most of people bought hot dogs, but I didn’t want to leave London without having tried fish and chips (also written fish ’n’ chips). As its name shows, it consisted of two pieces of fried fish and some chips (ketchup, mustard and other supplements were optional). I’m sorry for the picture but I was so concentrated that when I remembered to take a photo I had nearly finished it.
Then, we crossed the London Bridge to the other side of the river and we split up again. We had time to go anywhere but we had to return early to the hotel because most of people had to go to watch a musical. We had bought tickets for the musical We will rock you and The Phantom of the Opera, but I decided to stay at the hotel with some people. Then, we decided to go to Oxford Street, a place with many famous shops (like the Apple Store or one of Nokia’s flagship stores). I admit that I enjoy technological gadgets, but such a vast amount of consumerism made me sick (Without taking into account Harrods. I think I’ve become very critic after the research project). Time flew and it was time to go to the Tavistock Hotel.
We had notified the hotel in advance that we were going to eat early because we were in a rush, but they had forgotten that and the dinner wasn’t ready. We couldn’t wait and, after complaining a lot, they took us to one of their hotels, which was near ours. It was a buffet and we were able to choose one dish. Those who went to the musical had to leave and we had time to finish eating, watching how waiters picked up the half emptied dishes, sometimes full, bitterly.
While we were going back we smelt chlorine from a swimming pool that was into that hotel. It would have been fantastic to go for a swim in a heated swimming pool, but it was not possible. It was the last night. The cases had to be ready for the following day because we had to leave them in the same room than the first day.
viernes, 8 de mayo de 2009
Under the sea
The plot is, at first sight, very simple and original: you are the only survivor of a plane crash, in the middle of the ocean, and beyond the wreckage you find the entrance of an enormous city built under the sea: Rapture. But, after reaching it, you realize that something goes wrong. The perfect utopia has turned into a nightmare, citizens have driven mad after using science to become stronger and there have happened many incidents that will be unveiled throughout the game. Horrible stories that never stop surprising the player, when you think you have seen everything there is a new objective or an unexpected turn.
The objective is much more than to explore the city wiping out splicers (your enemies, Rapture’s inhabitants).The story revolves around two kinds of characters: little sisters and big daddies (you can see them in the picture). Young and fragile, little sisters move throughout the city collecting ADAM, a very valued substance, from dead people. You may think that to get their ADAM would be as easy as taking candy from a baby, but the problem is that they are always protected by a big daddy. If you approach too much a little sister, you’ll have to face a big daddy. And that’s the mission of the main character, to beat them and then, to decide what to do with little sisters. There are two options: to save them or to kill them. Each one will have different consequences, leading to a good or a bad end.
Apart from the meticulously detailed settings of the city and the characters, the game immerses you in the underwater world because of the way of telling the stories. There are many audio recordings spread over the game and made by people of the city who explain what happened before reaching the current situation. There’s always a feeling of being in an alive place, with music from the 30s, the 40s and the 50s, hearing voices of splicers (they don’t emit sounds like typical zombies but they have very realistic conversations) and, of course, little sister’s words. They are always talking with their big daddy (daddies never speak), who they call “Mr. B” or “Mr. Bubbles”. Here there are some of their quotes:
Don’t be a slow poke Mr. Bubbles! Angels don’t wait for slow pokes…Scabby on my knee! Scabby on my knee! Scabby on my knee!
Ready for dream time now Mr.Bubbles
The sequel of the game is called Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams and its expected release date is on the last quarter of the year. I still have to finish the first one, but I believe that it will also be a must have game.
viernes, 1 de mayo de 2009
LONDON (III)
We got a travel card for three days. It allowed us to use the public transport (bus and underground) through the centre of the city. That day we started getting used to the use of the many bus lines and we left the underground (also called tube or subway) for the following day. Most of the bus and tube lines appeared in my map, which means that there haven’t been many changes in fifteen years. About the buses, we had to pay attention to the number of each bus placed in the front side of the vehicle. When you enter into the big red bus, you have to show your travel card to the bus driver, although they don’t pay much attention and it would be easy to trick them, and then you can sit at the first floor or at the second one (it isn’t allowed to stay at the stairs, surely it is a safety measure). All of them are quite comfortable, but I missed to get on one the classical Big Red Bus.
First of all we went to the Big Ben, near the River Thames. I had to ask to some English pedestrians how they pronounce the word Thems, because I used to say [teims] but then I discovered that the real pronunciation is [temz]. It’s useful to know it because sometimes you don’t understand why somebody pulls a face when you ask how to go to somewhere. From the bridge near the Big Ben we had a great view; we could see the London Eye and the Millennium Bridge among other buildings, maybe it wasn’t sunny like the first day but it wasn’t raining and that was good enough. One of the most shocking things for me was that, in a park near the Houses of Parliament there were some tents surrounded with banners condemning war or demanding peace. I think I hadn’t ever seen in person such way of using the right to freedom of speech.
The following stage was the Buckingham Palace, we wanted to watch the famous change of the guard at half past eleven, but it only happens every second day and we had bad luck. After the palace we walked through many streets and parks. I didn’t pay attention to the churches because all of them look the same to me, but I was open-mouthed with the parks, there are some enormous parks in London, with rivers, very old trees, swans, ducks, squirrels... For an instant, you forget that you are in one of the largest cities of the world and not in the country.
Another park we visited after the Buckingham Palace was the Hyde Park. It’s very famous because it’s the meeting point of many persons, a good place to walk, to practise sports and many other activities the most famous, maybe, of which takes place every Sunday. I mean the Speakers’ Corner, where you can go to show your ideas, your convictions, freely. That day there were three conversations when we arrived: the first one was a bold man who was talking about people’s behaviour, men and women, sex, etc. He finished speaking German because there was a group of German students and I left the conversation. There was also a woman that was talking about religion, she was standing on a chair and holding a Bible. But the best discussion in my opinion was between two men: The first one, a Londoner on a small ladder, was trying to prove the existence of God in front of a man from Kentucky, who was standing on a box of detergent. That conversation was very hot, their arguments were very serious and it was so interesting. Next to the speakers there was a couple with a poster that said free hugs and I went to buy one. That’s a very famous movement that has spread around the world, especially in the most important cities.
We went to Harrods, a department store well-known throughout the world. We didn’t visit it because it was our free time and we had to have lunch, but we got into one moment to go to the toilets. After going through many sections (perfumes, handbags, sunglasses...) and escalators, we arrived to the toilets. While I was waiting for an empty toilet, I saw a very comical situation: there was an employee who provided toilet paper and perfume and turned on the taps to the customers, who thanked and, sometimes, tipped him. He made the same when I went there, but I didn’t want perfume and I didn’t tip him because I hadn’t asked for that. I think that’s quite unpleasant because I can do it myself and the bin was full of napkins, which is more contaminant and less practical than an air hand-dryer.
The two sandwiches from a restaurant near Harrods were nothing to shout about, you can’t expect to eat something good, cheap (and quite healthy) very near Harrods. Then, we decided to visit the department store, but we were eight people and the doorman only let four persons enter because of their rules (no groups). He also told us that if we wanted to get in we had to go to another door, but the real truth is that he warned the other doormen not to let us enter. I have to admit that I am grateful for this fact because we decided to visit the Natural History Museum; otherwise I wouldn’t have gone there.
The Nature History Museum contains many fossilized specimens of dinosaurs and animals, some of which are extinct. The collection is great and they are very well maintained. My favourite one was the Smilodon Fatalis, commonly known as Sabre-toothed tiger.
That week took place the London Fashion Week, and the exposition was near the museum. Because of that, we saw many people wearing bold clothes (very bold, that place looked like carnival and it was difficult to hold back the laugh).
Later, we went to Piccadilly Circus, where we had planned to meet, by bus. In fact, that place is like a circus: from the round square with a big fountain we could observe the front side of a very high building covered by many neon signs that were always flickering and cars that moved continuously around the square and the web of streets. There was some time left and we discovered a place to buy a box of varied doughnuts (with many kinds of chocolate, jam, cream, sugar, with shavings, filled, covered, with layers...).
That was the last we did after coming back to the hotel. That time there wasn’t a game show in the TV but something better: Top Gear. It’s a very popular English program about cars produced by the BBC. I had heard many times about it but I had never been able to watch it. In that chapter, the presenters of the program competed for travelling through Japan as fast as possible. One of them drove a Nissan GT-R, the others used the public transport (we must take into account that in Japan some trains can reach more than 400 km/h). The result: a crazily funny program.
Finally, after eating, we decided what to do at night: most of people stayed at the hotel, but some of us decided to go out. We took the underground to Covent Garden, and we realized that everything was closed. Nightlife in London is very different than in Spain, most of pubs close at eleven (in fact, they close a bit later) and clubs are only for adults. Then, if you are under age you must be with an adult if you want to go to a pub and you must forget clubs because the minimum age is eighteen. We knew it before, but we had to try it. We found a place with clubs and pubs near the Chinese District and some of us could go into the clubs; the others tried to go into a club called Chiquito but it was closing and we went to a bar. It doesn’t mean we had a bad time because I had expected that before and the city, the big red buses and Trafalgar Square are wonderful at night. It’s a shame I didn’t have a better camera and more time.
