When I went to Italy almost 30 years ago to do my doctorate, I stayed in a small, typically Italian, university town, Pavia. Pavia is located on the stretch somewhere between Milan and Genoa. Although it is a cute little town, I was not happy there. It seemed to me then, that in the sea of beautiful, exciting, lively Italian cities, I had chosen the only boring one. A few years later, life brought me to Cambridge. Now I risk sounding immodest, but I really wasn't thrilled, and I complained to my ex-husband about the decision "Aside from beautiful London, I'm back in a small town." My husband used to tell me "Well, you're not normal, what a lot of people would give to be able to live in Cambridge." Back then, I longed and dreamed of big cities like London, Milan, New York...but life changed me. During the last 20 years, somehow slowly and naturally, I can say without effort, I learned to appreciate Cambridge. Everything here is familiar and close to me. Admittedly, there is no excitement and luxury offered by a big city, but over the years I have started to enjoy the calmness and security that I find in Cambridge.
I rarely go to London, most often on the way to one of the airports. The other day I spontaneously suggested to my friend Mara, let's go to London. Mara, otherwise, a great lover of both England and London, immediately agreed. It's great that it is so, because we had a wonderful and real summer day, and it gave us the pleasure of walking along the Thames. We had lunch in a restaurant with a view of Tower Bridge. You look around and everything seems incredibly beautiful. We passed by Buckingham Palace surrounded by big crowds and from Green Park reached Westminster and Big Ben. After walking along the Thames, we returned to the heart of London, Piccadilly circus and Leicester square. We also thought about going to the theatre, but since we were both tired from walking, we decided to leave it for another visit.
Whenever I ride the London’s subway I think of my dad and his fascination with it. He was almost more impressed by the underground railway than by Buckingham Palace, or so it seemed to me. "What can be created by human hands" were his words of admiration.
Attached are the photos mostly Mara took during our one-day stay in London.
Love,
Kristina
Sunday, July 10th, 2022
Privlačnost Londona
Kad sam pred gotovo 30 godina otišla u Italiju na izradu doktorata, boravila sam u malom, tipično talijanskom, sveučilisnom gradu, Paviji. Pavia je smještena na potezu između Milana i Genove. Iako se radi o slatkom gradiću ja nisam bila sretna tamo. Činilo mi se tada da sam u moru prekrasnih, uzbudljivih, živahnih talijanskih gradova ja izabrala jedini koji je dosadan. Nekoliko godina kasnije život me doveo u Cambridge. Sad riskiram da zvučim neskromno, ali zaista nisam bila oduševljena i prigovarala sam bivšem suprugu na odluci “Uz prekrasni London, ja opet u malom gradu.” Suprug mi je govorio “Pa ti nisi normalana, šta bi masa ljudi dala da mogu živjeti u Cambridgeu.” Ja sam tada žudila i sanjala velike gradove kao što su London, Milano, New York…ali život me promijenio. Tokom poslijednih 20 godina nekako polako i prirodno, mogu reći bez truda naučila sam cijeniti Cambridge. Sve mi je tu poznato i blisko. Nema doduše uzbuđenja i raskoši ponude koji nudi veliki grad, ali sa godinama počela sam uživati u smirenosti i sigurnosti koje nalazim u Cambridgeu.
U London odlazim rijetko, česće na proputovanju do nekog od aerodroma nego ciljano. Neki sam dan spontano predložila prijateljici Mari, ajmo u London. Mara, inače veliki zaljubljenik i Engleske i Londona odmah je pristala. Super da je tako jer smo imale divan i pravi ljetni dan, a pružio nam je užitak šetnje uz Temzu. Ručale smo u restoranu sa pogledom na Tower bridge. Pogledaš oko sebe i sve se čini nestvarno lijepo. Prošle smo uz Beckingemsku palaču gdje su velike gužve i od Green Parka došetale do Westmistera i Big Bena. Poslije šetnje uz Temzu vratile smo se do srca Londona, Piccadilly circusa i Leicester square. Razmišljale smo i o odlasku u kazalište, ali obzirom da smo se obije umorile od šetnje odlučile smo to ostaviti za drugu posjetu.
Kad se god vozim podzemnom željeznicom sjetim se mog tate i njegove fascinacije njome. On je bio gotovo više impresioniran podzemnom željeznisom nego Backingemskom palačom ili mi se to samo tako učinilo. “Što sve ljudska ruka ne stvori” bile su njegove riječi divljenja.
U prilogu prilažem Marine fotografije snimljene tokom našeg jednodnevnog boravka u Londonu.
S ljubavlju,
Kristina
Nedelja, 10 srpnja, 2022.
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