Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
It is an interesting phenomenon how a movie can shape the image of a complete city quarter and bring many tourists there. Well, Notting Hill would be anyhow worth a trip – but because of the 1999 movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant this city quarter of London, United Kingdom gets much attention. People search for blue doors, the ‘Travel Book Co.‘ bookshop (which is in fact The Notting Hill Book Shop) and private gardens with high fences.
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It is pretty much impossible to leave Soho hungry – with so many fantastic small restaurants gathered in this area of London, England. A very good place to taste delicious Chinese dumplings is the Ugly dumpling in Newburgh street. It looks like the smallest restaurant ever with just a small amount of tables crammed into a tiny corner restaurant. But don’t worry if it seems to be full; there is also another tiny area one floor down. Waiting is worth the time, they’ve good some very fine dumpling versions on their menu.
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It is a hidden bar which you won’t find unless you explicitly search for it. The Blind Phoenix is a speakeasy for witches and wizards hidden in the underground of Dalston, London. When you arrive there look out for an inconspicuous black door. I already wanted to give up and leave as a house-elf pointed me towards the hidden entrance. There you’ll have to enter the secret code on an old-school telephone and afterwards the door opens and you’ll see the long stairway into the cellar.
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Wembley Stadium is the second-largest soccer stadium in Europe, home to the English national team and visible from far away because of its 133 meters high arc. It can host up to 90000 spectators and was opened in 2007 on the grounds of the former stadium (with its iconic twin towers) built in 1923. For soccer fans this is holy ground – not only because of the final of the world championship held here in 1966.
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Did you know that there is a cable car in London, United Kingdom? It is a quite unexpected opportunity to take a flight over the river Thames. The Emirates Air Line has been opened in 2012 for the Olympic summer games and connects the Greenwich peninsula (the station is close to the Millenium dome) with the Royal Victoria Dock where you can switch to the DLR. During the day a ride takes you five minutes but in the evening hours they lower the speed and you can enjoy 13 minutes of good views on the docklands.
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The Millennium dome (nowadays called ‘The O2‘) is a giant dome made of synthetics and shaped by wire ropes on the Greenwich peninsula of London, England. It was opened on the 1st of January 2000 and contained an exhibition to celebrate the new millennium. Today it is a giant sports arena, concert hall and it contains a cinema and some restaurants. Because of its special shape and construction, the building itself also attracts visitors.
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One of the best places to enjoy the colourful sunset at Brighton, United Kingdom. The Brighton BeachClub is located directly on the Brighton city beach and close to the British Airways i360. It offers some seats in a glass house alike building (ensuring good views) and on a terrace surrounding the building.
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While walking through Brighton, United Kingdom you might wonder whether you’ve taken a shortcut through time and space to India. In the heart of the city you can find the Royal Pavilion, a building in the style of the palaces of Indian moguls. It was built between 1815 and 1822 by the order of George IV. It was also used by William IV – but as queen Victoria wasn’t in favor of the seaside resort south of London it was sold in 1850 to the city of Brighton.
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Once the city of Brighton, United Kingdom had two rivalling piers: the West Pier and the Palace Pier. The first one burned down and the latter is now a pleasure pier with an amusement park on the waters. It was built from 1891 to 1899 and offers rollercoaster rides, merry-go-rounds, gambling machines and candy floss. You can pay per ride or get a dayticket – but does someone really want to spend a whole day there?
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The West Pier is something unusual at Brighton, United Kingdom. It is a ruin of pier standing in the sea and the only remaining parts are two ancient buildings at the shore. The ruin wasn’t removed and is still an iconic part of the city and illuminated at night. At the location of the former pier there is now the British Airways i360 – a mobile viewing platform going up and down on a giant pole.
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