As usual, I’ve asked friends advises for my 21 days long staying in London …

1. Pieces of best architectures in London
2. Extraordinary places in London
3. Things to be absolutely done
4. One thing to buy
5. A book to read, a movie to watch
6. Somebody worth to talk with

thanks to Phil, Gillian, Stefano, Ombretta, Andrea, Angelo, Matteo, Gianfranco, Furio, Benedict, Tony

Pieces of best architectures in London

The Aviary in the London Zoo by Cedric Price – Pontoon Bridge by Future Systems, Canary Wharf- The Palm House by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner, Kew Gardens – Foster’s buildings all around London – Sir John Soane’s Museum – LLoyds building by Rogers – Economist building by A+P Smithson – Robin Hood Gardens by A+P Smithson– Tottenham Court Center Point Building – Christ Church Spitalfields – Royal Festival Hall – John Nash’s Park Crescent at the north end of Portland Place or Bedford Square in Bloomsbury – Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury – Regenerated brutalist housing project – Alexandra Road housing in Camden – David Adjaye‘s Rivington visual arts centre in Shoreditch – David Adjaye‘s Idea Store in Whitechapel – David Adjaye‘s Idea Store in Hamlet Tower – Truman Tower at Brick Lane – South Bank Centre – London Eye (the big wheel: go up in it to introduce yourself to London) – Millennium Bridge – Tate Modern – Olimpic Park

Via Benedict: Houses of Parliament – Westminster Abbey – LLoyds Building – the Wapping Project – a re-used hydraulic pumping station in thedocklands – nice. – The Art Nouveau Blackfriars pub beside the Blackfriars Bridge – the Victoria and Albert Museum, refreshment rooms (you will see why..)

Extraordinary places in London

Picadilly circus – Brixton – Regent’s park – Apple store – National gallery – Science Museum – Flood Barriers on the Thames – Kew Gardens – Dover street market – Foster + Partners Associates Office – Hampton court – Ghetto – Cyberdog at Camden town – Markets (Brick Lane, Camden, Portobello) – Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons) – Southbank bike ride – The Tower – Tate Modern Museum – Sir John Soane’s Museum – Highgate Cemetery – Brunel’s under Thames tunnel – Greenwich – Hyde Park (walk through and on to Mayfair and Green Park) – Shoreditch – Walk the West End – Taking in as many as possible of the following: Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden (they are all touristy but they are LONDON) – Battersea Power station

Via Benedict: Go to a village in the countryside – we can talk about this. – Do go to the Wallace collection in Manchester Square and marvel at thepaintings there. – Piero Della Francesca in the National Gallery.

Things to be absolutely done

Go to a concert – Footbal match at Pub – Go to Aby Warburg archive – Flagship store by Crispin Jones on the thames – Get Fish and Chips – Go to the Karl Marx house – Take a picture to Lady D at Harrods – Take a beer at Dove Pub at Hammersmith – Eating cakes at Covent Garden – Drink to much beer! – Spend a sunny afternoon in a London park – Watch a play at the Globe Theatre – Take the boat along the Thames to Greenwich: visit the Queen’s House, Royal Observatory and Naval Museum (but not the town) – Visit Harrod’s – Go to a traditional pub for a Sunday Roast lunch – Go to RIBA near Regents Park

Via Benedict: Borrow a bicycle and pedal around and see how the city fits together. (I was much impressed with the bike share scheme in Roma) – Swim in the Hampstead Men’s Pond. – Swim in the Serpentine! – Swim in the Oasis swimming pool – Wine in Gordon’s wine bar, old vaults under the Charing Cross Station – Consider coming to my sketching club on Tite Street in Chelsea, ‘TheLondon Sketch Club’ founded in 1890, we meet on Tuesday evenings at 6:30pm

One thing to buy

Vinile (in camden town or HMV) – Latex suit in Camden Town – 70’s vinile collection in Brick Lane – OYSTER CARD – Dr Martin boots/shoes (in Camden) – Stilton from the Food Hall in Harrod’s – Should find something at Camden Market or RIBA

Via Benedict: 8 ‘Polychromos’ pencils from Cornellisons!

A book to read a movie to see

“Performance”(a movie) by Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell – “if…” (a movie) by Lindsay Anderson – White Teeth” by Zadie Smith. That’s modern London – http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/londoninmaps/homepage.html – “Notes from a Small Island”, Bill Bryson – Hanish Kureishi’s novel “Buddha Of Suburbia”

Via Benedict: one of the many books on the architecture of London at the AA, probably the Buildings of England London: Westminster, ‘the introduction’

Via Tony: Forget Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a real movie about London and Nil By Mouth by Gary Oldman with Kathy Burke and Ray Winston. Be warned though, it’s very harsh, but excellent

Via Mirti: if you have iPhone a spectacular app you can’t miss! http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/MuseumOfLondon/Resources/app/you-are-here-app/index.html

Somebody worth to talk with

The Queen – David Bowie – Peter Cook – Crispin Jones – Usman Haque – One of the AOC –