The best hidden secret in London

Saturday, 9th of April 2016

There is a huge secret in London only known by the ones who live here: the buildings are liars. What I mean by this is that what you see on the outside does not correspond to what is on the inside.

In London every building you look at is beautiful, amazingly decorated, seeming like all are newly painted and very majestic, but the moment you walk in into a residencial building your reaction changes. Old materials, broken windows, noisy wood stairs covered in torn carpet and two colored walls are the hidden sight which we have to live with. 

Here at Notting Hill Gate that is exactly what happens. A gorgeous and quite calm residential street with large white buildings is exactly your first sight, however as you pass through the door you suddenly see the landlordˋs vaccum cleaner and the million stairs that tell everyone in the building that you arriving with the noise they make as soon as you step on them.

An interesting fact is that carpets are everywhere, hotels, apartments, restaurants...It is not a norm to have wooded floors with the actual wood exposed, carpets cover the stairs and even the inside of the flat, so you definitely wonˋt need to buy rugs. 

Is interesting to understand this dynamic here. In this city is more valued what the sightseeing is and looks like than what really is covering up, so even if a building is in ruins on the inside, what really matters is if it looks presentable on the outside. With this, tourists continue to admire the typical architecture of the city and go home telling people how beautiful it all looks without having the knowledge that it is all a cover. Strangely in Portugal is quite the opposite, buildings that look a wreck on the outside can be valued for more than half a million, all because of the interior space.

This is definitely a text book example that you should not judge a book by its cover.

From a girl trying to get used to carpets,

Mariana Fidalgo