A little bit of Ipanema in London...

... first you go on the Northern Line of the London tube (yes, the black one!)... then you get off at Hampstead station, walk through the beatiful town (that makes any other Londoner envious)...and tchara! - Hampstead Heath! The famous beautiful, breathtakingly, birds-singing, people happy park! It's really hard to describe it...

Now a pause, let's hop on the plane, cross the Atlantic Ocean... all the way to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and more specifically to Ipanema, one of its most famous beaches! Ipanema is strategically located between Leblon and Copacabana. It's full of life and it will seduce you in two seconds with its thin white sand, coconut water, beatiful people, warm salty water... ohhh it's just paradise... Well at least it is, for part of the year. There are impossible months, like January or February, or even that odd Sunday in Winter when the termometer hits 35 degrees and everyone can only think of one thing: BEACH! Well... these moments are everything but paradise... they are hell on earth! Temperatures that seem unthinkable to human kind, thousands of people trying to fit one on top of each other, leaving no space in between, everyone is sweated, talking loud, listening to music, children squeaking, families that bring so many things to the beach that there is an odd sensation that they are moving... anyway, I think I've painted the picture!...

Anddddd back to Hampstead! Temperatures in London are being very perky this year, maybe a little bit too perky in my opinion. (but everyone is happy and summery and that's what counts, so YAY)!

After a couple of days of unbearable heat (just try riding the tube at 5pm rush hour under 30 degrees - you might as well have a nap in an oven), I decided to try one of the places where one can swim/dive around London. TIME OUT always has a Summer article on this and as a good Time Out subscriber, I keep all interesting files very well filled! Anyway... I finally choose the Hampstead Ponds (or Highgate Ponds) to refresh myself on this hot Thursday afternoon.

There we went... first we got to the Men's Pond. It was beautiful, empty, calm, (women are not allowed, so I wished a was a man at that point)...

So, we went on and came to the Ladies Pond... Goncalo was not allowed in... (I don't think he wished he was a woman), so I went to have a look... OHHHhhhhh it looked amazing... only girlies all chitchatting, sun bathing, very civilized... Totally recommend it!

But, we had no choice - Mixed Pond here we come... we crossed the beautiful park once again, saw the views of the city and then finally there it was: It was Ipanema! Just like a hot Sunday afternoon in December! NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOooooooOO!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I breathed deeply and there we went... The water was great, refreshing and so on, but outside? Oh my! The whole experience was just surreal! We finally found a little square of grass for my bum and one for his. Goncalo had 4 different feet sticking in his back, I was closer to my "neighbor" than I have ever been to my t-shirt! Suddenly a new group came and sat by us, they all started smoking on top of us and they started stripping down to their sexy knickers .... ohhhhh..arghhhh... Yes the worst part were the people. I'm quite an open person and very anthropological... but it was too much for me! Loads of people in their under-wears, smelly feet in my face, too many unwaxed girls (yes! all over!) and a general feeling of "what the hell am i doing here?"...

We finally found a strategy of lying down outside the Pond area in the grass, where people were just relaxing and going for a dive once in a while.

We finished the day having a nice salad in Carluccio's terrace in Hampstead Heath High Street and it was an awesome day! I feel like a new person and I'm slightly sunburnt! :)

But... next time I'll leave Goncalo with the boys and head to the Ladies Pond straight away! After all, there is a reason why I avoid Ipanema during Jan., Feb, Sundays and public holidays!