Okay, this is a really cool town. If I had the money, and no residency considerations, I’d choose this over nyc in a heartbeat. NYC is the only remotely comparable town I can think of. But london has better architecture, better city design, and better public transportation. Plus I like the accent. On the other hand, everything is incredibly expensive, and this city sleeps. Or at least the part I’m in does.
London is compact, liberally dotted with parks, and sometimes more than dotted. There are large statues and monuments all over. Buildings that you’d think are monuments, but serve more mundane purposes. There seems to be a 4 story minimum building height, with no real upper limit in site. Public transit goes everywhere. The suburbs are still banal. The boundary between urban growth and pastoral areas is shockingly abrupt to my US experience. I haven’t seen a single story house anywhere. At all. Lots of litttle side streets. And contruction, reconstruction, or deconstruction everywhere. You see buildings that have to be hundreds of years old next to one that was clearly built sometime in the last 20. Often times sharing walls. That parts a little chaotic. Some of the streets are paved in brick, others with asphalt, slate, whatever. Ditto for the sidewalks. I have nearly been killed at least 10 times by my aggressive pedestrian reflexes combined with traffic coming from a direction I don’t expect traffic to come from. Getting used to this hasn’t been entirely good for me, because it’s screwed up even my sense of east v west, and furthermore, if this were to still be in place when I got to the US, I’d risk being roadkill again. Though, I have to say London drivers are the most aggressive drivers I’ve seen so far.
The food has been pretty good, despite the expectations I’ve been given. I’ve been selective. Veganism is easier here than in chicago, harder than sf or minneapolis. But really, it all depends on your planning, forethought, etc, etc. I could use more of that. =)
The locals are, on the whole, polite, and very non-intrusive, but friendly once conversation is initiated. Yeah, I think I’d enjoy living here. But that sure ain’t in the cards. =)
If I ever have mone money than I know what to do with, I might come back here. But more likely, I’d go looking for an equally cool place with a better exchange rate. 😉
I ate at a great Tibetan place there that was totally vegan. At least, the food was great; the staff (monks? not sure) were rude as hell. Sorry I don’t remember where it was any more. Have fun and tell us more!
I would say that dear lord, as a vegetarian, the Indian food might be something out of this world. They took some of the best chefs back with them when they left their flag in India.
Also, the Rosetta Stone (and the rest of the British Museum) are outstanding, possibly the best museum ever for certain things.
Look right! 😉
I’m glad you’re having a good time and liking it over there. The last time I was on that side of the Atlantic was when I spent time with my aunt in Norway, and it’s certainly an experiece I’d like to repeat.
Ahhh very interesting. Maybe I’ll have to give London a whirl as my first European destination. Sounds quite nice… other than… ya… the extreme cost.
London is awesome. My only point of contention was that the Tube shuts down at Midnight and the Night Bus is apparently not a good trip all the way out to East Ham, where I was staying. I really wish I was more independent when I was there so I could have really enjoyed it.
Nothing like a British accent either….
let’s see.
re: vegan have you found that place that’s under a church? it’s called the underground or something. it’s pretty well known so i’m going to hope i’ve given you enough info 🙂
oh, and if you can, you should take a train to tooting (either station – tooting bec or tooting broadway?) and check out “little south india”. if you can do south indian. (is it vegan?)
better city design, and better public transportation.
actually, from my experience there this year, the public transport was comparable. it was pretty slow, pretty crowded on some lines. sometimes the escalators would break down, at which point they’d _close the station_, since there was no practical way to get out of there. we spent 6 days there, and about half of those days had some major train not running.
city design? what do you mean by that?
i imagine the “public transport goes everywhere” feeling also comes when you visit ny – i imagine in both places it’s not really “everywhere”… though the buses in london are much more useful (i imagine because of the civilian car restrictions, which helps with traffic problems in main london.)
the thing about london (from my understanding) is that “real people” can’t afford to live anywhere near it.. and the place they can afford to live, i think, is actually further from the center than it might be in nyc. but maybe it’s the same.
my thoughts upon visiting were how i didn’t think i would actually want to live there… maybe i didn’t visit the right places…
(where is the ‘alternative culture’ supposed to be?)
Ahhh Ye Olde London!!! 🙂
We need to catch up soon when my week is less hectic!
I liked London. Way too expensive if you’re being paid in US dollars. Have you tried Australia? Sydney is very nice and quite affordable.