Welcome to London, the city that tries to be everything to everyone and actually succeeds fairly well at it. Along with New York, London is probably one of the only places in the world where I could spend ages without getting bored. There’s always something more to do and to see, and at any given time there’s so much going on that the challenge is deciding where to go first.
I arrived here Monday night and gratefully stepped off the plane to cloudy 13-degree weather. After two weeks straight of stifling heat, I was thrilled to be in a cool place for a change. Since then, however, the weather has cleared up and warmed up slightly, so I now have evidence that yes, there are sunny, beautiful days in London. They may be rare, but they do exist.
The next thing immediately noticeable in London is that the entire city (and entire country, I’d imagine) is covered top to bottom in red and white. Yes, the World Cup is on, and nowhere are there more houses and cars and pubs covered with the national colours than England. I won’t actually be here for an England game – they won against Ecuador last Sunday, and they don’t face Portugal until Saturday – but football fever is in the air.
London is the big European gateway, of course. Full of Aussies and Kiwis on work visas looking for jobs, travellers just beginning their European travels, and people hanging out waiting to go home. Everyone’s starting or ending something here. And of course, it’s nice being someplace where I actually speak the language. Hand gestures are all well and good, but there’s no substitute for conversation sometimes.
Having been to London before, I didn’t make a point of doing most of the “typical” touristy things again. Tuesday was spent visiting Jon, which was great once I made it out there after a minor transit mishap (no trains on the Central Line, how typical). We spent a great afternoon just visiting and catching up, and then met up with Charlotte for a yummy Japanese noodle dinner followed by drinks at a pub in Tower Hill. I’ve been on the road for so long meeting strangers that it was really great to actually see friends for a change – especially people as cool as Jon and Charlotte.
Besides that, I’ve pretty much just been meandering. I made it to a couple of the big attractions that I’d missed on previous visits, including the National Gallery and the British Museum. I did some shopping. I wandered around various neighbourhoods, each with their own unique flavour. I feel like I could do this for ages, but of course, London is so expensive that I’d run out of money awfully quick if I were to keep this up. Still, it’s been really great just walking around and taking it all in.
It’s hard to believe the trip is really over. I guess it will sink in tomorrow when I board the plane. At this point, I’m ready to come home. I’m tired of living out of a backpack and was seriously tempted to ceremonially toss it off the Tower Bridge. But this trip has been one hell of a ride, and London was a fitting end to cap it all off.
See you all really soon!