What a great trip and a great city. Here are a few of my favorite things from this weekend:
1. The energy. Love, love, love the energy of that city. It revs me up!
2. Cultural diversity. Everybody from everywhere. So interesting. The people watching is outstanding.
3. The shopping. I don't buy much (exchange rate is horrendous right now), but the shopping is fabulous. If you can't find it there, they don't make it.
4. Scones. Plain ones. And Devonshire clotted cream. Yum, yum, yum. Blew my eating plan all to hell, but what a way to go. I will try to make them here, but I am told they just aren't the same....something to do with a difference in flour, maybe the water, etc.
5. Fashion. So very British. So many things I'd wear there that I don't think I could get away with here. Love the hats. Love the tights. Love the fabrics. Love the shoes.
6. Cars. In Central London, every other car seemed to be something beautiful and artful. And very expensive. I've never seen so many Porsches, Bentleys, Aston Martins (*pulse races*), Ferraris, Lambos and on and on and on. It was pure car heaven.
7. Beautiful townhomes. White stone, black wrought iron, flower boxes, topiaries. Lovely. And now I want one. :) (husband = nervous)
8. Friendly cabbies. The nicest taxi drivers with great, dry wits.
9. Food. Used to hate the food in London but found out I was just making some bad choices. Once I let somebody "in the know" pick our dining destinations, the food was excellent. Le Caprice was one of the best I've dined in, and Veeraswamy was the best Indian food ever. Yum.
10. Getting around. So many easy choices. The Tube, the bus, taxis, a great strolling city.....if I lived there, I wouldn't even have a car. How wonderful!
There's a lot more, but these leap to mind as some true favorites.
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9 comments:
So Le Caprice was good? I'm glad. I don't like scones myself but my mum makes them. You're right about cars- but I suspect more so in the area you were in. If you'd gone East it would have been a different story.
Its weird hearing someone praise London so much - I guess when you live and especially work here, you end up taking a lot of it for granted and forget how exciting it is.
It's hard to appreciate what you're used to. But yes, London is the best. It's so international, and it's got such great style and culture. When I hit the lottery (as if), I will buy myself a flat there and live there part time. It's the ultimate city, truly. Enjoy it!!
Better than New York?
Yes, I think so. I do like NYC, but it's much dirtier - I thought London looked very neat and tidy, like someone had just cleaned it. Also, I find the people in London much more polite and charming than New Yorkers, who can be rude, grumpy and in a rush all the time. And the charm of the architecture is much more inviting in London. New York is a bunch of big highrise buildings; some have a little history to them, but others are just there. I'd pick London over NYC as my favorite, for sure.
You were in the cleaner parts of London though! The bits that are kept nicer for the visitors.
I love New York but agree that London's architecture is way ahead - so many styles and so much history. And I think our public transport and stations are probably cleaner too - its just that the system breaks down too frequently.
Agreed, we were in the swankier parts of town, but even in the swankier parts of NYC, it's not as tidy or charming as London. There are lots and lots of tourists in both places, yet somehow London manages to keep it looking nice. NYC not so much.
I think people really make a city, and the big negative about New Yorkers is they tend to be rude and self-important. There's an attitude that if you don't live in "the City", you couldn't possibly be as educated, sophisticated or "with it" as they are. And they act like it!
I haven't been to NY yet but we're planning to in the next year, cashflow permitting. I have always got the feeling that NY is a very rushed city and London isn't quite as bad, but the soul-less hellhole that is Canary Wharf is fairly similar.
Have you been to Paris? Now that is a laid back city.
Yes, I've been to Paris. And I'm convinced that no one there has a job. All they do is sit in cafes and smoke and drink coffee all day.
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