Onward!!

Two days of whizzing around (mostly South) London. I’ve learned to dislike tourists on the Tube and honestly wonder what the fuss is about taking pictures of Buckingham Palace. Sure, the grounds are pretty, but the place itself is pretty drab.

City geography, which I was horribly lacking in, is starting to get easier. Keeping Trafalgar Square as a central point for mucking about in the City makes route planning a lot easier. Now I just have to get used to the constant hustle and bustle of the streets, the sights, sounds and smells of millions of people on their way. In a way, London reminds me of when I lived in Warsaw, with little corner shops coexisting with chain outlets and hundreds of little eateries. The noise and amount of smells is spectacular. You have to keep your wits about you at all times – to not get ripped off at a store (like I was going to be, buying a SIM card for my phone) or get pickpocketed

London is a truly cosmopolitan place. At any given time, you can probably hear 6-7 languages being spoken in the bus, restaurant or whatever place you’re in – none of which you speak. It’s also refreshing to look around you and realize you’re practically the only white person living on your street.

It still doesn’t feel like I’ve actually moved here. I have a psychological need to cram as much London into my day as possible, as if I was leaving at the end of the week. I wonder when that will change to “nah, can’t be bothered, I can do that next week”.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 20:12 and is filed under London. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.