London, baby. My initial expectations of London were quite low, to be perfectly, almost disturbingly, frank with you. I had always seen it as a low grey metropolis, soot and grumpy people. However it revealed (well more accurately threw off its coat and flashed) itself as a paradise, a land of beautifully groomed moustaches, well dressed denizens and fun. I love it so much I wore a white t-shirt to take a silly snapshot, and you know I NEVER wear white.
Poetic, yes. Marvelous, yes. Diverse, certainly. Scary, never. ❤
Selected moments of glorious warm fuzzy feelings:
- Brick Lane, beer and delicious beigels from a Jewish bakery.
- Shoreditch – my expanded thoughts on the holy hipster land are over at Alt Albion.
- Oxford Street shopping, especially Uniqlo, Selfridges and ‘losing my shit’ (that’s my composure, folks) in Topshop.
- Seeing some world class art – including Banksy and Blu, who I have written about previously.
- Meeting with my friends Miles and Alice for a drink in a pub. Good times!
- The London Eye, a perfectly clear day and a private pod.
- Finally visiting the Tate Modern and seeing the giant domestic cat.
- Staying at the Bloomsbury Radisson, aka Bloomsbury Radsville. It’s a fabulous hotel, if only they didn’t keep asking if I was sure I was in the right place!
- Wasabi Sushi – nom, nom, nom. Excellent vegetarian options.
- London A-Zed – I conducted a wee project, taking photos of London signage to create an alphabet. Please note the punctuating crown. Majestic.
I miss you London but I’ll be back soon. Seriously, we only managed to say hi to each other. Can’t wait. And you, have you been to London? What’s your favourite city? Where do you feel alive, connected with the human condition, or just your real self? I’d love to know.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the lovely comment! I’m leaving London tomorrow after almost a year… Back to Melbourne… I love Melbourne, everything about it makes my heart go boom boom! Second favourite city would have to be Berlin!
xx
I live in London now… and it’s great, don’t get me wrong! But New York’s where my heart is.. and probably always will be.
Good memories.
Kat: I love Melbs, in my top faves definitely. I can’t wait to visit again – it’s nearly been a year since I was last there. I miss the laneways and the coffee. Have a good flight!
LJ: NYC + me = ???. We’ll find out next year but I think it might be true love. You’re so lucky to live in London though, it’s a good alternative <3
I’m glad you love London, it always makes me sad when people think it’s ‘too’ this that or the other (hip/dirty/grey/pretensious) Brick Lane in nothing without bagels on a sunday, mmmm. And thank god for Wasabi (Im so glad I no longer work in the west end as I was ending up far too fat and poor, living on a diet of wasabi and belgian waffles!)
I would love to go to NYC, the flying terrifies me but I know some day I’ll go. My personal fave is Venice, everything you dont expect a city to be and yet totally perfect!
London is probably my favorite city. I love tea at Liberty. There is just something about the entire city that makes me feel at home.