It’s hard to believe we’ve now been in London for three days! Yesterday was our first big group excursion, and it was amazing! From taking the tube for the first time to visiting Buckingham Palace to seeing a preview of a National Theatre show, there has been a lot happening. I was definitely feeling overwhelmed by the city at first and may have started our first outing holding onto my friends for dear life, but by the end, I was beginning to get a feel for the everything and wanted to see more.
The tube was one of the things I was most nervous about because of the crowds and my fear that it would be difficult to navigate. However, I quickly found that everything is labeled SO WELL!! It is still possible to get on the wrong train, but I felt a lot better about my ability to navigate it by the time we got back from the National Theatre. I would not say I am a fan of the tube yet because it is a little chaotic and crowded. People are always moving in London, and the energy is very high. That said, I love the convenience, and will definitely be using it more in the future!
Now for some more random observations about London and the people:
Everyone in this city is on the go! As a fast walker, I appreciate that people seem to move out of the way to allow others by. Everyone walks with determination, and there seems to be a general respect and understanding throughout the city that people have places to be. At the tube stops, people were standing on the right of escalators to allow others by on the left, and I don’t believe I saw anyone break this rule. The tube and streets can get crowded, but the general understanding of how busy London is seems to keep things moving relatively well despite this.
On a slightly more negative note, London air is not my favorite. It is very polluted, and there is lots of cigarette smoke. As someone with severe allergies, I’m not the biggest fan of this. I even had some flower or particulate that was floating through the air fly into my eye at one point, so that was not great.
However, London made up for it with the weather we’ve had these first few days. It has been in the fifties and sixties with clouds and light rain, and I LOVE IT!! I am a big fan of rainy, cloudy weather, so London has won me over in that regard.
One last interesting thing I observed is that the architecture in London changes on a dime. There are so many different styles present throughout the city, and even in areas with generally similar features, there seems to always be at least one building that looks out of place. It is so strange to see beautiful, old architecture right up against a modern building, but I love it! Every street is interesting because just when you start thinking that everything looks the same, you walk another few feet to find something completely new to be discovered.
Theatre in London U of A 