The Tube

After a somewhat stressful journey we have finally arrived in London! Already I have noticed some very interesting cultural differences, although some of these may be less about the country and more about the environment of a very large city, which I am not familiar with. One of the big differences I immediately noticed was the prevalence of cigarette smoking. While still common in the states, in the last few years the amount of people I see smoking cigarettes in public has gone down drastically, although some of that comes with a switch to electric cigarettes or vapes. If I had to guess I would say that the anti smoking campaigns that were so prevalent in my childhood were not as widespread here in the U.K. I have also noticed that the cigarettes have a much weaker smell when walking past, but that may be able to be attributed to it getting lost in the wide range of smells in the city

Another thing that struck me about the city was how the layout affected the arrangement and set up of the shops. Because all the buildings are so thin, many have multiple layers and utilize their height and basement access in order to make up for the lack of horizontal space. I noticed that at many shops there was a person at the door in order to stop people from coming in if the space was too crowded, and possibly to stop shoplifters and the layout of the buildings would make it fairly easy for someone to grab something and get out before a shopkeeper could get around to them. This city layout also lends itself greatly to walkability and bike riding, with it seeming faster to walk most places than it would be to drive. Despite this the cars here still definitely make their presence known, and the feelings about pedestrians “always having the right of way” are definitely not the same. Because of the narrow streets and crowded traffic, many of the drivers are very aggressive, and are not willing to wait on anyone too slow for the crosswalk or not paying attention when crossing the road.

There were many interesting and exciting things about that first day, but the most memorable part is a toss up between the amazing show we saw that night, and the burger I had shortly before. We went to seven dials market for dinner and while there were many options there that I am very interested in going back and trying, I was immediately drawn by the signs promoting the so-called best burger in london. I was very cautious initially as the stereotypes had conditioned me to have low expectations about British food, but I was very quickly proven wrong. While I can not say for sure it was the best burger in London, it was definitely one of the best that I’ve had.

While initially intimidated by the thought of riding in the London underground, after my first trip many of my worries have been eliminated. My biggest worry about the underground going into the trip was getting overwhelmed by the noise and the amount of people, but that ended up not really being a problem. While it was very crowded and somewhat noisy, everyone was fairly respectful and left space when possible. The experience was very similar to riding the U of A bus on a busy day. I am still uncertain about my abilities to navigate the tube solo, but with those concerns out of the way I feel confident that I will become more comfortable with the system soon.

My favorite part of the underground system are the tunnels the tube runs through. They are covered in very colorful posters and do a good job at making me excited to see some of the plays that are advertised. There also seems to often be performers in or right outside of these tunnels, with a man dressed in a spiderman costume performing quite extremely on a piano during our first trip back to the hotel.