Days 1 - 2: London

I was really hyped up and over-sold on London before coming here. It all started from an over seas trip, of all places. 2010. I was touring Suzhou with a tour group. One tourist was a professor from Lebanon, who has traveled to many places around the world. She told me that London was her favorite place in the world, and told me so many good things about it. From then on, I had this fantasy that London was going to be the greatest city to visit, ever.

Since then, I had also visited many other places. I've walked through the quaint town of Muenster and Meiningen, experienced the magnificent museums of Vienna and Amsterdam, and stood with the grand architectural buildings in Munich, Cologne, and Antwerp. After having seen them, it seems like London is yet another European city. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting. Irrationally, I was expected to be blown away, but was let down a bit when I wasn't. 

Having said all that, London has been great so far. Yesterday, Soj and I went to the Borough Market, walked across the London Bridge, biked around Hyde Park, and had dinner near Chinatown.

Bread stall in Borough Market

Pastry stall in Borough Market

Today, we had brunch at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, the London House; visited the British Museum; walked through the packed Camden Markets; rode the London Eye ferris wheel,;and had desserts near Chinatown again.

Camden Market

A goofy picture in the ferris wheel

Soj in front of Apollo Theater

In front of Big Ben

Some more thoughts on London: even though I haven't seen all of London (and I probably won't be able to in my short stay), I can see why London is loved by so many people. It really is a giant melting pot of so many different cultures. It's very common to see many men and women in Muslim headgear, Indians, blacks, whites, asians, and everything in between. There are lots of interracial couples. Listening to people talk, you can hear all sorts of languages, some that I can't recognize. Because of its diversity, you can probably find anything and everything you're looking for. Fine arts, ethnic districts, upscale malls, and grimy bars. It's almost like a super version of New York City.

Another thought on London: what I'm seeing on a typical stroll around London is probably not a true representation of England as a whole. London is very expensive. The currency is the pound sterling (GBP, Great Britain Pound), and the exchange rate is roughly 1 GBP to 1.5 USD. I see the listed prices of various goods in GBP, and they would normally seem reasonable, IF IT'S IN USD. But since it's actually GBP, I feel like I'm paying 50% more than what I'm used to.

Doing some quick research, it seems like Londoners make almost 75% more than the typical British. That's an incredible income discrepancy. Furthermore, Londoners' median income is greater than the typical American income ($68k USD vs $52k USD), so maybe this is the explanation of how things are so expensive here with a city that still functions and isn't totally breaking down.

Final thought: The British museum is excellent. I've only spent 2 hours there today, and I feel like I've only seen 10% of it. I'm very interested in the artifacts from ancient history, specifically from the Egyptian empire, the Assyrian empire, the Islamic worlds, and of course, the artifacts from the Greek and the Romans. I'm definitely going back tomorrow. If you study enough of ancient history, you soon begin to realize that it's all interconnected, and it becomes difficult to talk about one group of people without mentioning the others. It's a side quest of mine to learn enough about ancient history to get the big picture, and understand it as one united block.