What do you love about London?
 

I see a lot of positive posts about London, and they make me think I must have been in the ozone when I visited, because it was the only place I've visited in Europe that left me cold.

Was my disenchantment due solely to the fact that we arrived from York the day after 9/11?

It was fabulous to be outside Buckingham palace the day they played the Star Spangled Banner. Talk about the hairs on the back of your neck standing up!

Hitler's war rooms were great. The National Gallery fabulous.

But the city? I am sure I missed something, because I don't get it. Someday, maybe on a stopover on the way to the continent, perhaps I'll make another stop. What would make the next trip more enjoyable?

Hitler's war rooms? Surely you mean Churchill.

Did you take a taxi? London's cabbies are the friendliest on earth (nowhere else will they call you "luv"). They make every ride a mini-tour. And London is certainly the most diverse, multi-cultural city in Europe. Every possible ethinic food you would every want to find. Chat with your bartender and he/she is likely to be from somewhere interesting. Free museums everywhere. History oozing out of every nook and cranny. Take a "London Walk" and get the lowdown on an area, time, or historical event. Visit Hampton Court and go back 500 years in time.

London's on my list of places to visit every year. Interestingly, I was there just a few days after 9/11 and was incredibly moved by Londoner's reaction and a wonderful service at Westminster Abby.

Ooops! I did mean Churchill! Perhaps traveling and posting whilst senile is not such a good idea.

I agree with Grasshopper (except that being a fella, I got to be "guv" instead :) ) I couldn't help but be mentally pulled in every direction by the connections I could make to all those stories I carried in my head.

But aside from the history, in London, for me it's sort of a cumulo cloud of things that are just - happening. It could be that I'm not a big city dweller that made this such an interesting experience, but the sheer abundance of choices of things to me felt comfortably overwhelming. So many things to see and do, so little time. Despite my being not urban or urbane, London was an excellent time, I thought.

That's just fine - London is too crowded for those of us who love it. So if the luke warm folks would stay away, it would be better for the rest of us.

I was in London just after you (took the 2nd open Virgin flight in mid Sept) and it was one of may best visits ever. All the villages churches had condolence books for people to sign. There were special services and concerts everywhere. And of course almost no crowds.

If you didn't like London then, you just won't ever . . . . .

London is the most fascinating city to me,even after having visited most of European big cities, several times to many of them.

Perhaps London offers much more to visitors than just magnificent sites,beautiful boulevards,or seductive images. It has never been planned to be grandour,but a live,vibrant space with new and old, mixed layers through thousands years history. I think it is a city not just to be marvelled or wondered,but to be experienced.

Perhaps it takes more time to know London than other cities. Through years, I have walked from central London,expanded to many boroughs. As always, there are many new/old things to explore, new architecture to visit,new developments to be understood.

I disagree with janis..London grows on you each time you return. You may be in the present but the past is all around you if you look and know what you are looking at.

Before you go again and for anyone else who loves London, may I reccomend , H.V Morton's " In search of London"..this is a 50 year old travel book that has recently been reprinted...the times may be out of date , but his mini hoistories will make you see London with a new eye.

Well, there's always the British Museum, with something for everyone. I always like to pay my respects to the Rosetta Stone.

Another enjoyable excursion, assuming the weather is good, is to walk along the south bank of the Thames and visit the restored Globe Theater.

Sitting outside a pub on a rare warm evening and striking up acquaintances. People watching. Going to the theater.

I love London. It's a world class city with so much going on in art, theater, etc. For me it is just fun to be there, and to be able to have nuanced conversations with people from another culture because of our common language.

jody - I agree with you entirely. London grows on most people. It becomes an addiction for many of us :)

My point was mid-Sept 2001 was perhaps the easiest time anyone could ever have visiting London. Everyone was so totally sympathetic and fell over themselves to be kind to Americans. And the weather that Sept was glorious. So if Mary_Fran didn't like it then there isn't much chance it will "grow on her".

Ah Janis..now I see your point! Sorry.


Have you read the Morton book? If not, knowing how you love London you really must!

The day after 9/11 I think a lot of Americans were too shocked to really feel like much of anything. So I could see that if you happened to be visiting London that day, you might not enjoy it as much as you would otherwise, even if London was at its best.

I was actually quite fascinated by London when I visited it, but a lot of that likely had to do with the fact that it was the first European city I ever set foot in, back in 1979. Now that I've been to wonderful continental cities like Paris and Rome which seem more "exotic" (relatively speaking) to me, I wonder what London would seem like to me now.

Capo brings up a very good point. I agree entirely. London was once my favorite place to visit until I became fluent in other languages and was able to appreciate other places on the same level. My husband and kids recently came with me for their first visit to London and they were thourougly enchanted. It just was not the same London I remembered from when i lived there years ago. It was actually quite sad.

Mary Fran - London just doesn't do it for everyone. While you may enjoy it more on your next visit, perhaps it just is not the city that holds the key to your heart. The quest is all the fun anyway.

London , as much as I love it does not hold the key to my heart...that is a tiny town in Dorset as long as MDH is with me! But I can't imagine a life without visiting London or Rome or Paris for a time! There is just something satisfying and energizing about all of them! Language has never been a barrier in fact it has been a key to opening doors. I'll never forget a trip to Rome 35 years ago when my husband and an old man had a long discussion on fishing ..without one word of Italian on D's side or English on the man's side being spoken! Just gestures and facial expressions along with the pictures they were viewing.

Having lived in London for 2 years recently, I consider it my second home. Even though I no longer live there, it will always be one of my favourites.

What I loved about it? Theatre, museums, history, galleries, nightlife, variety (people, places, things), shopping, parks, markets, etc, etc, etc. The overall "vibe" of the city is amazing.

It's also a fabulous base for travelling throughout Europe and you're able to visit fantastic places in just a long weekend.

For me it's the parks - you can walk across the center of London through them - St. James's and Green Park to Hyde Park, Kensington and up to Regent Park. And the band concerts in the summer and the Changing of the Guards [love that band music] and the great hotels, restaurants, stores, museums and the British. Can't wait to get there!

I love everything about London!

The people, the history, the architecture, the pubs, the cabs and drivers, the pomp and ceremony - I envy you, Mary Fran, for being there the day the Queen ordered the playing of the Star Spangled Banner - wow!

I love the parks and the fantastic museums and the way Harrod's is lit up at night. I love Eastenders, the best soap opera on TV, and the rest of the programming on the BBC.

Tea at Claridges, fish and chips for lunch and dinner at an Indian restaurant. Please, for your own sake, give London another try!

London: I like the theatre, the history, the liveliness, the diversity, and the friendliness. (Perhaps someone will argue otherwise, but I have found London a very friendly city.)

London is my favorite city, but I'm not sure I can tell you why. It seems to evoke nostalgia in me for a time I never knew and a place I never lived in. Maybe it's all those Sherlock Holmes stories I read as a teenager.

I have just bought a book called London Sketches with paintings by Graham Byfield and text by Marcus Binney. It is done by areas of the city and would serve as a pretty good travel guide. I highly recommend it for all you other London lovers.

Hi MF,

Although London is not my favorite city (Paris and Venice come ahead of it) I have found it to be a very nice town to visit, with many, many interesting educational, cultural and entertainment places to see and experience.

The beer is very good.

It is a bit difficult to learn the language, since it seems to be almost, but not completely unlike English.

I could do without the London Eye.