London

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It had been 12 years since I was last in London, so this trip felt like I was visiting a new city again. You know you are getting old when you have to revisit cities because you have forgotten the original experience...

I'm visiting London this year, because Shauna has been transferred here with work until the end of January. She found a flat in Chelsea in between the Holland Park tube station and Westfield Shopping Mall. I guess years of scoping out the hotels paid off with this search. The only problem is that she is right on a busy street, so the traffic can be a bit disturbing especially on her huge patio (I swear it is as big as her flat...).

The first day was spent walking around the neighbourhood and checking out Portobello Market, which also happened to be close by. The market was great, but it was very crowded and rain set in midway.

On Sunday, we headed to Hyde Park and rented some bikes, so we could cruise around Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James Park. London has a shared bike system called Barclays Cycle Hire. These stations are all around London and with nothing more than a credit card one can rent a bike for any time and deposit it at any station. I must add that London doesn't appear to be the safest place in the world to cycle, but we stuck to the parks, which are surprisingly connected.

The next four days were spent sightseeing. There were a number of the attractions I hadn't seen before, but there were a few that were repeats. However, after 20 years even those have had a major facelift. We picked up a London Pass which gave us three days to see as many attractions as possible. I couldn't believe how expensive some of the attractions were though. It was not uncommon to pay $20 - 30 for an attraction. For example, to visit the zoo, which happens to be the oldest in the world, is over $30. Like many trips, we spent the first day on the bus to get a better orientation of the city and to determine what we wanted to go back to during the next three days.

Before heading to Barcelona, we had one big day of shopping, which went quite well given my previous success on trips like this. We spent all of the time in Westfield Mall, where I found a store called Duchamp, which worked for me on a few bigger ticket items.

My perception of London from 20 years ago was of a culinary wasteland. That has sure changed. This city is probably the most international in the world. It seems like every third person is speaking another language. I read somewhere that there are 300 different languages spoken in this city... This has had a big influence on the culinary side, as international and fusion restaurants are everywhere. The food court at Westfield Mall was no different with excellent ethnic options from Vietnamese to Lebanese. Most of these would certainly do well at home.

Out last day was spent shopping at Harrod's. This place is certainly for the superrich, as Harrod's tries to have the best and most expensive item in every category. I'm not quite sure how they can be good at everything, but if you are your typical billionaire, this is the place for you. Everyone else seems to be there to sightsee.

We headed to Barcelona on Sunday. It was nice to get away from the rain. We really didn't seem to have a day without some of it. I will miss the cute pubs that seem to be in every neighbourhood in London. They all have oodles of character and always have a few local beers on tap. The beer here is warmer than what we are use to back home.

It is amazing how many tourists are here. This has to be the most popular tourist place in the world.

On a side note, I continue to be impressed with Trip Advisor in terms of its usefulness and design. They really cover the world and if you do your homework you can usually nail your hotel or restaurant. It is also a good source for finding out popular things to do on your trip. However, after nearly 10 years without an extended break, I think my next vacation will be a relaxing one without sightseeing. That will be a new twist for me. They only way that can happen is if I go back to somewhere like Antigua or San Jose del Cabo, where I have visited already and done all of the touristy things.

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Photos

Canal
Before railroads, canals were the backbone of England's economy.

Pub
Pub's are such a way of life for Brits.

Big Ben
One of the flew clear days we had.

Borough Market
It always amazes me how old everything is here.