Love or Hate London?

Another one of Mary and Leigh’s debates. Mary is off to London (begrudgingly) and Leigh is stuck in the states with visions of royalty dancing in her head. London is much like LA – you either love it or hate it.

State Apartments Windsor Castle

LOVE:

I think I always knew I would love London even before I ever got there (actually this is similar to my love affair with Los Angeles as well). There are some things in this world you are just connected to (i.e. Kristen Bell and the Sloth) and you innately know you are in love. So, touching down in London for the first time was a bit like coming home for me. I have a tiny obsession with castles and royalty, so just being around all of the history of such a dynasty was captivating. I was such a tourist that first trip and did all of the things Londoner’s most likely think as cheesy, but that I just adored. I saw Buckingham Palace, watched the changing of the guard, was mesmerized by the Crown Jewels and found the house I long to have when I grow up when I took a train out and toured Windsor Castle. But there is more to London than royalty – the shopping is also unreal. At the time Top Shop and H&M had yet to make it to the States, so I spent hours there. Not to mention the adorable finds you can catch in Notting Hill. And then there’s the pub scene which is crowded, but somehow comfortable and I just love that anything can be solved with a cup of tea and a bit of milk. On my trip back one time I was strolling through the streets and someone stopped and asked me for directions – I blurted out (in what was for sure Texas twang) “Oh my gosh, you think I’m from here!” – needless to say the poor man didn’t get the directions he needed, but it made my day to know someone thought I belonged in that city.

-Leigh

AMBIV:

London has heritage, sure, it just doesn’t feel foreign enough to me. It has cathedrals, pubs and museums in excess…but so does my beloved New York. If journeying out on an international adventure, I feel that more fitting locations are countries without a majority of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants speaking English in fun accents. (I make this same argument for travel to Australia and Ireland.) At one time the shopping was so different here, but now- as Leigh mentioned- international chains are available to us stateside.

As much as I sound like a London naysayer, I must confess that it’s also the foreign city I’ve visited the most. So in a way, just feel that I’ve done it. There won’t be elephant rides or safaris or significantly different religious customs. As lovely as it is to have a proper cup of tea, or coffee like only the Europeans can craft, I wonder as I embark on this trip how much more there really is to see of London. Once you’ve done the tours (FYI The Jack the Ripper Pub tour was a good one), the palace visits and dined on fish n’ chips and chicken tikka masala (each alternate being named Britain’s National Dish), what is there to do, really? More pubs and more galleries? Ok, but is that worth a hop across the pond?

Regardless of these protestations, I am in fact traveling to London, so there must be some allure there. And my ever-adventuresome spirit does not yearn solely for observing African tribes or equatorial rain forests (let’s be honest, I’m too pale to enjoy those anyway), it seeks out all that is new and different, even in the most familiar settings. If I can discover a pub in a minuscule Texas town of 300 people, I will most certainly relish seeking out new haunts in one of the most metropolitan cities in the world.

Here’s to a new adventure in old Londontowne.

-Mary