A Day in London

Dear Reader,

When I arrived to London Stansted airport and then took the bus to the city centre, I didn't see much of London. Today I spent the whole day there. Everything I am writing about is what I have experienced in one day, this experience may be bad, it may be good, it may not necessarily represents the truth, because you can't draw far-reaching conclusions in one day. Please treat and interpret it as such.

We left at 8 am by bus. Our journey took 2 hours, mostly on the motorway. It was interesting for me to see how the houses are changing as we approach London. They are getting taller and narrower. The countryside is still beautiful.

Arriving in London, I watched in amazement as we headed towards the city centre. I've been to bigger cities before, but this is a different city, it's a metropolis. The best parts were yet to come. The first half of the day was spent with a guide walking the major sites Victoria Park, Victoria Tower, Westminster Abbey, Downing street, London eye, St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square. Importantly, all of them only from the outside. From there we had 3 hours free time to do some sightseeing on our own. I chose to take photos and headed out through the smaller streets all the way to the University District, Lincoln Park. Everywhere I went there were more beautiful parks and most importantly people were using them for their intended purpose. They were grilling, playing sports, walking, sunbathing and enjoying the Saturday. Everyone was smiling and looking happy. The shopping street was also a great experience, although it was not so pleasant there because of the crowds.

Finally, at the suggestion of my hosts, I went to Fortnum & Mason. 4 floors is all about the teas. Downstairs was just the teas and the scones. I couldn't have chosen if I wanted to, there was so much to choose from. Second floor had cups, plates, picnic baskets. Third floor scarves, suits and jewelry for tea. Fourth floor everything needed for tea brewing and tea nights, cooking. Except that everything was ultra expensive, I ended up buying two boxes of tea. I will be very curious to see how it turns out. They smell really good. Back at the meeting point we headed back to Broadstairs.

Finally, some thoughts and feelings about London:

• I have never seen so many people in one place in my life. There was a courtesy everywhere and people listened to each other.
• It was an incredible feeling of culture shock, with so many nationalities, shapes, dresses, lifestyles and interests present that it was almost impossible to process. Almost every religion, ideology and view of humanity was present on the streets. It was an experience for sure.
• Democracy was out on the streets. People were protesting and speaking out about many things. Intelligently, peacefully and clearly. I don't know what the results are, but there is something to be learned from this for Hungarians (at least about democracy for sure).
• As crowded and packed as London was, it was also relatively clean, at least cleaner than Budapest for sure. I didn't see dog shit everywhere, there wasn't cigarette butts and rubbish everywhere ( yes the bins on the streets in England are bigger and regularly emptied. It's another matter again that most bins have two sides, in order to allow for separate waste collection. )
• Last but not least, cycling infrastructure. Right. We could learn to do this, even though there are narrow streets, even though there are plenty of parks for cyclists the transport infrastructure is ready and the best thing is that it is very well used. (Not just painted lanes.)

Pictures from today: link

Dagoca