London in Nikes

After spending 4 or 5 days in London, all I could think was–this place is huge! I averaged walking about 10 miles a day. You can’t even begin to compare the magnitude of Chicago (where I live) to London. It’s more like a shorter, more spread out version of New York.

The diversity of the population is quite beautiful. The streets are congested, but with a touch of charm on every corner. The people don’t give you a second glance. Everything is a bit sped up, as the flows tend to be in larger cities. There is a wonderful mix of old and new, from buildings to culture.

You probably could have guessed that about a place of this age and magnitude. Proof of human settlement dates back to 4500 BC. Insanity. Needless to say, there is a lot to soak up, and one could spend a life time doing so.

We stayed in Xenia, a little boutique hotel in Kensington. It was off season, so I figured they’d upgrade our room but we ended up in the smallest hotel room I have ever seen in my life. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice, just mind-bogglingly small. My husband is 6’3″ and barely fit in the bathroom. It was basically a room built around a full size bed. We would squeeze our way into bed every night and just laugh hysterically.

We’d both been to London before, so we ended up staying out of museums and wandering around to get a feel of the city. As true tourists, we rode around a good bit on the Big Bus and cruised around the River Thames on a few ferries. We drank way too much wine at London’s oldest wine bar, Gordon’s, dating back to 1890. This place was truly remarkable! You felt like you were sitting in the middle of the catacombs. I filled up on shepherds pie at Sherlock Holmes Pub. It was corny but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is also an exhibit at Tower Bridge where you can walk on glass above the traffic below. That was pretty fun and it turned out to be the perfect place to watch the setting sun.

In all, it was a great trip. I hope to be back soon! Thanks for being a great host, London.