Lovely London

I was excited to see my boyfriend, and not necessarily London, before I went to visit a couple weeks ago. When I came back though, I missed both dearly. People keep reacting with surprise after I tell them how much I loved London. "Why? Oh god, but London is so expensive!" (As if they weren't paying in New York for a bland beer and then handing over to a taxi driver to get them home to their 300-square-foot, ,200-a-month studio apartment.) New York is very expensive; London is very, very expensive. I never said I liked going broke in London; I simply said I loved London.

But come to think of it, I would pay the unjust prices in London over the just-plain-high prices in New York if I could choose between the two right now. Benefit of being with boyfriend aside, I would pick London for the subway stations that don't smell like rats feeding on fish, for cream tea and full English breakfasts, for public bathrooms that have pink toilet paper and living plants (and no one shooting up in the stalls), for round-shaped parks, for a good salt beef, for raw milk cheddar from the Isles, and for some courtesy once and awhile. I'd trade the East River for the Thames, Penn Station for Paddington Station...I'd just rather live in London.

As I write this, New York is particularly miserable. It's a holiday weekend in the summer. The weather is 90 degrees and it's about 80% humidity. The only people on the streets are tourists in flip-flops and stained I HEART NY shirts. It smells like even the garbage men went away for the weekend. I suppose it's unfair to judge New York so harshly against a 9-day vacation to London, but I think it's strange that everyone wants to commit me for prefering London to New York. Should I like New York better just because the subway is open 24 hours a day and a movie costs less?

Quick Tips:

I suggest the following tourist attractions, in descending order of most impressive: Windsor Castle, British Musem, Tower of London, Tate, Hyde Park, Florence Nightengale Musem, St. Paul's Cathedral, Camden Market, and the London Aquarium.

Best Way To Get Around:

The Tube takes you everywhere. I got the London Pass (6 days of entry to all tourist attractions) with 7 days of unlimited Tube rides and a free trip to Windsor--all for 100 pounds. It sounds like a lot, but I ended up seeing a lot more and saving a lot more than I would have without it.

The oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. I was smitten with this place: from the Waterloo dining room to the garden growing in the moat, I was in awe of real royalty. It just doesn't exist like this in the USA. St. George's chapel was also spectacular. Don't skip it.

Get there on a weekday before it opens to avoid long lines. Have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view of the Thames. Be sure to explore each tower, since the Tower of London is actually made up of several towers built over hundreds of years. There is a guided tour by a charming man in traditional garb, but only go if you are patient and don't have children. He talks a lot and thinks he's really funny. The audio tour is pretty good and lets you go at your own pace without a huge group following the same route. Be sure to see Sir Walter Raleigh's chambers too.

It doesn't seem like it makes sense to go to a European city and then hang out in an aquarium, but with the Eye of London, the Tate Modern, and the Thames surrounding it, you'll at least see the outside of the aquarium. I went in and loved it. They divide the aquatic life into regions of the world and water systems. There's a touching pool, three floors of tranquil colors, and every imaginable sea creature. It's wonderful.