16.11.10

London Calling

I was in London this weekend, and I have to say that I'm a little in love with it. Here are some reasons why:


London style.  It's way funkier than Parisian chic.  Wear anything, literally anything you want in London.  Bright colors, crazy make-up, wildly died hair - anything goes.  For example, in Portobello Road I saw a guy wearing a red military style jacket, royal blue corduroys tucked into beat up brown boots and a short black top hat with a butterfly pin on it.  Completely normal, if unique, in London, almost non-existent in Paris.

Good traditional English food.  Mediocre to bad English food is everywhere, however I splurged on a deliciously satisfying traditional shepherd's pie and sticky toffee pudding at the Portobello Organic Kitchen.

Pints!

Markets in London have lots more pipes, canes, old rugby balls and, surprisingly, Italian masquerade masks than the markets in Paris.

Street performers in Covent Garden singing opera, walking tightropes, juggling knives, doing the cancan while playing classical music, escaping from straight jackets, and having the chutzpah to wear orange Doc Martens.

With my new best friends at the Tower of London
English politeness.  I've never encountered anything like it.  It put me in a wonderful mood.  Also, English teasing.  I had to ask a lot of people for help and directions (note to self: buy a map next time) and was often met with good-natured leg-pulling.

Harrod's : one of the more magical places in the world.  Turkish delight, instant snow, shoes!

Westminster Abbey Choir.  I went to Westminster for evensong with a friend.  The choir is made up of the boys in the Westminster Abbey Choir School and some adults, though I don't know who they were.  Evensong may be a prayer service, but the real religious experience was listening to the choir.  The divinity of their voices made my soul swell, calling to mind everything in my life that makes me feel raw or guilty and lifting up all of those misdeeds and flaws to be judged by the purity of their song.

Rugby rivals sporting their colors (or colours) and chatting amicably on the Tube.


The next time I study abroad, I think I'll go to London,
Maria

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