I got back from London yesterday morning on a very early flight (I’m talking 6am early) and thus wrapped up an all too brief but thoroughly enjoyable visit.

Of course getting to London didn’t come with out a little, erm, excitement shall we say. My roommate and I took the metro to the airport, and really it should have been really simple, but we ended up on a wrong train heading for the countryside with less than an hour before our flight departed. We wouldn’t have exactly been aware had it not been for an extraordinarily kind man who told us to get off and transfer to another train, explaining over and over to make sure we understood his rapid fire French — “vous comprenez?“

Once in London we were met with more kindness as we asked a lady how to get from the metro stop to our bed and breakfast. The lady, a Colombian college professor who had been living in London for the past 30 years not only gave us directions but walked us to the street of our bed and breakfast, completely in the opposite direction of where she was initially heading.

As f0r London itself, we were there for two days only, in which we mainly made the circuit of tourist destinations and sightseeing. Perhaps I am not exactly qualified to say, given my rather brief and shallow foray into London and everything it has to offer (good and bad), but I felt that I had a particular liking to the city, and it felt very liveable. Those who know me may roll my eyes at this declaration as I often seem to suddenly want to live in the places I visit, but London felt a little more than just a transient fantasy. It’s obviously quite different than American cities, but it’s a bit closer to what I’m used to than say Paris. The city just had an energy and a vibrancy, at the same time that it had a cosiness and closeness. The very easily learned and convenient metro, which makes BART back home look utterly paltry in comparison, quickly takes you from quieter residential areas to the bustling lively parts of the city. The more energetic parts of town we frequented consisted of endless, narrow streets, almost like alleys in which people spilled out from pubs and restaurants, or walked along in the glow of the lights, not from tall skyscrapers or wide well-lit boulevards but intimate, lively streets. Not entirely sure if this is representative of London exactly, or just this Covent Garden/Leicester Square area, but I truly loved the vibe here.

Like Paris, London is also just overflowing with beautiful architecture and a rich history. I felt that here too one would only need to turn a corner anywhere to be met with a charming hundred year old facade, or an awe-inspiring sight like Westminster or the Tower Bridge in the distance. We saw all these big names, even rode the London Eye, and visited a couple of London’s excellent (and free!) museums such as the Museum of Natural History, Tate Modern and the National Gallery. As you can imagine, Buckingham Palace was inundated with people–but alas, no sight of royalty.

We saw pretty much all the must-see tourist attractions in the few days we had in London, but I still would like to come back to experience it more. In general people were helpful and kind, and sort of like the French you got the sense that people valued enjoying themselves — going out to meet friends, unwinding and having a generally good time. Certainly life isn’t all fun times and this may be a tourist’s idealized view of everything, sure. But I’m more than curious to confirm, adapt or debunk this view, someway somehow in the future.

For now, I heart London. But now, back to Paris, and for real, no more widely spoken English for the next 4+ weeks…go!