I’m not going to lie to you: I’m very much attracted to the remote, utterly different parts of this planet. I enjoyed trips to New Zealand, Japan and Thailand far more than any trip I took across Europe (and there were quite a few).
But, lately, my job required me to travel to London. I did this twice in the last 3 months, so the memories are still fresh.
To my surprise, London was a very elusive city. I would have expected a more solid, definable experience than the fuzzy, always eluding string of words that I got.
Of course, it’s a cosmopolite city. But so it’s Paris. Of course, it’s filled with history and beautiful architecture. But so it’s Rome. Of course, it’s very expensive. But so it’s Geneva.
What Actually Makes London, London?
Well, touristically, it may start with the double deck red buses. They’re literally all over the place and, although modernized and far from the conservatory shape we see in adverts, they’re ubiquitous. The touristic description may continue with the pubs. Along with all the brits hanging out (sometimes literally, on the sidewalks) like bats sipping the brownish blood of some alien species. Judging from the never ending thirst they exhibit for that liquid, it must have been the blood of somebody. Couldn’t have been just beer. Or so I think.
And, obviously, the huge white wheel incessantly occupied by cohorts of always hasty tourists.
But that’s just all there is to the touristic side.
From this point on, there is a very interesting journey to the inner parts of what makes London, London.
Apocalypse, Now!
During the 15 days I’ve been there I almost never took the subway (nor other type of public transportation, like taxis or buses).
There are two reasons for that.
First, I’m an ultra runner and part of my training is to just walk. A lot. On a normal day I walk around 10-15km. So once I saw myself in a foreign city, I just jumped on the opportunity to see it without any touristic intermediary, step by step.
And the second reason, well, it’s something that starts to explain the “apocalyptic” word in the title. I don’t know about you, but I have a very powerful sensation of uncertainty in the London subway. The paths are incredibly narrow, the rail is way bigger (or so it seems) and the platforms are most of the time narrower than the trains. It’s like you’re pushed to jump into the train as fast as possible and spend as little time as possible on the platforms.
And some of the escalators are so tilted that you start losing whatever spatiality you may have left after being squeezed and pushed around. I surprised myself a few times hanging tight to the handrail, just because it was so difficult to find a point of equilibrium.
And, once in the train, there’s the sensory attack: the eyes are overwhelmed with adverts and, most of all, with incredibly complicated schemes of the subway stations. It’s like a never ending rainbow of spaghetti spreading on top of the windows, with circles every once in a while, and the names of the stations around those circles.
And if the eyes get used to this, after a while, there’s the sound: specifically, the woman voice making the announcements. That voice reminds me of an apocalyptic movie called Brasil (by Terry Gilliam). In a monotonous voice she urges you, sometimes two or three times in a row, to understand where you are and what you have to do next to escape from that prison. And you have very, very little time to get up and down. I saw people literally jumping from their chairs to get out, or piercing through the already closing doors to get in.
It’s like a continuous, chaotically man hunt. The subway is eating the people and then it spits them out, just to eat them again at the next station.
Weird. And, as I said, apocalyptic.
Anyway, once out, on the streets, the hidden parts of London are slowly starting to get out. From Victoria Park to Soho and from Regent’s Canal up to Camden market, from Tower Bridge to London Eye, there is a certain air and feeling that starts to define London.
It’s a certain solidity that exudes from the buildings (by the way, I’m absolutely sure I have never, ever seen so much bricks in my entire life) and there is a certain feeling of being exact, in some sort of an engineering way. Although you cannot see the sea, you somehow understand that these people were great sailors. It’s probably because they built most of their buildings like ships (no balconies, for instance).
And just when you think you started to get it, the evening comes.
And when the evening comes, the pubs are starting to gather around them the bats. I have nothing against drinking beer (big fan of it, actually) but there’s something going on in those pubs, when the evening starts. Nobody’s talking. I swear. Out of curiosity, I entered in about 20 or 30 pubs (in one of them I even had some great craft beer) and in none of them people were talking.
They were all shouting.
Loud. Like, really loud. Like you’re somewhere in the countryside and the person you’re talking to is just across the river, 200 meters away and you have to spit your lungs out just to make yourself noticed. It’s not like the person is actually sitting next to you.
And everybody shouts at everybody. That’s another apocalyptic trait of London that I was never prepared for.
And then, after the night, the dawn breaks out. Half of the people are still processing the beers (you can tell them by the lack of direction in their eyes, slow movements and overall body posture) while the other half is running. Many people are running their way to the job, carrying in a small backpack the office clothing and probably some shower gear (towels and basic cosmetics). That’s something that I really enjoyed.
And then, there’s the parks. It’s an incredible contrast between the parks, with wide alleys and huge trees and the subway. It’s like the subway was designed like some sort of punishment while the parks as some sort of paradisiac retreat. I walked on quite a few parks in London and all of them were quiet, decent, incredibly clean (although you can hardly see any garbage bin) and fresh.
And, once the dawn vanishes and everybody is turning the wheels of whatever they’re doing, everything starts again.
I still don’t know how to define London. Maybe that’s why I have to admit I really like it.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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very nice photos of a place where almost every one want to go. These pictures are really awesome with extra awesome information which you have typed in, i have some relatives living there in united kingdon who often update pictures of london, it really fascinates me
I found this post interesting. I think you did a good job
This comment has received a 0.13 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.
Thanks for presenting London from a different perspective than usually. Followed!
True story: in WW2, people were living in the subway/underground. Thanks to the Blitz, streets were bombed out, so people slept on those narrow subway platforms. Then in the morning they'd get up, go above ground to whichever war factory they were working in, and then descend again at night. The govt started to get quite worried that a permanent underground community was being established. But of course being deep underground was the safest place for Londoners at the time.
Didn't know that, thanks :)
Buildings - as if from some futuristic film ...
Do you know the pub Ye Old Cheshire Cheese? Its one of the oldest (and best) in London. Lots of famous writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain and P.G. Woodhouse used to drink there!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese
Had no idea, but I'll look it up next time :)
Apocalyptic London... I think that's new. Thank you for this tour; 30 pubs, uh? Nice trip!
I literally just entered in them, not drinking anything, because I wanted to make sure that in all of them there is that shouting. If we're thinking in terms of "beer pub tours", I can only count one: The raft House (great, great beer).
Yes, I got that from your post, but just the sound of it, 2 weeks - 30 pubs! Sweet record :D
:))
london is a strange one for me, i'm only an hour or so away by train. i totally can related to the zomified crowd of people on the subway, not a place i'd like to be stuck underneath london in that's for sure. but i do like camden, the boxpark, walking through london can be overwhelming on the senses too, you can certainly feel the pace -- one of the wonderful things especially is travelling down to london and then onto europe with eurostar to say belgium, it's SO easy. i love it. i'm not a big CITY person if i can blend into the background that suits me just fine!
I like boxpark too (a bit too hipsterish for me, but it'll do), also like Camden a lot and the walk on the Regent's Canal (I did it all the way from Victoria Park to Camden, great walk). If I will have time, next time, I will definitely test the eurostar train to Paris.
as long as the eurostar is working ok, no delays and no craziness, it's an absolutely pleasure and a breeze, the trains are a trip as well. understand what you mean about boxpark being hipsterish. i ignore that, you have to be selective of course, but i have a place nearby that does amazing salt beef. got loads of airbnb places i've stayed around there. also done lots of live streaming events there too.
Nice and appreciated your work @dragosroua i like and i love beautiful amazing london...this feeling is amazing...hahaha...
Thank you so much your kindly upvote my comment @dragosroua and @raluca i'm following your every post day by day...i'm waiting your next valuble posts...thank again.
I would love to visit London one day. I am trying so hard to fulfill the requirements so I could be qualified to go work there. Sigh.
london is in my bucket list for 2018...
next year I'll try my level best to visit this beautiful city with my wife... i hope steem will help me ... :D
Good luck!
I know exactly what you mean.
I'm from Liverpool and London seems strange to me. Nice to visit,but I wouldn't want to live there