London Town

After just a quick five days in London I’m pretty sure I’ve decided to move there. I absolutely loved that the city felt large enough to explore but small enough to feel understood. It’s rare that I visit a city I don’t know well and actually choose to take public transportation (the tube) over the ease of a cab (with the exception of my incredibly expensive cab into the city; beware I advise you take the express train > uber > taxi).

I don’t know what it was about London but I felt immediately drawn to it, and curious to see more. My first observation was the abundance of take-out sushi stores (bizarre?) and Prets….literally one every 50ft. I guess it’s nice to see people in London are healthy? Second observation: everyone is always drinking and everyone has a ‘local pub’. Best of all, the drinking is outdoors.

Of course as soon as I could, I made my friends take me to the absolute-most touristy locations to snap pics! First stop: London Eye. If it were really up to me, I would have gone for a ride too but the ‘queues’ were absurdly long.

Of course I also had to see the Big Ben and Buckingham Palace as well as the million parks (Hyde, Green, Regents…). Third observation: There are literally so many red things in London – the flowers, the cabs, the buses, the signs…I don’t get it but I do think it makes the city look like it’s trying to match…and I like it.

Fourth observation: the food is SO good. Now, I live in New York so I’m pretty happy with my culinary selection here and maybe my friends just had some quality selections, but every meal was SO on point. Definitely try out Mazi, a breezy beautiful Greek restaurant in Notting Hill. Be sure to get the very special “jars” of tzatziki, grilled aubergine, and spicy tiropita and the spinach mousaka. Don’t forget to also check out Kurobuta, Casa Negro, Coya and the food hall at Harrod’s (yeah, literally even the food in the mall is amazing).

I decided to take my new McQueen flats out to the portobello market (worst idea ever…reminder to always stretch out your new leather shoes). The market, though, was adorable and reminded me of the cute streets off Bedford stop in Brooklyn. Best news, I was able to find the exact evil eye bracelet I lost a few months back!

And of course on my last day, I had to try the infamous Fish & Chips. I also took the Heathrow Express to the airport and was incredibly depressed to find out that it only takes 15 minutes to reach the airpot, it’s only 20 pounds, AND there’s free wifi. Why didn’t anyone tell me this when I landed??? Oh well, you live, you learn.

Be back soon, London.