Day 10 - Other sides of London

I used to think most of London looked pretty much the same. I was wrong.

Today I explored several new parts of London. First, Picadilly Circus. I think "Circus" is a good name for it, because it was packed with people during the early afternoon and at night. After that I walked to Leicester Square, which led me through through Chinatown and Soho, London's "red light district". It seemed mostly like a tourist trap now, although there were several stores with big signs that said "Sex Shop". As you might suspect, I walked through there pretty quickly.

Leicester (pronounced "Lester") Square was neat. There were TONS of restaraunts and pubs. For £1.30 I got a slice of one of the best pizzas I've ever had. From there I went up toward Hapstead Heath, but decided to stop first at Camden Town. I'm glad I did. Wow!!! That is a unique place! The people there wore all kinds of wacky clothes and all sorts of bizzare hair styles. The area was full of shops, including several tattoo and piercing places, a bong shop, and many clothing shops that sold the kinds of bizzare outfits that people were wearing there.

Only two underground stops north of Camden town was Belsize Park and Hapstead. You wouldn't believe this place is so close to Camden Town (I think it's actually in the borough of Camden). It reminded me of a very old (1800's) version of downtown Saratoga, CA - as opposed to Kensington which looks a lot more like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Many upscale shops and cafes, and some very nice houses. Hampstead Heath was pretty close. It's a very nice park in the hills with views of the city. Although I think many things are better (newer, nicer, bigger) in America, parks are a big exception. Every park I've seen so far in England is better than any park I've seen in Oklahoma. Hampstead Heath was probably the nicest of those.

After that I went down to South Kensington to the Natural History and Science museums. Unfortunately, they were closed. They close at 5:50 and 5:45, respectively. I think that's crazy! There are some things about England that I'll probably never understand, and the times at which certain places close is one of them. I'll have to go try those again, because they look spectacular, at least on the outside.

I went to a few other places, but this is already getting long so I'll stop. One last thing -- on the way home, I walked through the Oxford Circus area and the pubs were PACKED! The same was true to a lesser extent in Reading on the way back. People here love the pubs! There's no doubt about that.

(Camden | City of London from Hampstead Heath)

posted by Matt @ 11:10 PM