London - A Houseboat on Regent Canal...

I love London. I was born in England (in Cambridge) and my family moved to Australia when I was seven. Since then I’ve been back to England a few times, and on two of those occasions I’ve been back to live for a few month in London. I love it. I think it’s partly a trace-memory of childhood, the low skies (even when they’re sunny), the smell of train stations, and damp leaves … it’s hard to describe what it is, because it’s not anything in particular, but I do feel at home there. Luke on the other hand had been to London once as a teenager and didn’t like it, so I was on a mission to convince him that London is a fantastic place.

Fortunately, we had a great time. You know how, if you get the wrong set of circumstances even a fabulous place can feel awful, well we were lucky that we got a great set of circumstances so it was easy to see how impressive London is.

Firstly we stayed on a canal boat on Regent Canal near Islington. What an interesting place to stay, quirky, quiet, but walking distance to Kings Cross Station. Regent Canal is beautiful. I got the feeling these canals were a bit dilapidated and a bit of a wasteland, but now they are thriving and interesting, but remarkably quiet considering this is the middle of a huge, bustling city. There are lots of people walking and cycling the canal paths, or just sitting and enjoying the views, there are waterside bars, restaurants and music. There’s even a canal boat that’s been turned into a book shop. Our canal boat was right at the end of the tow path, so it was very quiet and private – but just minutes to interesting things.

Then the weather was beautiful the entire time we were there. Hot even. We took the tube, and busses. We walked to a local supermarket for supplies (I’m interested in how different supermarkets are around the world – I think supermarkets and hardware stores are a really good way to get a feel for living in a city). Almost everywhere we walked in London there was some historical ‘thing’ just around the corner (not just the famous bits I mean, but ordinary local houses or churches or re-used gasworks turned into housing.) It’s a fascinating place. And sometimes it is the famous things, blue plaques on so many buildings, or finding yourself walking through a square or street you’ve read about in books or seen on the telly. It’s a great place, and of course it has some of the best art and science museums anywhere. But that’s another post.