Last month, I took a weekend trip to London, my erstwhile all-time favourite city (since the position has now officially been given to Edinburgh :)). This was my first experience of the National Rail Services and the train journey between Edinburgh and London itself was well worth the trip because of the scenic beauty of the country side that is visible along the way. In particular, the view around a small town en route called Berwick-upon-Tweed is gorgeous as the train track is along a small hill that overlooks the sea. From there you can see pretty little houses along the sea shore and most memorably what I call the ‘Hogwarts Bridge’, which looks exactly like the train bridge in the Harry Potter movie that shows the Hogwarts Express chugging along a bridge over the water.
I have a lot of wonderful memories from a holiday in London with my parents 4 years ago and it was an exhilarating feeling to visit the magnificence and grandeur that signifies London, all over again. It was also special because I was able to meet a very close friend from home who is also in the UK to study and contrary to what she might say; I was a brilliant tourist guide showing her the Palace, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and so on. I admit I did get the building of the PM’s house slightly wrong on a couple of occasions, but to my credit, in spite of going there after 4 whole years I was still right about the general direction of where we were supposed to go without consulting a map… as I said, this is all contrary to her version of the story. :)
Nonetheless, we had a blast wandering the streets of London, riding the ever crowded tube trains, admiring the style and class of the people around and meeting with friends living in the city. As expected, we made sure we saw Oxford Street and unsuccessfully looked at Primark for cheap woollen clothing. In the spirit of being 'touristy', I also visited the infamous Canary Wharf - the commercial hub of London and it was truly everything I had ever imagined it to be i.e. possibly the best-looking place to work.. he he he. I also went to Eastham, (the area predominantly occupied by the Indian and South Asian communities) and felt at home seeing women walking around in Salwar Kameez, visiting shops with hundreds of things hanging outside rather than inside, hearing people speak Hindi and Punjabi and of course eating Masala Dosa and Paneer Tikka Masala!
Talking about the London trip would be incomplete if a special mention was not given to a friend who played the gracious host. To say that the house was clean and had every small thing you could ever possibly need is an understatement! I was highly impressed and entertained to see that there is someone in the world besides me who is possibly more paranoid (ok ok particular) about organising and cleaning than I am. Clean, freshly laundered linen, flowers even in the bathroom, room air fresheners – all in all a homely experience far better than I have ever experienced so far. :) The most entertaining part of my stay there, however, was the first morning when the host was not contactable and I could not find the switch to the electric shower for more than half an hour - damn these hi-tech British homes! Our homely buckets and mugs or even normal showers are so much better!
The highlight of the trip was by far a lovely walk at night by the embankment of the River Thames, just below the famous Tower Bridge. The calm water surrounded by the beautifully lit up city and of course the gorgeous bridges and the view of the London Eye in the background – though I had seen it all before, the serenity and view by night is a sight that has imprinted its image in my mind with every minute detail and is one that I know I will never forget. It was an amazing experience at the end of a long and tiring day to find such tranquility in the heart of the hustling bustling capital city of London.
The reason I say that London is my erstwhile all-time favourite city is because I have realised that I prefer the warm comfort of a smaller city like Edinburgh. At the risk of sounding vain, (not to mention extremely strange coming from the fact that I came from Mumbai of all places), the crowds in London bothered me. This was not because of the large number of people alone, but more importantly the cold, mechanical mannerisms of the people there. I enjoy the fact that in Edinburgh I often meet people I know on the streets and even strangers and shopkeepers offer warm friendly smiles and greetings – something that is very rare in London. It was my first experience of inexplicably feeling like a stranger in strange land, that too in spite of having been there before. Having said that, London will always be special to me considering it was the place that inspired me to want to come to the UK and study in the first place and I know I will go back there sooner than later. I guess basically Edinburgh has just grown on me – its no wonder it was nominated the 2007 'best place to live in the UK' according to the Channel 4 countdown! :) Am I proud and happy to hear that or what?!?
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
Post a Comment