The world’s my oyster

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Amsterdam is definitely a gateway city: after only three months, I’m already addicted to traveling.  One of the things I like most about studying here is its central location in Western Europe, and I made the best of it with a recent trip to London.

Ordinarily, I’m not a paranoid person, but I felt watched wherever I stepped foot in London.  Visions of 1984 danced through my head during my first trip to the world’s foremost "surveillance society".  I was slightly unnerved to see so many cameras, sometimes passing more than one per minute.

Despite the feeling of being inside the Big Brother house, London is a beautiful, big city brimming with life.  Although well worth the visit, I barely scratched the surface during my 4-day stay.  I particularly enjoyed and recommend the Tate Modern art museum and a trip to Greenwich.  I snapped the following panorama from the Royal Observatory:

While I realize it’s terribly cliché to mention how expensive London is, I had no idea how much I would actually spend in four days.  So much for a budget excursion!  With the exchange rate at 2.10USD per GBP, a cheap London lunch (£5) would easily buy a nice dinner in the US.  At least many of the museums are free and quite enjoyable.

Go forth to London with an open mind and a big wallet, but whatever you do don’t take a leak outside or pretend you’re Banksy — you might not make it back to mainland Europe!

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under Miscellaneous Blogging

 

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