London Calling *No Answer*

I must say the trip started off entirely on the right foot, with a week-long stop in Ontario to see friends and take some pictures of the fall color before heading overseas. I had, on several occasions, an opportunity to celebrate early my birthday with friends from Ottawa and Toronto. Thanks to the gents whom sponsored the, er, *entertainment*...you shall remain nameless for your own protection.

Getting into Heathrow at 6:30am on the morning of October 10^th, I was feeling incredibly jet-lagged, having been up for about 20 hours at this point. I couldn't crash at the hostel for another 6 hours, so I did the absolutely dumbest thing I could have done in this condition and bought a ticket to the 3 hour evening production of Wicked, at the Apollo Theatre. I have been wanting to see that production for a number of years - and it was outstanding - but I nearly passed out twice from exhaustion.

I had planned three days in London for the express purpose of enjoying all of the city's entertainment, but I have already seen most of the sights in years past and the truth is that a good time in London requires that the purse strings be on the extremely loose side. The idea of traveling on a budget in London is a tad of an oxymoron. So, beyond that first night’s excursion, I really didn’t do much else in London the whole time I was there other than wander at random through some neighborhoods I hadn't explored before like Kensington, with its forest-in-the-city Holland Park and sprawling Hyde Park. I was rather surprised with the quantity and quality of greenery in the city, which I hadn't really noticed in years past, and this threatened to change my entire decades-long perception of London as an exciting but ultimately over-crowded jungle of concrete, stone and steel. Strictly speaking, it is still overcrowded in the extreme in the city centre – you are jostling with people constantly – but there are very nice green spaces that one can actually escape to. The problem, and this is why I always have preferred Paris, is that the relaxed atmosphere of the parks doesn’t extend beyond the bordering sidewalks, but seem isolated islands lost in the cacophony of London’s chaos.

It is strange to think that, having come to London to enjoy London, the only thing I'm leaving with is a lack of desire to come back any time soon; if I do, it will be to rent a car and head out of town to explore the English countryside.