Hmmmm London
Lets see:-
Shite food
Rip off hotels
Bulgarian beggars everywhere
Dirty streets (in summer the smell will make you boke)
£10 congestion tax when you get in a car (saving the penguins dont you know)
Oh and underground and mainline trains that are the most expensive in the western world, despite breaking down, strikes etc.
The best road in London is the A1 Great North Road ; ie leading out of it.
She should get up here instead. Beautiful beaches, the Wolds, clean air, country pubs, shooting, peaceful market towns like Caistor, near here, and of course Maggie Thatcher comes from Grantham.
Food - we found a handful of good places, although I will agree that the English have no concept of good sausage. I come from a German background and am used to the smoked stuff we have here in Texas. I KNOW sausage, and I got horribly sick off English sausage. Having said that though, found quite a number of places that sold excellent Cornish pasties, fish and chips, and seafood. I visited a tavern called The Grapes that had a lovely seafood bisque. Ate scones and brownies at a lovely little bakery in Bloomsbury.
My friend and I rented a flat in Canary Wharf rather than stay in a hotel. We cooked our own food some of the time and it was very comfortable. Far better rates than some hotel.
I didnt see Bulgarians - saw LOTS of Muslims unfortunately - made me very sad. Kept getting sent to Whitechapel by Muslim landlord at apartment complex we rented from. He was a nice young man but seemed only know about Whitechapel. After second mistake of going there decided wouldnt not visit that part of London again. The rest of London a wild mix of europeans and so much fun to watch people. I never felt unwanted.
Yeah dirty streets...but hell, the city is over 1000 yrs old - COME ON!!! ALL THAT HISTORY! I got to touch a wall built by the Romans, visit St. Pauls cathedral, looked at all the beautiful buildings, and soaked up the old atmosphere. I love history. I love places that REEK history. If everything was pristine and unused, Id think I was on an alien planet.
We really tried to avoid the cab but there was one instance where it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise, there is this thing called the Oyster Card that did very well in getting us passage onto the subway system. Yeah, its a bit of a trick to learn how to navigate your way through London in the underground, but I loved it. We had only one instance where the rail broke down and it was fixed very quickly.
There is also the BritRail to take to places outside of London - I went to Bath one day, Portsmouth another. It was SO WORTH EVERYTHING to be able to stand on the gundeck of the HMS Victory and still smell the gunpowder smoke from 200 yrs ago. I quite literally cried.
Next trip I plan to spend more time OUTSIDE London though...London has its charms but I deliberately avoided the usual touristy areas (even though my traveling companion tricked me into going by Buckingham Palace after I told her specifically I had no desire to go there.) I was all about seeing the nooks and crannies of London.
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on a bicycle two by two.....
Standard procedure for me on trips to England: Land at Heathrow, go to car rental, take M4 to M5, spend night in Exeter, head southwest to the coast on the next day.