Tired of Essex. Time for London.

I would most likely remember September 9 as my niece’s birthday… and as the day I got lost in London. I had recently arrived to the city, and, since I had the day off, I decided to hit Westminster all by myself. I did all that I could have done wrong just for proving myself that I was the greatest traveler. Immediate fail. I got on the tube with no map of the stations or of the city and got off on Victoria Station just to see how far away that was from Westminster. Trusting my inner GPS and relaying on my mental pictures of Google earth, I started heading what I thought it was east. It was not long before I run into the Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with the abbey) and decided that I wasn’t THAT lost. At least minutes of relentless second thinking elapsed before I spotted lots of tourist and the emblematic Westminster Abbey. I was there, in the city I had longed to visit since childhood dreams. The Big Ben emerged amongst the trees planted in front of the abbey. As I kept walking, the London Eye emerged just next to the renowned tower and then, I caught a glimpse of the Thames. I was left speechless. I started thanking my mom in my head for paying for this and kept walking with a smile covering my face. This is London and it feels so surreal. That was day one, and although I could go for hours on how I spend an entire afternoon looking for Soho and how after I found it, I had a long way back to Victoria station while almost peeing my pants, more things are going on. London has been my refuge after a long day of work. Now that I am incorporated to a routine and life turns blah blah blah, I always enjoy taking the tube and going to a new destination. That way of catharsis has certainly affect my pockets (each round trip to the center costs about 4 pounds,) but still, I can’t get enough of the free museums and galleries, of the activities at open air, of the pubs with friendly fellows and bartenders, and of the long walks around those stone buildings which majestic façades makes you feel tiny and insignificant. My admiration does not come only from the sightseeing tour and the fireworks at the riverbank of the Thames in the Mayor’s Thames Festival. All the previous look amazing in postcards, but London isn’t only about that. The city is also the fanfare of the little boys skating in the gardens of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the salsa crew that dances in the open in front of the library in Brixton, the multiple cultures manifested in books, markets, outfits, venues. Yeah, London is the place to be. In addition, with my tendency to capture the quirkiest events around and to get in trouble, I can anticipate that I’m going to have fun. What I am talking about? My bladder here is accelerated; of course I’m going to have fun.