Last week, I was partaking in one of my annual holiday traditions: watching Love, Actually while drinking hot chocolate and writing Christmas cards. This movie is one of my favorite holiday-themed films (don’t judge, haters), and it never fails to get me in the yuletide spirit.
But more than that, watching Love, Actually again made me nostalgic for London, a city I was lucky enough to call home for a year that was probably the best one of my life. London is the setting for (and plays almost the role of a character in) the movie, and looking at the famous landmark sights, the streets decked out for Christmas, and the double-decker red buses made me reflect on how much London means to me, and what I miss about living there.
So here goes: My list of “Top Things I Miss About London”:
- Pubs and pub quizzes. I love pubs in London far more than bars in America—they’re so warm, welcoming, friendly and, in many cases, classy. I miss being able to walk in and order a Pimms and a cottage pie with chips and gravy (this combo needs to catch on in America, fast). And I used to have a ritual of participating in a Monday night pub quiz with my cousin and her friends at a pub near Piccadilly Circus…we never won, but the attempt was always a blast!
- Bookstores. London is chock-full of bookstores, both chains and unique historical outlets, but my absolute favorite is Stanford’s, the travel bookstore. That’s right: an entire bookstore devoted to travel! Not only does it contain every guidebook you could ever want, but it’s also filled with maps, globes, and travel literature, both fiction and non-fiction. I was a regular customer at Stanford’s when I lived in London, and God, do I miss it. Nothing in the US can compare.
- Museums. Sure, I live in Washington DC now, one of the world’s foremost museum cities, so I’m hardly deprived in this regard, and I do love DC’s museums. But that doesn’t prevent me from occasionally getting nostalgic for all those London has to offer. How amazing would it be to be able to pop round to the British Museum right now and take in millennia’s worth of history for free? Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, take your pick; it’s all there. And I miss the National Gallery too; there’s nothing like spending an afternoon surrounded by famous artwork only to step out of the museum doors onto Trafalgar Square in the heart of one of the world’s most energetic and exciting cities.
- Curry. Damn, how I miss curry. Yes, we have a good Indian restaurant up the street from my house, but that’s a world away from being able to take the tube to Brick Lane and wander up and down the street full of curry vendors all competing for your business, and knowing that pretty much anywhere you choose to eat will be superb. Plus, I miss being able to order curry at my house for dinner. I don’t believe I ordered a pizza in the entire year I lived in England, but I ordered curry all the time with my roommates to devour while watching Britain’s Next Top Model. Oh, I miss that too.
- Public Transport. And speaking of the tube…I miss being able to arrive on a subway platform and know that a train will be arriving in no less than four minutes. I don’t think I ever waited longer than that at my stop on the Piccadilly line, whereas coming home from a night out the other day in DC, I arrived at the station only to find the next train wasn’t due for 20 minutes. On a Friday night. God, I miss London efficiency. And those bright red double-decker buses too—I didn’t ride them that often but I loved it when I got a chance to, especially sitting on the top level and watching all of the city unfold at my feet below.
- Londoners. This may seem like a bit of an odd choice, as London isn’t necessarily known as a warm and fuzzy city on par with some others. But personally, I loved London and the people who live there. They’re friendly, but not pushy. They’re polite and patient (no shoving to get onto the tube, even at rush hour), and they respect personal space, both physical and mental. I love being among people who can be friendly and kind without feeling the need to chat up every stranger with incessant small talk for no particular reason. That probably says more about me than it does about London, but honestly, in that way, I felt like London and I understood one another very well. Living in the city felt like coming home, and visiting there still does.
Here’s to a return trip in 2016!
Have you spent time in London? Do you love it too? What do you miss the most from the city?