London

London

           The next trip on the list was London. London is one of the greatest cities in the world. It has the buzz of New York, the history of Rome and the pub culture of Dublin. Aside from a dire need of orthodontia, Londoners are most famous for their whit and dry humor. I can’t tell if they’re actually that funny or if the accent amplifies everything, but either way they’re great people. The most memorable exchange was on the train from the airport, where two British girls argued about whether or not driving was enjoyable. The first innocently said, “I rather like driving in London, the traffic doesn’t bother me”. Now, in the US, the conversation would have ended with a blunt dismissal in the form of “that’s ridiculous” or “you’re and idiot”, but not in London. The second girl looked over in disgust and said, “do you also like smelling farts?!”. Her analogy immediately resonated with the first girl and convincingly changed her mind. 

           After an eventful train ride, the first stop on the trip was a pub called the Spaniard, located in Hampstead. It was a Classic English pub which was famous historically as a 16^thcentury inn, and marked the entrance to the Bishops estate. Now, it’s almost  equally famous for being the local pub for Harry Styles. I’m not sure if it’s true or just an old wives tale to drive business there, but either way there’s a fact in there somewhere. We walked to the Kenwood House, a famous Hampstead estate which was popularized in the film Notting Hill (the scene where Julia Roberts shits on Hugh Grant at her filming session – if you’re not familiar, Danny Williams can describe in more detail). We walked through the estate, then walked through the town of Hampstead, and ended up at Amelia’s local pub.

            The next day we had meetings in their financial district, so we got up early and went down to the Royal Courts of Justice (Pictured Below). This is one of the coolest and lesser know attractions in London. All of the barristers (lawyers) wore powdered wigs and robes, and referred to their superiors as my lord and my lady. The building looks like the animated church from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and if you want an actual movie reference, it’s in “About Time”, when Tim and Rory are running through the Victorian hall to their hearing.  After the royal courts, we walked through the financial district, down fleet street, ending at St. Pauls Cathedral. The Cathedral was massive and had a cool art exhibit in one of the side chapels, but mainly functioned as a place for us to rest after walking around all morning. 

We left St. Pauls, and Amelia took us to a place for high tea. The Brits go nuts for tea. It’s basically a more civilized version of the Spanish siesta, and can last well over an hour. We drank our tea and prepped for our meeting with “Pouch”, a UK based startup that helps online purchasers find and use vouchers for relevant purchases. We met with Ben, the founder and CEO of Pouch, and we walked him through our deck. He broke down their journey and helped us solve and prioritize some of our problems. Their building had a rooftop bar so we went for a quick drink, and then went to Amelia’s mom’s flat and ordered “Holy Cow” an unreal Indian take out place, that rivals “Curry in a Hurry” for best name. 

         

 Our last day was a tourist day and consisted of miles of walking. We started down at the Tower of London, crossed over Tower Bridge, and walked along the river. We passed by the Eye, Shakespear’s Globe theatre, across Waterloo bridge to Big Ben and the House of Parliament, in front of Buckingham Palace, through Hyde Park, through Regents Park, and ending in Camden. On our last stretch to Camden we walked by 221 baker street (Sherlock Holmes’ house). They’ve turned it into a commercial enterprise, and tourists line up around the block to go in. It’s kind of crazy how nuts people go over the house, considering he’s a completely fictional character. I was more enamored by the “Worlds End Pub”. Unfortunately the pub was inspired by the Simon Pegg movie and not the other way around. Camden was awesome though. Commonly referred to as Camden lock or Camden Market (Pictured Below), the small neighborhood of Camden was full of life. A perfect blend of old and new, with the old stables and marketplace refurbished with a heavy dose of the past. The shops and restaurants blend together contradicting the formal rigidity of “traditional London”. The Camden locals are probably the UK equivalent of a Brooklyn hipster, but for some reason they seem so much more authentic. Our time in Camden was brief but memorable, and we hopped on the tube and headed to the airport. 

Song of the week: black coffee in bed, Squeeze
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QZhLSKEps