See It (Drink It?): London

The map of London's TubeLondon, along with basically every other city in the world, has been undergoing some major changes as of late both in the city itself and its people. When I went to Bobst to look for my second travel book on England and the culture, they almost all were outdated and consequently didn’t seem as relevant when I flipped through them. Therefore, I figured that my best option would be to scour my travel guide, which is Fodor’s See It London and was published this year. I had only used it once before, in order to find stores and main sights for the map assignment, but I hadn’t explored any of the book’s many other features. The guidebook itself is set up in a fairly generic way, outlining top stores, restaurants, hotels, and things to do. Where it seems to stand out (and the reason why I picked it over other similar ones in the bookstore) is that it is filled with tons of colorful images and large maps, and offers a bit more on London’s culture, community, and history—with tips. The first part of the guidebook, entitled “Living London,” highlighted these features and was the part I chose to focus on.
I learned that London is split into three parts: “the City,” which is the financial district and the center of London which contains the majority of the historic sights, the West End, which is filled with parks and museums and considered the more elegant area, and then the East End, which is more working-class London. I will be living in the West End in the district of Marylebone, which is right above Mayfair—a district filled with chic and expensive restaurants and shops (that’s going to be a mixed blessing for sure!).
Whenever I’m reading something about London I have the tendency to compare it to New York City, and after reading this guidebook I was surprised by how similar the two cities really are. Just like New York (and most cities for that matter), London is extremely diverse, composed of over 270 nationalities; apparently there is a very large (and wealthy) Indian population that has been there for years.
London’s version of New York’s subway is called the London Underground (aka the Tube), and like in New York this tends to be the quickest mode of transport but has its occasional flaws and delays. It was interesting to see the map of the Underground, which was actually more reminiscent of Boston’s public transportation system than New York’s because the colored lines don’t correspond to the geographical location. The previous travel book I read mentioned how London’s map is even considered a work of art by some. I also thought it was interesting—and convenient—that it is a fairly consistent three minutes between each stop on the Tube, so you can easily plan how long it’s going to take you to get somewhere. An unfortunate difference between the subway and the Tube, however, is that the Tube closes around midnight (although there are buses that run until the morning, so at least there is an alternative). Also, the cost is broken down by zones and one ticket can cost 3 or 4 pounds, which is almost 5 or 6 dollars per ride! Luckily there are package deals (like with an Oystercard) that give a discounted fare, but I will surely be walking much more in London than New York!

I also thought I’d mention a funny part of another travel book I’m reading called the Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall, which is written in the same vein as the Bill Bryson book I read in that it talks about England from an American perspective. But this book was published this past year and is looking more at the various elements of British culture rather than visiting and describing the towns and physical elements of the country. Lyall devotes fourteen hilarious chapters to typical things like class differences, political characters, and cricket (and how long and boring it is). In one chapter she talks about the well-known issue of Brits and drinking, confirming this stereotype by saying “I have many British friends who in America would be considered functioning alcoholics” (73). I’ve found a lot of pubs online and in my guidebook, which also said how big “pub-crawling” is in London—essentially just going from one pub to another all afternoon and/or evening. New York is notorious for having a pretty big clubbing and drinking culture, but it sounds like London is a different monster altogether. It will certainly be interesting.