Exploring London Day Two
I attended a travel writing seminar in Washington DC in 2006 and the editor of the magazine told us the best way to discover a city is to walk walk walk and walk. Your shoes should fall apart by the time you get back from all the walking. Most importantly get completely lost, throw your map away and get lost.
The getting lost part isn’t so much a problem for me with or without a map. I took myself into Central London from Ealing and left my camera behind. I had been to London several times before and had done the touristic things. So in the end how many photos of Big Ben can you really have? My friend who I am staying with wasn’t a fan of my leave your camera behind and just experience idea. He seems to think a lot of my ideas are silly but we won’t go there right now. What if I saw something unexpected that I wanted a photo of or something I really wanted to remember?
This all goes back to my to use a camera or to not use a camera debate. Do you remember a moment better with a camera because you have caught that moment frozen in time forever? Or are you missing out on the moment and only remember it all from that photo and not what actually happened?
To end the debate I decided my first day I just want to take it in absorb it and be in the moment. Let my mind and senses take over. The rest of the days my camera will be with me, like it always is my little green friend.
I wandered Oxford and Bond streets with their old buildings that house popular clothing shops like Top Shop, H & M, River Island and Urban Outfitters. I then walked through James Park where I sat on a bench and ate my lunch. A strange Chinese man was taking sneaky photos of people in the park. The fountain at Buckingham Palace was getting a facelift so it all didn’t look so nice. I carried on to the houses of Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye and the Thames.
I came here to this city to visit old friends but as I wandered the streets of Central London I realized the city itself was an old friend. I felt comfortable navigating the tube and the streets. I gave tourist directions to the Tate Modern and because I have seen it all before I could just enjoy it. It’s nice coming back to a city in another country, going to your favourite shops, knowing where the cool little cafes are and quiet parks. I could have brought my camera but instead I will relay on my memory and if that fails me at least I know when I am old, senile and living in the past I will live this day all over again and enjoy the shops, the cafes and that strange Chinese man in the park with a smile.
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